Vol. XLVII. LONDON. NOVEMBER, 1915 No. 11 



POPULAR AND ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 



Insect Friends and Foes of Agriculture.* 



by lawson caesar, guelfh, ont. 



Every farmer is forced to come in contact with his insect foes, 

 and, therefore, knows something about them, but very few farmers 

 know that there is a large number of insects that are not foes at 

 all, but are friends. We shall, therefore, discuss these friends first. 



Insect Friends. 



The first class of friends we shall treat of is composed of those 

 insects which aid agriculture by acting as pollenizers of plants. 

 Almost everyone knows that before a plant can produce a fruit or 

 seed some of the pollen must first be placed on the sticky tip of 

 the pistil. This act fertilizes the plant and is called "pollination." 

 In this work honey bees are the most important insect agents, but 

 bumble bees and numerous other wild bees help greatly, as do also 

 wasps, various kinds of flies, moths, butterflies and many other 

 insects. Many of the lower kinds of plants, or plants with in- 

 conspicuous flowers, are pollinated in other ways, such as by the 

 wind, but nearly all plants with conspicuous bloom require the 

 aid of insects for proper and full fertilization. What would happen 

 if we had none of this class of insect friends.'' We should not have 

 more than one apple, or pear, or plum, or peach or any of our 

 other much loved fruit to the one hundred or more w^e now enjoy. 

 Moreover, there would be pract"cally no fields of tomatoes, peas 

 or beans, or of several other crops that are so necessary to us as 

 foods. 



The second class of insect friends consists of those insects that 

 supply us with food, either directly or indirectly, through serving 

 as food for the fish and birds that we use as food. Many tons of 

 honey are produced in every country by the honey bee. A large 

 part of the food of fresh-water fishes consists of the water insects 



*An address delivered before the School for Rural Leadership. 



