Anyone else feeling bugged?
As in, literally tormented by bugs. Happens every year about this time. As summer's heat and humidity build to a crescendo, so does the population of noisome insects. In the kitchen ants march two by two across the counter while house flies rule the ceiling above. Their cousins the deer flies (from the bad side of the family) turn a walk in the woods into torment. If you survive till evening there's no reward because mosquitoes will pester you when you try to sit outside. What's almost as bad is the guilt I feel for detesting the little beasts. Shouldn't a good naturalist appreciate all of nature?
My solution has been to spend some time with a great naturalist who loved all things 'bug'. His name was Asa Fitch and he lived in the 1800's near Salem. In fact, the site of his home farm is still called Fitch Point to this day. Obviously, he's not still around in the flesh but with his writings, books written about him and wandering where he once did you can get a good sense of the man. Let's hang out with Mr. Fitch and see if we can't change some of our bad attitudes toward Class Insecta.
Asa Fitch
First, a brief introduction. The Fitch's were English Puritans who first came to America in 1638. Around 1780 a Fitch moved to Salem, then known as New Perth. Eventually the family bought a farm that came to total 600 acres and included a mill site on the Battenkill. This is just beyond present day East Greenwich, on a point of land formed by the confluence of Black Creek and the Battenkill. Traveling on Rt. 29 today, the Fitch house is located opposite the Cargill mill. Note that there is a relatively (for Washington County) large level area here. This was formed as the glacier melted 13,000 years ago and gravelly outwash poured into a temporary lake. It has been farmed continuously since European people first settled here.
The dotted areas are gravelly outwash
The yellow on this surficial geology map
is gravelly outwash
Fitch Point below center
On this generalized soil map light blue (21&22) areas
are gravelly outwash
Green (25) is alluvium along streams
Fitch Point in center of map
The Asa Fitch that we'll get to know was born in the large old house (now just visible thru the trees) on February 24, 1809. Both he and his father were named Asa and both were medical doctors which can lead to some confusion. The second generation Asa lived most of his life at Fitch's Point passing away in the same house he was born in on April 8, 1879. He was educated, first at a local school at Fitch Point, then at Washington Academy in Salem and later at the Rensselaer School in Troy (later to become RPI), finally receiving his medical degree in Castleton, Vermont in 1829.
Recent photos of the Fitch homestead taken from the road
Note that it is private property
The bottom pic may be 'the bug house' but I'm not sure
Fitch practiced medicine for a few years in Fort Miller and Stillwater before returning to the family farm in 1838 to take over from his aging father. He soon gave up his medical practice to devote his energies to farming but still made time for his true passion which was nature study. While he was knowledgable in many areas of Washington County natural history (including geology) it was insects that he was most passionate about and that became his eventually claim to fame.
The Fitch House in Asa's time?
An old undated photo
Fitch became something of a joke to his neighbors who called him 'The Bug Catcher' as they watched him on hands and knees searching for specimens. His office was known as 'the bug house' and it was filled with mineral specimens, dried plants, preserved animals and cases of collected insects. The building still stands today off to the side of the large main house although I don't know what became of his collections.
The Bug House from a recent real estate listing
Black Creek and the Fitch Point Bridge
Asa's old stomping grounds
Agriculture was New York's major industry and by the mid-1800's it was recognized that inspect pests were causing large economic losses. At the same time Fitch's expertise was recognized in Albany and he was called upon to research damage in fruits and grains. His reports were so well done and helpful that he continued for many years as the defacto state entomologist with a salary of $1000.
What's impressive is that, while establishing entomology as a science in New York State, Fitch also had time to contribute the geology section to Crisfield Johnson's 1878 History of Washington County, New York and to collect oral histories from elderly friends and neighbors that totaled into hundreds of pages of memories dating back to the earliest days of settlement. All this while running a large diversified farm. As the saying goes, "They don't make them like they used to."
You can visit Fitch's grave at Evergreen Cemetery just a few minutes from his home towards Salem. The monuments inscription reads:
Asa Fitch
Physician and Naturalist
Eminent among compatriots:
Fame had not the power to win
from him humbleness of spirit,
purity of soul, modesty of
demeanor, charity and love
for his fellow men.
And, I might add, love of nature. Even (especially) bugs.
MORE...
* Asa Fitch and the Emergence of American Entomology by Jeffrey K. Barnes is a State Museum publication with lots of detail about the man and the scientific times he lived in. Lists Fitch's original publications.
* Their Own Voices edited by Winston Adler is a collection of some of the oral histories that Fitch recorded.
* 1878 History of Washington County, New York by Crisfield Johnson. (1979 reprint) has a section on geology written by Fitch.
* A recent real estate listing for the Fitch homestead with lots of photos and info is available here.
* There are lots of field guides to insects out there but the sheer numbers and minute details can be daunting. I've found a simple overview like The Practical Entomologist by Rich Imes to be more useful.
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