INSECT PEST MENACE

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 166, 15 August 1929, Page 10

INSECT PEST MENACE

POSITION IN AMEPJCA. CHANGING FARMING METHODS. The insect pests that prey in myriads on tlie fields of the American farmer threaten to chanye the whole structure of agriculture in that part of tlie ••vorld. stated an American professor of ontomology in a lecture at Xew York last month. He sugRested that tlie ravages of pes-ts might cause a reversion from grcat ranches to the small holdings and individual husbandry of an earlier generation. The speaker was Dr. C. T. Brues, professor of .'conomic entomology jifc Harvard, and a world-known authority 011 entomology in relation to social progress. In an addrcss to students and biological researcli workers, Iip dealt particul.irly with the forms of insect life which constitute a menace to the American rancher and fruitgrower. cotton and grain farmer. H© discussed the gipsy moth, the rorn borer. the Japanese beetle and, iatest. in the rast nccumulating insecfa enemies, the YTediterranean fruit fly, wliich is giving concern to Florida fruitgrowers. PESTS AND FARMING METHODS. Dr. Rrues began hv asking: "I)o insects menace the future of our civilisation?" AYhile ho did not in so many words offer tho conclusion that they do he lcft little doubt 111 the ininds of his hearor.s that they constitute an important enemv of man. Inerease in insect pests had a direct relationship to modern agricultural methods. ''Fnder natural conditions," Professor Rrues. said. fa great variety of plants and insects came into heing, and wlien a particular type of insect dostroyed a. ]iarticulnr plant it was not of great importance to the whole. For that plant disappears and the insect 10 which it is necossary as a food supply disappears also. "Under modern methods of agriculture, however, the crops eaten hv the insects are again planted by tlie industrious farmer providing a fresh supply of food for the next generation of insects. This is rejieated again and again, until people begin to noto tliat insects appear to he doing more and mere damage as timo goes o-n. INSECTS MULTII'LYING EAPIDLY. "It lias lieen asserted that t-bis in(reasing damage is raostly talk, but that is not true. There is an actual inerease taking place. \Ybere under natural conditions and growth the insects dio wlien their food supply is retiictcd. replanting and tlie spread of agriculture give tliem opportunities to multiply never possible under nature alone." "Insects wiJl probably necessitate some cliange in our methods of life in respect to agriculture and tliere is .a strong possibilitv that this change will he oue not oictatcd for cominercial ends. hut from tlie biological. The best cominercial interests appear to be served by largo holdings, great fruit and vegetnblo farms, and wheat ranches and corn lands on wliicli the pests tlirive onormouslv, as_ witness the advance of tlie boil weevil. A more natural process of growing plants is found. perhaps, in the diversified farming of tlie small holdings where tho insects can he checked. "I11 Floi-ida where the Mediterranenn fruit ily is feared, it may he that the growers will tuni to pineapples from tho fruit 011 which tlie fly feeds. That is oue methoij of combating it. EFFECTS OF MODERN TRANSPORT. "We suffer most from tho imported insects, the reason being that they get a fresh start in this country free from tlie parasites that prey on them. Now we are importing the parasites tliat feed on them and this metbod, we beheve, is better tlian spraying to kill them. "Experience does not lead us to believe that we will ever be able to eradicate particular insect pests," said Dt. Brues. He recalled that agriculturalists have predicted that in 100 years, with Ihe' present growth of Avorld population. all the available acreage will 'be insufficient to feed tlie world. "This timo limit of 100 years, with tlie serious results tlie insect menace mav effect. is likely to be cut appreciablv unless more efficient methods of control are found. All the old natural barriers are dostroyed. The oceans and the mountain once provided impassftle corridors for the insects, but thess corridors have gone with tlie arrival of modern transportation. I have heard it suggested that tlie Zeppelins may cause a wider spread over the oceans of local European insect pests. It is conceiva ble that the airplane, setling down in this field or that, _will further make certain insects universrl."