Evening Star Newspaper, January 13, 1924, Page 63

[rcron | The Sy Star Part 5—8 Pages Little Scien Dr. L. O. How- ard and His Corps of Assistants in Bu- reau of Entomol- ogy Have Saved Billions of Dollars for American Ag- riculture — Check Invasions of Over- seas Pirates of Plant World. BY GEORGE H. DACY. HE cross of the Legion ot Honor has lately been bestowed upon Dr. L O. Howard, chief of the bureau of entomology of the Tnited States Department of ture, a famous Washington sclentist and one of the pr logical authorities of the world Dr. Howard, who has been a resi- dent of Washington for forty-five Years, and who came to the National apital directly from Cornell Univer- sity when he completed a post-gradu- ate course of study at that institu- tion, is as modest as his hievements are notable. Like other unassuming, conservative men who dedicate their Ives to the pursult of Intricate s ence, Dr. Howard prefers to tackle new jobs and do new and outstanding deeds Instead of talking about what he has already done. He supplied me—only after consid- erable persuasion —with the bare facts of this article. From his friends and assoclates I obtained the infor- mation about the romance, patho: ploneering. adventurous research and | plucky persistency of this unusual man of science, who has worked won- | ders in the control and extermination of obnoxious insect pests and plant diseasos, and who has builded a sys- tem of efficient fortification. which now protects American agriculture against the introduction and insidi- ous invasion of overseas pirates of the plant world Is thers a man in the Washington world of commerce, banking, mer- chandizing or industry who believes that his services are worth kalf a bil- len dollars a year? None such, at least, are shown In the archives of TUncle Sam's income tax statistics, and aven the President of the United dtates, who is manager-in-chief of one of the greatest nations, does not receive a yearly salary which even re- motely approaches the half-billlon- dollar mark. American farmers report, however— «nd the records of our national culture indorse their .statements— that the annual services of the bu- reau of entomology are worth ap- proximately § ,000,000, in the good that it does and in the evil and dam- age that it prevents. If you doubt this assertion, just figure it out for ourself. Insects annually destroy about 19 per cent of the possible production of crops In the United States. Were it not for the efficacious activities of Dr. Howard and his assoclates, this year- - tribute that we pay to plant-pest resbooters would be -double in amount what it now is. This means saving of one billion dollars a year 1o American farms, farmers and farm- ing. Just to be conservative, let's chop this amount in two and estimate the vearly accomplishments of Dr. Howard and the bureau of ento- mology at half a billion dollars, * % % % DR HOWARD 1s most exacting with himself; with his associates and subordinates hs is lenient and ra- ther easy-going. He likes to see his men get results; he does not.quibble over means or methods. If a man 1as resource and initlative, the How- ard system brings them out and af- fords them every possible opportunity to develop and expand. Dr. Howard s an expert of men and ps ae well as of entomology. He el #ges the expression of personality and likes to see his scientists stamp their own individuality all over their work. Somebody has sald of Dr. Howard that his work has very little academic assumption. Dogma finds no place in the Howard calendar of daily doings. He belleves that all men were created free and equal and that each one's in- heritance is to think and act as he dostres. Dr. Howard abandoned a medical career to come to Washington in 1878 to enter the entomological serv- fce of the government. He was about to enroll at the College of Phy- sictans and Surgeons in New York city when the message offering him position at Washington arrived. rom the time he was six years old, When he devoted most of his time| to the juvenile study of caterpillars and butterfiles, Dr. Howard had been greatly interested in entomological search and research. Appreclating the outstanding opportunity that ‘was offered at Washington to cater to his cherished desires, he accepted the federal post and enrolled In the aervice. ‘When Dr. Howard came to Wash- ington the national Department of Agriculture had less than 100 em- ployes. The annual appropriation for the furtherance of entomological re- search was $5,000. There were but three sclentific experts on the corps of the department of entomology. There is but one man on the pay roll of the Department of Agricul- ture today who was an employe when Dr. Howard first came to Weshing- ton. He is Lleut. Cooke, who has charge of policing the agricultural srounds and buildings. The Depart- ment of Agriculture ihen consieted Agrioul- | minent entomo- | agri- | ¢ | | | | | | | | | | | 'Pu.mig% Italian bz‘obfit‘ of but one building—the office of the Secretary of Agriculture\ which ‘was constructed in 1860, then accommo- dated the entire federal 'farming service, which today is one of the largest arms of Uncle Sam’s service. In those days Washington was very malarious. Vast hordes of malaria- carrying mosquitoes maintained head- quarters and breeding grounds in the marshes where East Potomac Park— & product of practical reclamation— now stands. During the summer sea- son the prevalling south winds blew directly back to the Mount Pleasant ihills, s0 that what is now one of the best residential sections of Wash-, ington was then a center of malaria. The people even refrained from rais- ing their bedchamber windows at night, fearing that the malarial poisons would gain access to their homes if they did so. Potentially, the detection, of mos- quitoes as carriers of malaria and yellow fever made the control and blological investigations instigated by Dr. Howard of makimum im- portance in solving the perplexing secrets of those previously unfathom- able allments. ok kK ~the early days of the Depart- ment of Agriculture crop pests wers not of as much importance as they are today, because economie. e tomolegy was got then firmly estab- Inspecting bagdade of incoming | #ow incudes thorow, | seeds and plants MAGAZINE SECTION WASHINGTON, D. examination fo corn that was infected with Mropea«fl» corL-poret. lished as a recognized sclence, not so much definite information was avail- able as the result of palnstaking re- search, while specialized crops -on which . the. plant -pirates :could prey were not g0 highly developed. 