(Witness: Howard.)

a place where they sometimes breed. I advocate the abolishing of the box privy and the substitution of an earth closet, and the use of some process by which chloride of lime or some other substance will be put upon the surface. The house fly carries the disease only as it lights on the excreta of typhoid patients and then flies and lights on food. I have seen in an alleyway in the city, in a low quarter, excreta dropped evidently the night before, swarming with flies at 10 o'clock in the morning within 10 feet of the open windows of houses, the kitchens of which were full of food supplies. When we consider that active typhoid bacilli may be carried by a person for some weeks before the disease of typhoid is diagnosed, and that they may also be carried by a person for some weeks after that person is cured of typhoid, we can see what the danger is of the carriage of the disease by the house fly.

Of course you are all very well aware of the fact which was shown that the typhoid fever which carried off 75 per cent of the men who died in the concentration camps at the time of the outbreak of the Spanish war, according to the reports of Shakespeare and Vaughan and Reed, as they indicated in their reports, was not contracted from water or milk, but, in the majority of cases, the disease was carried by the house flies from the camp sink to the camp mess tables. This is a very interesting thing.

The CHAIRMAN. Then your method of providing against the contamination by flies is simply to eliminate the flies?

Doctor HOWARD. Yes; simply to eliminate the flies.

The CHAIRMAN. And is this the same method used in connection with the mosquitoes?

Doctor HOWARD. Yes; to abolish the breeding places of the mosquitoes in the same way.

The CHAIRMAN. And that is the only method of producing immunity?

Doctor HOWARD. Not the only method. The Italians have gone at the problem in what they call the "Black Belt" of Italy, beginning at the Campagna and running south to Naples in another way. They have gone through the Campagna and dosed all the peasants with quinine and other antimalaria substances, with the idea that if they abolish the malaria there will be no more malaria, because there will be no way for the mosquitoes to become infected; and in that way they have increased the health of the country and have reduced the malaria.

The Germans have gone at it in another way. They do not abolish the mosquitoes, but they protect the people from the mosquitoes by furnishing the people with mosquito bars free. Our way is the most thorough by abolishing the mosquito. We can do that by drainage of wet lands and wet places, and by the introduction of fish into artificial ponds, and by pouring kerosense on the surface of water in breeding places of mosquitoes.

The CHAIRMAN. By pouring kerosense on the surface of the water? Doctor HOWARD. Yes; it stops the breeding of the mosquitoes entirely.

The CHAIRMAN. Does it produce any disagreeable results?

Doctor HOWARD. No; except that it destroys some water plants; but

(Witness: Howard.)

you can introduce fish in artificial ponds that will eat up the wrigglers.

The CHAIRMAN. Are you continually enlarging the scope of your investigations?

Doctor HOWARD. As the emergencies demand it, Mr. Chairman. There is constantly, almost every year, a new aspect of insect damage coming up. Just within the last week I have had a Member of Congress from western Pennsylvania, with some of his constituents who are large grape growers there, come to my office and urge me to make an investigation of a new grape insect which is working at the roots of the grapevines. Almost every year something that is comparatively new comes up in that way.

The CHAIRMAN. So that it keeps your Bureau continuously employed?

Doctor HowARD. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. What do you look upon as the most valuable and useful lines of investigation that your Bureau has been engaged in in the line of producing results valuable to the agriculture of the country?

Doctor HOWARD. In a general way, or a specific way?

The CHAIRMAN. You might give two or three of the most striking typical illustrations.

Doctor HOWARD. I think the most striking things have been those in regard to the introduction of beneficial insects which I have already told you about; but the entire advance of the fighting of the San Jose scale, the most serious enemy of the horticultural industry, has been accomplished by our bureau. We first recognized the appearance of the insect in the east, and by our experiments with remedies, with washes and so on, we brought about the present system of fighting the San Jose scale which is now effiective. It is by the use of a mixture of lime, sulphur, and salt.

We also introduced from China a ladybug which was an enemy of the San Jose scale, and established it in three or four different sections of the country; but we found out that it died out in the north, and while it bred in Georgia, the fruit growers were not content to wait for it to become sufficiently abundant to produce an effect, but insisted upon keeping up spraying, and the result was they killed off the imported beetle as well as the scale. But it is undoubtedly alive in outlying districts there, and any time they stop spraying it will have its effect.

