PROBLEM 3. How We Try to Solve Our bisect Problems 



391 



Fig. 341 Larvae and adults 

 of the Colorado potato 

 beetle. How do such bi- 

 sects injure potatoes under- 

 ground? (v. S. DEPARTMENT 

 OF agriculture) 



his plants and reduces the size of the 

 crop, the farmer receives less money per 

 acre. Not only is the size of the crop re- 

 duced but the farmer has had added ex- 

 pense. He has been forced to buy chemi- 

 cals and has had to devote much time 

 and energy to fighting the insects in or- 

 der that he might save at least some of 

 his crop. The total cost of raising pota- 

 toes is therefore much greater because of 

 the insect pests. The farmer receives a 

 smaller profit and we all pay higher 

 prices. Insects that destroy our crops in 

 the United States cost us billions of dol- 

 lars every year. The problem is so seri- 

 ous that one famous student of insects, 

 Dr. L. O. Howard, in a book called The 

 Insect Menace, considered whether or 

 not the insects might defeat us in the 

 long run. 



What is our only hope of keeping in- 

 sects down? Insects are so well adapted 

 to all kinds of environments that they 

 come into competition with us at every 

 turn. Our one advantage over them is 

 our brain. There are scientists all over 

 the world devotinsr their lives to the 



study of insect problems. This branch of 

 biology is called entomology (en-toe- 

 moro-jee). Our government has estab- 

 lished a Bureau of Entomology and Plant 

 Quarantine at Washington as part of the 

 Department of Agriculture. Dr. L. O. 

 Howard was at one time chief of this 

 bureau. He became interested in this 

 work as a very young boy and began 

 contributing original and important ob- 

 servations while still at school. Assisting 

 in the work of the Bureau of Entomol- 

 ogy are the Agricultural Experiment 

 Stations in the various states. Insect con- 

 trol is one of their important functions. 

 In order to learn how to control a 

 particular species of insect, a very thor- 

 ough study must be made of its whole 

 life history and its habits. We must 

 know such things as which food it eats, 

 how it obtains its food, exactly where 

 and when its eggs are laid, and exactly 

 where the young spend their lives before 

 they become adults. We must also know 

 its relations to other animals, particularly 

 its natural enemies. Begin by reviewing 

 what you have learned about insects by 



