Bugs vs. Man, Beasts and Crops

This summer the pests are the worst in years

The small brown moths darkened the skies in Maine's mountain country in early July, cutting visibility at times to less than 300 yds. Motorists who left the windows of parked cars open near Presque Isle had to beat away the insects to get back behind the wheel. Since then, the moths have dropped eggs in massive quantities, and tiny quarter-inch-long spruce budworms are now eating their way through 150 million acres of forests in Maine and southeastern Canada. Evergreen spruce and fir trees stand brown and naked in the summer sun.

A short distance to the southwest, the worst tent caterpillar infestation in 25 years has already chewed up 40,000 acres of maple and other hardwood forests in the state of Vermont. Yet Vermont foresters consider themselves fortunate. Some mysterious disease seems to be killing off the caterpillars--bugs eating bugs--and earlier estimates that the damage would spread to some 100,000 acres may not prove true.

Insects are a problem every summer, but this year across the U.S. the plague of insects is one of the most intense and varied in years. The worst grasshopper attack in two decades has moved south through the Plains states into Texas, turning millions of acres of green crops into wastelands. In north central Texas, the grasshoppers attacked peach trees so voraciously that little but the exposed pits remain clinging to half-eaten branches.

Screwworms have been infecting cattle in all of Arizona, as well as in much of neighboring New Mexico, producing the most serious threat to ranchers there in five years. The worms keep the beef cattle lean, and infected portions of the animals cannot be sold. At the same time, Arizona homeowners are fighting an unusual abundance of black widow spiders, inspiring neighborly nighttime forays in which residents chase the invaders with flashlights, sticks and sprays.

In California, the lygus bug invaded cotton fields of the San Joaquin Valley. Worried farmers attacked with insecticides, but the spray killed the natural predators of bollworms. Now the lygus bug is fading, while the bollworm is on the march. University of California at Berkeley Entomologist Robert van den Bosch blames "insecticide salesmen hustling their products" and the "stupidity" of an undiscriminating use of pesticides for aggravating the problem.

On a lesser scale, three kinds of insects are attacking sweet corn in Maryland and Pennsylvania: the fall army worm, the corn-ear worm and the European corn borer. Ironically, the corn has been so lush this year that sprays used to combat the worms do not fully penetrate the thick foliage. Pest controllers estimate that Maryland farmers could lose up to 75% of their corn crops.

The stinkbug, a hard-shelled black-and-orange insect, has startled residents of some Rocky Mountain towns in Colorado by blackening the streets with hordes that give off a musty odor. The mountain pine beetle is assaulting trees from nearby Wyoming south to New Mexico. The leaf roller is defoliating birches in Alaska, while the gypsy moth has been munching leaves in New York. In Florida a relatively new threat, the citrus black fly, which first turned up near Fort Lauderdale in 1976, is now being fought with stingless wasps--imported from Mexico--and with the chemical acephate. The perennial itch called the mosquito has bred such powerful specimens in Minnesota that wags have started calling it the state bird.

While many a city resident may have found the proliferation of mosquitoes, ants, moths, spiders and flies acutely irritating this summer, the overall damage to agriculture, except for the continuing grasshopper infestation, has not yet been great. The U.S. Agriculture Department this month predicted bumper grain crops not only for the U.S., but for much of the world.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.