At the same time, the invention and fixing of the standard insecticides now in use are due to the work of the Bureau of Entomology. The perfection of the method of spraying now in use generally all over the country of the coddling moth is the result of our work. In fact, all the advances made in the way of fighting insects originated with us.

The CHAIRMAN. You mean the various preparations that are used for this purpose?

Doctor HOWARD. Yes, the preparations.

The CHAIRMAN. Were the preparations originally discovered and prepared by your Bureau?

Doctor HowARD. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. By experimental work?

(Witness: Howard.)

Doctor HOWARD. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. And they have proved successful?
Doctor HOWARD. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. And they have become commercial?

Doctor HOWARD. Not necessarily commercial, because all of our formulas are printed, and all of them can be prepared by the fruit grower himself at a less rate than he can buy the proprietary remedies for.

In the same way we have made the advances in the machinery for the application of insecticides. The best spray nozzle in use all over the world to-day was an invention of an employee of the Bureau of Entomology.

Mr. SAMUEL. You introduced the English sparrow?

Doctor HOWARD. No, sir. That was done by Dr. T. M. Brewer, of Boston, about 1867, if I am not mistaken.

Mr. SAMUEL. The English sparrow has become a greater nuisance than the insect it was designed to destroy?

Doctor HOWARD. Yes; very much more so. The same statement I have made holds, Mr. Chairman, in regard to the insects injurious to field crops. We have suggested many instances of variation in the cultural methods, which have succeeded in wiping out the insects very largely. A striking example of that was in the case of the clover seed midge, a little insect which laid its eggs in the flower of the clover, and which destroyed the clover seed, which is a very valuable crop. We discovered, after studying the full life history of the insect, that simply by cutting the first crop, the hay crop, ten days earlier than usual, the insect would be exterminated. Of course, that was based on life history work, the work of studying the life history of the insect.

Mr. SAMUEL. Have you discovered any preparation for potato bugs any more effective than Paris green?

Doctor HOWARD. No, sir; nothing more effective than that.

The CHAIRMAN. Did you ever investigate the borer?

Doctor HOWARD. The apple borer?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Doctor HOWARD. Yes, we made quite a number of investigations; and we have published papers giving the results.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you any way of exterminating it except by physical destruction?

Doctor HOWARD. No, sir; no other method than that of physical destruction. There are several ways of effecting the physical destruction, however, and the most effective way is by the injection of a few drops of bisulphide of carbon under the bark of the tree.

The CHAIRMAN. Under the bark of the tree?

Doctor HOWARD. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. In what month is that done?

Doctor HOWARD. I think in the month of May, if I am not mistaken. In many large apple orchards at the present time the proprietors have a large syringe which can be inserted through the bark, and they inject a few drops of bisulphid of carbon which destroys the insect underneath the bark. That leaves a little black scar, but it does not affect the health of the tree to any extent.

(Witnesses: Howard, Zappone.)

The CHAIRMAN. Does that destroy the borer wherever he may be found?

Doctor HOWARD. Yes; anywhere in that vicinity. If you are an orchardist you can tell about where he is if you are familiar with the appearance of trees.

The standard remedy for scale insects on the citrus fruit in California is the use of hydrocyanic gas under tents. That was entirely developed by the work of the Bureau.

The CHAIRMAN. Under tents?

Doctor HOWARD. Yes; under tents. They have a system of putting a tent over a tree and letting off a little of this gas, and the scale insects are all destroyed.

The CHAIRMAN. I think we have covered the ground. Do you think of anything further? [To Mr. Zappone.]

Mr. ZAPPONE. No, sir; I do not.

The CHAIRMAN (to Doctor Howard). You have given your view of the principal features which demonstrate the utility of the work of your bureau?

Doctor HOWARD. Yes; I think so. There are certain other aspects which are exhibited in my annual report. The activities are all exhibited under 14 or 15 different heads. The principal ones we have dwelt upon. We are doing work in bee culture, and also in silk culture and in a number of other directions.

Mr. SAMUEL. Have you any suggestions other than those you have already given?

Doctor HOWARD. I think not, sir.

