ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 



PHILADELPHIA, PA., OCTOBER, 1917. 



The Lack of Entomologists. 



The war has resulted in a great demand for men and women 

 trained in many lines of work. Many activities which the 

 times have brought into being will doubtless meet with such 

 approval as to insure their continuance after the fighting has 

 ceased. As in other fields of science, the present supply of 

 entomologists does not meet the demand. 



Mr. V. I. Safro, of Louisville, Kentucky, as quoted in Report 

 No. 3 of the Emergency Entomological Service (U, S. Dept. 

 Agric.), calls attention 



to the difficulty of obtaining adequately trained men for emergency 

 entomological work and suggests the advisability of giving them spe- 

 cial training. . . . Many of the standard recommendations apply to 

 conditions in gardens or in small cultures and do not necessarily apply 

 to the conditions in various regions where very extensive cultures of 

 onions and similar crops are undertaken. . . . Growers want to know 

 not only how to combat certain insect pests but [also] how certain 

 operations can be economically combined with other operations. To 

 meet this important situation, extension entomologists should be 

 thoroughly acquainted with the control of plant diseases as well as 

 insect pests and the mechanical equipment necessary for effective work. 

 Too often our economic entomologists ignore the fact that their recom- 

 mendations cannot possibly be conducive to the best _ results ^unless 

 they know and explain how growers can combine fungicides with in- 

 secticides, thereby reducing one of the main items of expense, the 

 labor. Many growers will not spray at all for certain insects unless 

 they know that the insect spray can be combined with Bordeaux or 

 some other fungicide. 



Again Dr. T. J- Headlee. State Entomologist of New Terse- v. 

 says (in Report No. 4 of the same series) of the farm dem- 

 onstration service in that State : 



The greatest weakness of the whole service is the lack of trained 

 men to do sufficiently thorough entomological scouting. This lack is 

 a real handicap because outbreaks of considerable proportions are 

 si mil-times not thoroughly appreciated until they are about ready to 

 occur and this means that a good many growers will be unable to -el 

 malt-rials and machinery in time to do effective work. 



There would therefore seem to be great opportunities for 

 useful service to the nation in applied entomology and encour- 

 agement to those who may be thinking of an entomological 

 career. 



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