4 For the first few years Dr. Howard and his associates waged energetic warfare against such pests as the cotton caterpillar, against . grain pests such as the Hesslan fly—this insect was introduced from Europe in straw used by the Hessian soldiers of revolutionary days to bed thelr horses during the ocean voyage to America—and citrus. pests - which were despoiling thesorange trees of California. g Uncle Sam controlled the fluted or white scale, which was playing havoc with California’s orange groves by introducing & species of lady bird from the orient tHat was a natural enemy of the scale. This activity of science saved the citrus industry from serious annual lokses cayséd by the scale insects. . \ Prior to 1900 the gypsy moth and brown-tall moth were. well estab- llshed in the. United States. . Dr. Howard made several trips to Eu- rope, where he secured parasites and' natural enemies of both these plant nemies. As a result of his activi these insects are no longer serious enemies. of orchard, shade or orna- mental trees in jmuch of the New C., SUNDAY MORN aliens at American ports r contraband fruits KEYSTONE VIEW tion room of Tederal Horticultural oard in Washington the England territéry to which they are confined. The story of how these mioths were initially introduced to America is an eplc in- the annals’ of our mational entomology. About a ‘half - century ago a Frenchman in the facuity at Harvard University was conducting some amateur. entomological .experl- ments. ‘A sericus disease was threat- ening the extinction of the silk worm culture in his beloved France. He was experimenting with certain kinds of moths which he had obtained from his motherland. During a windstorm some eggs of ‘the gypsy moths wero blown._from his open study window. Subsequently the amateur:investi- gator did everything he- eould to find and destroy the escaped-insects. jHe even advertised-in the newspapers and offered’ a’' reward for. the return’ or destruction ‘of ‘the pests.: His endeav- ors; however, were fitfle and a:few months therestter infestations by gvpsy moths developed: near Boston. The plague spread rapidly through- out ‘the Naw England states and only after the most detefmined and stren- uous efforts: of entomological science has {t been partially controlled. Dr. Howard’s accomplishments tn the fleld of medical entomology have been ‘outstanding. His. books on | “Mogquitoed”. and “The_Houde Fiy— Disease Carrier” were published when “the campalgns against these wihged NG, JANUARY 13, 1924. qui@éij are four ¢ Lo B {or fumigdatio FEATURES e S i ol cotion, thoe ylindess "eack of wiidh caw ac- comwodate 52 bales of Egyplian cotton/ 1.0 - e enemies of .man were in the critical formative period. Each book has len “largely instrumental in the large scale detection and¢conquest of the pest which it describes. When the cotton boll weevil as an unbMden guest migrated from Mex- ico to Texas about, thirty years ago Dr. Howard immediately récommend- ed the passage of a strict quarantine law and the inception of a campalgn of extermination while the undesira- ble alien and its operations were con- finel to a restricted area. Uncle Sam was unsuccessful in securing the ¢ operation of the states most. co cerned and, subsequently, the boll weevil destroyed stupendously large amounts of cotton. . In‘some years this wanton destruc- tion of the greatest cash' crop in all Dixle has amountéd to as much as a loss of one-fifth of a billion dollars. Latterly, the bureau of entomology, has discovered efficient control meas- ures which feature the dusting of the cotton plants with calcium arsenate to kil the pestiferous boll weevil. * KK % DUBTNG the last forty-five years Dr. L. 0. Howard has written and published ‘more’ than 800 books and papers on entomological subjects, many-of which have ‘besn ‘translated into ‘forelgn languages. ' He is one of the most netable ’sclentists In the resident of Wa famous entomologists®in the world: T hing United States, a world-wide authdrity on economic entomology, and is a member of more than two dozen im- portant scientific organizations in the United States, while his name appears also on the rosters of twenty eminent forelgn socletles. He is a member of the National Academy of Sclences and has been president of the Ameri- can Association for the Advancement of Sclence, an organization with more than, 12,000 members, He is an out- standing member of the Academy of Agriculture in France and an honor- ary member of the leading entomolog- fcal socleties of England, France, Russia and Germany. The crowning sclentific honor of the life of this great Washingtonian came with ‘the recent presentation of the cross of the Legion of Honor of France as.a reward for his wonderful services-to mankind. Dr. Howard is one of the fathers of economic “entomology in the United States. “His notable accomplishments are admirably reflected in the growth and development of the bureau of entomology. Since 1878, when this governmental agency employed only thiree men and received an annual ap- propriation of but $5,000, it has-ex- panded until 8t present the same bu- reau employs more than §00 persons, 400 of whom are scientifically trained experts. The annual.allofvancethat 2 I ton for45 years and Congress apportions to the main- tenance and upbullding of national entomolagical operations aggregates $1,800,000. The bureau of entomology operates seventy-five field laboratories in different parts of the country. The policy of Dr. Howard Is to carry the laboratory to the problem instead of bringing the problem to the labora- tory. | Once, many years ago, a certain prominent congressman attempted to ascertain exactly how much the entomological investigations of Uncle Sam's experts annually saved the United States.