Mr. ZAPPONE. I suggest that Doctor Howard mark the more important projects in his annual report and file them as an exhibit. Doctor HOWARD. Will that be permitted?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes, .

[From last Annual Report of the Bureau of Entomology.]

Practically all of the investigations under way in the Bureau of Entomology at the time of my last report have been continued with excellent results, and several new and important lines of work have been begun.

THE MEXICAN COTTON BOLL WEEVIL.

Encouraging progress has been made in the work against the Mexican cotton boll weevil, as shown by an extensive canvass of the cotton planters who have followed the recommendations of the Bureau.

Owing to climatic conditions in the summer and fall of 1904 and in the winter of 1904-5, some of the area that became infested late in the summer of 1904 was entirely devoid of weevils in the early part of 1905, but the fall movements of the weevil in 1905 more than covered this area. This permitted studies for which there had been previously little opportunity, and many points which had a bearing upon the possibility of the continued advance of the pest were investigated.

EXPERIMENTAL FARMS.

The continuation of the experimental farms at fourteen places in Texas has been deemed desirable, as the value of experimental field work depends largely upon the number of seasons through which it has been carried. Two additional experimental farms have been carried on in Louisiana. The whole acreage placed under contract in these experiments is 877.

The modifications in the cultural system of lessening damage, made necessary by the change in habits of the insect, were carefully studied in connection with the work carried on in the laboratory.

(Witness: Howard.)

OTHER FIELD WORK.

In addition to experimental plats on a large scale numerous field experiments were conducted, including an extensive experiment in the hand picking of infested bolls and considerable other work directed to the solution of questions which can not be tested with the fullest practical effect in the laboratory.

The continued spread of the weevil has been carefully watched, and publications regarding the new territory infested have been issued in cooperation with the Weather Bureau. Careful study has been made of the conditions in western Texas in order to determine whether the weevil is likely to spread to that part of the State in spite of the general idea that such spread will not take place.

LABORATORY WORK.

In the well-fitted laboratory now located at Dallas, Tex., the effects of different temperatures and the condition of food supply upon the development of the weevil were tested, the breeding of parasites was continued, and a special study was made of a native ant which seems to be becoming more and more an important factor in the natural control of the weevil. Investigations of the distribution of this ant, its adaptability to different soil conditions, and the possibility of its artificial propagation have also been made.

TRUE PARASITES OF THE BOLL WEEVIL.

Since the weevil entered Texas native parasites have had little effect upon it until recently. During the year, however, it was found that in the Brownsville region-first entered by the weevil about 1893-native parasites have accommodated themselves to its habits, and now at least 50 per cent of the early stages are sometimes destroyed by these parasites. Consequently much attention is being paid to the parasite question, in order to determine whether it will be possible to assist the work of these beneficial insects. It seems probable that the small results gained from the work of parasites down to the present time are largely due to the recent invasion of the cotton fields of the South by the injurious insect.

COOPERATION WITH THE LOUISIANA CROP PEST COMMISSION.

Cooperation with the Louisiana Crop Pest Commission, begun in 1904, was continued during the year, three assistants being employed by the Bureau for work in Louisiana. During the season of 1905 it was planned to enter upon an extensive study of the so-called migratory movement of the boll weevil in order to learn, if possible, some method of checking its further advances, or at least to learn more definitely the approximate time when other regions may become infested. On account, however, of the occurrence of yellow fever and the consequent rigid quarantine, it was impossible to carry on this work in full, but a number of important observations were made. In cooperation with the commission more than 25,000 weevils were carefully studied under natural conditions during the winter.

THE COTTON BOLLWORM.

The work on the cotton bollworm during the fiscal year was largely in the character of demonstrations, indicating the value of conclusions already reached and detailed in the last annual report of the Entomologist, and successful efforts were made locally in the extermination of the bollworm by means of poisons.

OTHER COTTON INSECTS.

The work on other cotton insects has been done largely in cooperation with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. A field agent of the Bureau was stationed at the Texas Agricultural College, devoting his attention to the other insects affecting the cotton plant. The important discovery has been made that it is possible to propagate the predaceous enemies of cotton plant-louse, an insect which sometimes causes great damage to young cotton. It is believed that this work will lead to a practical method of controlling the pest.

The general work done upon cotton insects of all kinds results in an annual saving to the country of not less than $5,000,000.