i74 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



THE FUTUKE OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 



By Professor H. T. FERNALD, Ph.D. 



AMHERST, MASS. 



IT is now about three quarters of a century since the economic aspect 

 of entomology was first presented for consideration in America, 

 and this is perhaps an opportune time to survey the progress which 

 thus far has been made, and in some degree to consider its future 

 possibilities. 



A careful examination of the writings of T. W. Harris, who may 

 be termed the father of economic entomology in this country, shows 

 several suggestive points. In his day the modern methods of using 

 insecticides had not been discovered, and most of the treatments he 

 suggested are included in the phrases hand-picking, whitewashing, cold 

 water, fall plowing, cutting out borers and burning stubble for grain 

 insects. Even in the cases where he advised the use of red pepper and 

 tobacco, and soap or potash washes, the underlying thought seems to 

 have been as much along the line of repelling as of destroying pests, 

 and the idea of compelling insects to consume poisoned food appears 

 to be entirely absent from his writings. Fumigation, too, though sug- 

 gested in one instance, seems hardly to have had its possibilities appre- 

 ciated, and it is probable that the most valuable contribution he made 

 to the subject was the thought, quite new in this country, that insect 

 depredations need not necessarily be accepted as in accordance with 

 the will of God, but that active measures to prevent or reduce loss were 

 possible. 



Much has been learned since the days of Harris and new methods 

 of control have replaced some of those he suggested. But it is dis- 

 couraging to note that with many of our insect pests we stand to-day 

 where we did then, and hand-picking, whitewashing, cutting out borers 

 and fall plowing still occupy a prominent place in the entomological 

 pharmocopceia. 



Probably the most potent influence in the development of modern 

 economic entomology was the spreading of the Colorado potato beetle 

 to the east, and the resulting discovery that this pest could be controlled 

 by the use of Paris green. That any insect consuming leaf tissues 

 could be destroyed by applying a poison to be taken into its body along 

 with its food was a discovery the credit for which will never perhaps 

 be correctly assigned, but which marks the beginning of a new era in 

 economic entomology, and rapid developments along this line followed, 