* All the leaders of entomologleal investigations sent in estimates at Dr. Howard's. reques To be conservative, Dr. Howard re- duced’all these estimates exactly one- half. Thereafter the Secretary of Ag- riculture also sliced one-half from the figures, as did also the chairman of the agricultural congressional committee on expenditures. Even after this extensive carving and prun- ing the ultimate amount ran over the $23,000,000 mark. Really, the original figures ($182,000,000) were more nearly correct than the abbrevi- ated estimates, for there is no other branch of the national government which does more in incressing the an- nual dollsr and odnts:income of the American farmer.than the bureau of which Dr. Howard is the chief. . An all-important ald to7the work tific Army Led by Expert Here Fights Crop Pests Present Chief Has Seen Work Grow From Three Workers and $5,000 a Year to 500 Em-~ ployes, of Whom 400 Are Experts. With Annual Ap- | propriation of { Nearly Two Mil- I lion Dollars. | | | lof the entomologiets is the federal |inspection service that has been es- | tablished to prevent the tncoming of new pests. At every important port of entry {n the United States Uncle Sam now maintains efficient police- men, who inspect important mate- rials, and even the baggage of incom- ing passengers, to prevent the smug- €ling in of diseased frults or plants which may jeopardize one or another of our economic crops. Uncle Sam, through the federal horticultural board, regularly issues | schedules and quarantine regulations | which make it unlawful to introduce fruit, seed, plants, cuttings or roots of infested or infected plants from foreign lands where certain objec- tionable plant diseases prevail. The duty of the port inspectors is to See that these regulations are obeved % ¥ LLATTERLY, at the port of New York, a shipment of two barrels nd one case of fruit from Nassau was examined. The {mporter who packed the goods swore that the ship- ment contained no yams, sweet pota- | toes or sugar cane, all of which were forbidden entry to our shores because they may carry Notwith- standing, the government inspectors found quantities of prohibited fruft and agricultural crops, such as yams, sugar cane, bananas and cocoanuts. in the shipment. There was a wood- en partition in one of the barrels which also contained twelve quarts of spirituous liquor. The importer was fined and the pro- hibited contraband destroyed Then the netional inspectors turned to other sleuthing examinations. In an {mportation from Brazil they found orchlds, various tree seeds and { Aty packages of cotton seed. The cotton seed wag found to be infested with the pink boll worm. It was In- | tended for planting in the cotton zone of Mississippt. It also was confls- cated and destroyed. Still another “find” the baggage of an Incoming alien | from Central America. Desiring to bring with him some of his cherished {avocados and knowing that the cus- toms authorities would destroy such truits if they found them, the ama- teur smuggler concealed the avo- |cados in the center of loaves of bread. That, however, was an old ltrick which the inspectors had de- tected many times before. The avo- | cados were discovered and destroyed. Some of the most costly plant pirates which now are parasitio on American agriculture have been in- troduced from abroad in trivial ship- ments of imported materials. The notorlous Japanese beatle—a pest which is uncontrollable and which is yearly extending its do- maln in America—reached our shores in a shipment of Japanese iris re- ceived befors the establishment of the federal horticuitural board and the port inspection service San Jose scale, which costs us { more than $10,000.000 a vear in tol! | and tribute, was introduced from China in a shipment of flowering peaches about four decades ago. Citrus canker, another unweloome guest from Japan, has since its ar- rival In the United States destroyed millions of dollars’ worth of citrus fruit. Flowering cherry trees from Japan brought the orfental fruit worm to our shores. From Germany came the pine blis- ter rust. a disease which threatens the ultimate extinction of our white pine forests that now are valued at $516,750,000. The chestnut blight, introduced from the orient, haa already killed one-half of the American stand of Chestnut trees and threatens ths abolition of those that remain. The brown-tall moth came to America in a shipment of roses from Holland. It was in 1898 that Dr. Howard first began to urge Congress to tablish the federal horticulturs! board. Our national legislators biok- ered and dflly-dallled along untfl 1912 befors they finally enacted (largely because of the splendid work of Dr. C. L. Marlatt of the bu- resu of entomology and now chief of the federal horticultural board) the essential laws to ratify port of entry inspection and thé protection of our shores against obnoxious forelgn plant diseases. In the interim the alfalfa weevil, the European corn borer, the Japa- nese beetlo and a number of other very destructive pests as well as such plant diseases as pine blister rust and potato wart were intro- duced here. It now costs us more than $2,000,000,000 a year to pay the board bill of theso undesirable aliens that came to America as plant tmmigrants or_ derelicts, and will probably always be legion in this country as a result of thelr rights of squatter sovereignty. They con- st of dlseases and parasitic Continued on Fourth Page disease. was made in