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About Vernonia eagle. (Vernonia, Or.) 1922-1974 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 1950)
Bud worm And the effort must be built Here’s the first of the 40-odd up more in 1951. It demands verses of an old song of Southern real money and many men. field hands: Heliothis “Oh, the boll weevil am a little In none of the proceedings and black bug. orations on the budworm that Come from Mexico, they say. have come my way so far is Now it’s up all the way from there any mention of the vital Texas, fact that the beast is the larva Jes’ looking fer a place to stay— of a diminutive noctuid moth Jes' lookin’ fer a home, that beats the family name of Jes’ lookin’ fer a home.” heliothis. All breeds of helio- Now the people of the woods this are tough babies. One chews in this big-timber country of ours tobacco in the raw, right off the are facing the spread of a men bush. Our breed would no ace not unlike that of the boll doubt take to snoose. weevil in the South. Foresters A story is already going the are already calling the spruce rounds of the camps that the budworm a more powerful threat Latin name originated in Walla to our forests than fire. The Walla, where an ungodly swarm spruce budworm would be a true hatched out one night and terror if it were not for that blanketed the city like snow. miracle of insecticides, DDT. The Next morning the citizens were danger is requiring a vastly all asking each other, "What 01 ganized joint effort of foresters the heliothis?” So it was under and entomologists backed by stood, the loggers tell. Plain both government and industry speaking was impossible because and financed for aerial surveys a Walla Walla man would no that ran over 26,000 air miles more than open his mouth than last year, to set up effective de moths would fly in, looking for fense against the spruce bud a home. worm. "Oh, the budworm is a little white moth, Comes from Canada, they tell It’s come way out to Oregon, Jes’ lookin’ for a place to dwell.” I’ll rig a ballad up for Stan Borenson and his accordian, while I’m in the mood. A Mighty Mean Moth The budworm infested Pacific Northwest Douglas fir and White fir in 1944, this spreading to an alarming extent by 1948. The next year a cooperative serve / by government and industry men showed that a total of 2,232,250 acres had been invaded by a deadly species of heliothis larvae a 56 per cent increase over 1948. This was apart from a 567,000 acres that were sprayed. The epidemic is being held, as the 1950 spraying of a million acres reduced the acreage of infestation to a little over two million acres. Government and industry shared the year’s cost of control—$1,300,000. The fight must go on. The spruce budworm, while in the caterpillar stage, is a gluttonous devourer of the leaves of the Douglas fir and White fir. When an epidemic loads a forest area the stripped trees starve to death—as trees feed through leaves on light and air. Back east the tree-killing helio this has made away with an esti mated hundred billion board feet of timber in the past 40 years. In TREES, the USDA Yearbook of 1949, the grim story is told on Pages 423-427 by three top notch entomologists. It pictures the spread of the spruce noctuid from Quebec in 1909, through Maine, Ontario, the Lake States, the Rocky Mountains, on to the Pacific Northwest. • The Douglas fir, heretofore so resistant to all bugs and blights, bows to the budworm. Our de fense is DDT spraying, which takes planes, men in consider able numbers and surveys to find infested forests. Back of all this must be public understand ing and support. I’ll keep you folks posted. Wildcat Bagged By Timber Man THE EAGLE, VERNONIA, ORE. cat last week while out target practicing. Mr. and Mrs. Earl Beyer and Connie of Warrenton spent Sun day with Mr. Beyer’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Beyer. A pink and blue shower was given at the Stewart Taylor home for Mrs. Pete Rover Sat urday night. Invited guests were* Mr. and Mrs. Don Cole man, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Mur phree, Mr. and Mrs. Russ Dunn, Mr. and Mrs. Ben Burleigh, Mrs. Emery Bailey, Pat Dunn, and Chet Beyer. THURSDAY, DEC. 21, 195» 3 LOG SCALE BOOKS • • Scribener's i • 1948 Columbia River • Waterproof / • From 12 to 80 Feet • Only 50c . J Vernonia Eagle Office Supplies TIMBER — Leo Lolly of Port land is spending an indefinite time with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Walt Lolley. Mr. Lopez is convalesing at the Jones hospital after a recent appendectomy.. Bill Tate bagged his first wild- A bit of starch makes white gloves more resistant to smudges. In all sincerity- the fullness of § SEASON GREETINGS MOVING? joy be yours CASON TRANSFER / this Yule. Call 581 for Free Estimate Wilbur (Shorty) Davis, Prop. Office at Sundland Electric Vernonia Service Station HXHXHZHZHZH May heaven and nature sing for you this We want to say, with ; Joy be § yours this . Christmas Nichols Variety Store deepest sincerity, a very happy holiday to you. 1950 if (----------- äcosctox 50 The Pal Shop Hoffman Hardware George and Louise Hahn X * M zhzhzhzhzhzhzhzhzhzhzhz R Again We Extend to Our Employees Simple, unadorned thoughts are best at Christmas So we would only wish you a joyful and happy holi day season when every step you take in and to the Residents of Vernonia best wishes for a MERRY CHRISTMAS creases your desire to be a friend to man. And a Merry Christ- mas to you. PEACEFUL AND HAPPY ( IIRISTMAS Bill and Reatna Hom Straight Bourbon Whist«» • 86 Proof i National Distillers Products Corporation, N.Y. '