STAMPING OUT THE MEDITERRANEAN FLY IN HAWAII. COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, The committee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. John Lamb (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. We have two of our colleagues here this morning who wanted to be heard on a bill relating to the Mediterranean fly. I will ask Mr. Hayes, of California, to proceed. A BILL Making an appropriation to assist in stamping out the Mediterranean fly in the Territory of Hawaii. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum of $50,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended by the Bureau of Entomology, under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture, in the study of the habits and enemies of the Mediterranean fly, and to assist the people of Hawaii in stamping out this pest and stopping its ravages in said Territory. Mr. HAYES. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Kahn and I some days ago introduced a bill asking for a $50,000 appropriation to be spent by the Bureau of Entomology under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture, in the study of the habits and the natural enemies of the Mediterranean fly, and to assist the people of Hawaii in their efforts to stamp out the pest. This is a new fruit pest, and you probably have never heard of it, or if you have, its habits and methods are entirely unknown to you. The fact of the matter is, in a hundred years no pest has appeared that has so disturbed the fruit industries of the world as has this one. Beginning, as it is supposed, about the Mediterranean Sea, it has migrated to the islands adjacent to Italy, to Africa, to Australia, and finally now it is in Hawaii, having last year destroyed the entire peach and other fruit crops of Hawaii. My colleague, Mr. Kahn, has recently made a visit to Hawaii, and can speak from personal observation of the ravages of this pest. I will not dwell upon that. It has absolutely and totally destroyed the fruit crops, and even some of the vegetable crops of South Wales and other parts of Australia. The only remedy that has been found for it is to inclose the trees with mosquito netting. Mr. PLUMLEY. When was it first discovered? Mr. HAYES. I do not know, but it is within a few years. I do not think it has been known to exist, or at least it did not begin its ravages until within the last three or four years. Mr. PLUMLEY. When did it appear in the Hawaiian Islands? Mr. HAYES. In the last year or so. Mr. KAHN. It is supposed to have reached the islands two years ago, from Australia, but its effects were not visible until last year. Mr. PLUMLEY. How was it taken from Australia? Mr. KAHN. By vessels that plied between Australia and Hawaii, and it has been transferred to these other coasts in the same way. It goes in the form of maggots in the fruit. We can not see that there is anything in the fruit until it is cut open. Mr. LEVER. Is there considerable shipment of such fruit, which the fly comes in, from Australia to Hawaii? Mr. KAHN. There are some apple shipments, and various other shipments. Mr. LEVER. And it attacks other fruit besides the peach? Mr. HAYES. Yes, sir. It attacks the citrus fruits at first, and it also attacks beans, tomatoes, and green peppers. In the island of Malta and St. Helena it has destroyed the fruit industry and the vegetable industry, upon which the people of those islands depended, and there are agents now in California looking for land to colonize the destitute people from those islands, whose means of livelihood has been destroyed. Mr. LEVER. Do you think it will be better to make a separate appropriation, and would have a Federal inspection of fruit, and so on? Mr. HAYES. I would be very much in favor of both. Mr. LEVER. Do you remember last session a bill providing for inspection of foreign nursery-stock importations that came up in the House and was attacked viciously? Mr. HAYES. Yes, sir; I remember that very well. Mr. LEVER. And it failed of passage? Mr. HAYES. Yes, sir; but my attitude was in favor of it, and if it ever comes up again Mr. LEVER. And the only thing of significance is Federal inspection? Mr. HAYES. Yes, sir. Mr. LEVER. And the United States is attempting to grant them all the help? Mr. HAYES. Yes, sir: but in this case something more is necessary than inspection, because it has got into Hawaii. We have the very best protection that the State of California can give us, but we want enough money to destroy the pest out in Hawaii, which is at our very doors. Only so can we be fully protected. The CHAIRMAN. Would you prefer that this committee take up this bill and consider it and pass it and other Mr. HAYES. No. The CHAIRMAN. Would you be satisfied with results such as we might reach? Mr. HAYES. Results are what we are after. Instead of considering this bill that we introduced, merely to call the committee's and the public's attention to what is desired and ask for an appropriation suflicient, in the view of the committee, to meet the situation, I suggest that the appropriation be incorporated in the agricultural appropriation bill. STATEMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE JULIUS KAHN, OF CALIFORNIA. Mr. KAHN. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I visited Hawaii this summer and there first learned of the ravages of this insect pest. The people of Hawaii have for many years conducted a local campaign against insect pests, and they expend every year something like seventy or eighty thousand dollars in stamping out those pests that affect their particular crops. Fruit raising for profit is not conducted on a large scale in the Hawaiian Islands, except in the case of pineapples and bananas; and, strange to say, this pest has not attacked as yet in Hawaii the pineapple or the banana, although Dr. Howard, of the Agricultural Department, has informed me that the Mediterranean fly has attacked the pineapple in Australia, and I have also learned that it has attacked the banana in some countries. The female fly punctures the skin of the ripening fruit and deposits her eggs underneath the skin. This puncture is not visible to the naked eye, and you can not tell from the outside appearance that the fruit is infected. After a little while these eggs breed out into maggots that look like the so-called cheese skippers. When the fruit falls to the ground it bursts open and these "skippers move along rapidly until they find a soft spot in the earth. They crawl underneath and there they develop. They come out a little fly-smaller than the common house fly-beautifully marked with brown spots on the wings and brown spots on the head, making a rather attractive little insect. 66 In Hawaii you have a very unusual condition for the propagation of this insect. You have the wild guava growing in abundance everywhere. There are thousands of acres of wild guava bushes, and the fly has attacked the wild guava. Much of it grows on the precipitous sides of the mountains of Hawaii, and man can not reach it. I believe that it will be necessary for the department, in order to thoroughly exterminate the pest down there, to burn off or otherwise destroy the wild guava. The fly was first discovered in the citrus. fruits, the oranges there, but it has attacked nearly everything in the way of fruit except those two that I have mentioned, the pineapple and the banana. It has destroyed the bean crops down there and it has destroyed their green-pepper crops. It has even attacked the mango, with its thick skin, even though the skin has a very pungent taste and smell, not unlike turpentine. The State of California has a very excellent horticultural commission, which is maintained at great expense by the people of the State. We inspect everything that comes into our State in the way of fruit, nursery stock, or foliage of any kind. Mr. HANNA. Will an inspection, if the worms are hidden in the fruit, disclose their presence? Mr. KAHN. No. Mr. HANNA. If every bit of fruit is inspected? Mr. KAHN. We do not allow any fruit at the present time to come into California from Hawaii except bananas and pineapples. Even the succulent alligator pear, which had grown to be a favorite article. of diet with us, has been shut out. Mr. HANNA. Suppose the fruit is consigned to Kansas; you could not prevent it then? Mr. KAHN. We would try in some way to stop it from landing on our shores. The CHAIRMAN. Why do you so much apprehend danger from the fly if you have such strict regulations as that? Mr. KAHN. Because the other States have not such strict regulations and they can come from other States into our borders. The State of California, with its millions of dollars invested in the fruit industry, the State of Oregon, and the State of Washington are vitally interested in this matter, but with the opening of the Panama Canal in a few years shipments of fruits direct from Hawaii will come to the eastern ports through the canal. The CHAIRMAN. When it strikes this country, it makes its first appearance on the seaboard? Mr. KAHN. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Does it go very far in extent? Mr. KAHN. It spreads rapidly and ravages the entire country. Mr. KAHN. Yes, sir; they say it can live in the Torrid Zone as well as in the Frigid Zone; it will live anywhere where fruit will grow. Mr. LEVER. Has any entomologist reported on this pest? Mr. KAHN. Mr. Hays and I have seen Dr. Howard a number of times and we have seen the Secretary of Agriculture. They are in hearty sympathy with the effort to stamp out this pest, and they recognize the importance of this legislation. The entomologist of the State Board of Horticulture of California has made a bulletin on the pest and its ravages in Hawaii. Mr. LEVER. What do they do in Italy? Mr. KAHN. They have done very little; in fact, they have done nothing. This pest is gradually going around the world. It is in Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, St. Helena, and the island of Malta, as well as in the Hawaiian Territory. Mr. HANNA. Does it attack grapes? Mr. KAHN. Yes, sir; and it wipes out the grape crop. It attacks most of the other fruits. It has attacked, in New Zealand, peaches, cherries, pineapples, persimmons, oranges, apricots, pears, and bananas. The damage is done by the fly laying its eggs under the skin of the fruit at the period when the fruit is ripening and the puncture. made by the fly never shows. Mr. LEVER. These flies, wherever they come from, can they be destroyed by spraying? Mr. KAHN. No, sir; they have not been able to accomplish anything by spraying. The female fly lays her eggs under the skin of the fruit, and then as the fruit ripens the puncture heals over and you can not tell by the appearance of the fruit that it is infected. Mr. LEVER. Where do these maggots lodge-under the skin? Mr. KAHN. All through the fruit; and they would do no damage. if they were to continue in the fruit, other than to make the fruit unpalatable to anybody that might want to eat it; but the fruit when it ripens falls to the ground and bursts open, and then these "skippers" crawl into the soft ground and ultimately emerge as flies. The life of the fly is 28 days; or rather, a new generation is born every 28 |