1892.] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 229 



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DEPARTMENT OF EGONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 



Edited by Prof. JOHN B, SMITH, Sc. D., New Brunswick, N. J, 



Legislation against Injurious Insects. In " Garden and Forest," No. 240,. 

 for September 28, 1892, is a very timely editorial on " Legislation against 

 Injurious Insects and Plant Diseases." The matter is already an impor- 

 tant one, and is bound to grow more important as knowledge of preven- 

 tive and remedial measures increases. It is discouraging to the intelligent 

 agriculturist to find, that however well he follows directions and keeps- 

 down insect pests on his own land, year after year, he gets no permanent 

 result, because his next door neighbor, who does not spray, supplies him 

 annually with an overplus from his land. There is a manifest injustice in 

 this. If the careless or ignorant farmer alone suffered from the conse- 

 quences of his carelessness or ignorance, one might say "serves him 

 right," but the trouble is, that insects have a habit of moving about, and 

 where there are more than enough on one piece of land, they are no re- 

 specters of boundary lines, but cross over into the well-kept and well- 

 cared for acres without hesitation. Where it is possible to poison the 

 insects as they arrive, it simply imposes extra work and extra expense on 

 the man who protects his crop; but sometimes, though an insect may be 

 easily controlled, it cannot be reached until after the injury has been done. 



A case in point is the red necked Blackberry Cane borer, Agriliis ni/i- 

 collis. By cutting out the galls early in Spring, when trimming, and burn- 

 ing the cut wood, the entire brood of insects can be easily destroyed and 

 future injury prevented. But, if a neighbor allows the insects to develop 

 on his land, the beetles cannot be prevented from coming over and ovi- 

 positing in the canes of the clean patch. The beetles cannot be poisoned, 

 for they feed very little. The larvae cannot be reached, because they are 

 internal feeders. Every infested cane means the loss of next year's crop 

 from that cane, and the careful man is helpless. In an infested field, un- 

 less radical measures are taken, the crop becomes smaller each year, 

 until it is no longer worth picking. Then it is often left another year, 

 just to see whether it will do anything, and, finally, after all the insects- 

 have hatched the canes may be plowed out. I have seen in Atlantic 

 County, New Jersey, early in September, acres of blackberries in which 

 ninety per cent, of the caues were infested, and in some cases from ten to 

 twelve galls were on a single cane. Such fields are plague spots, and 



