24 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



discoveries and advance in the knowledge of the laws of heat, galvanisnri, 

 and electricity are working out such important practical results, the dis- 

 coveries and advance in Entomology, so far as it relates to agriculture, 

 has failed to produce in full the results anticipated? 



Entomologists have certainly carefully described the injurious spe- 

 cies, thus making them known, and marking them as culprits; they have 

 also given fully and elaborately their history and habits, thus marking 

 their various hiding places and uncovering their retreats ; and basing theo- 

 ries on this knowledge, they have, in many instances, suggested practical 

 remedies. Farmers and horticulturists have frequently tried these pro- 

 posed remedies, and others of their own invention, sometimes, it is true, 

 without success, yet often with favorable results. 



Let us examine this matter a little, and see if we can ascertain the 

 reason why this is so ; and next, whether a practical plan can be proposed 

 to remedy it. 



In the first place, I must assert my faith in the final triumph of 

 science ; but science does not propose to work miracles, although the re- 

 sults of her operations sometimes appear miraculous ; she does not pro- 

 pose by a species of magic to annihilate the myriads of Chinch-bugs, 

 which have invaded the farmers' fields, or to stay the onward march of 

 the Locust army. She can only work in accordance with the laws and 

 appliances which Nature has placed in her hands, and so far as insects are 

 concerned, it is the province of the entomologist to study out and ex 

 plain these. Too much, in this respect, has been expected, and there has 

 been too much waiting and hoping for a grand coup de grace, and too 

 little disposition to put into operation those gradual means which require 

 steady perseverance. 



Mr. Hammond, President of the Warsaw Horticultural Society, in 

 an address, delivered before that Society last year, struck the key-note of 

 the difficulty when he said, " There is no other known way of combating 

 our insect enemies only by concerted action — systematized co-operation.'''' 

 That is the word — systematized co-operation— '([\';iX is what is needed to 

 accomplish this great work, and, until it is obtained, tlie present method 

 of guerrilla warfare will go on, as it has in the past, with similar results. 



Entomology, as a science, has been placed on a systematic basis, and 

 in this respect there can be no cause for complaint against it ; but there 

 is work to be done in this respect in Economic or Applied Entomology. 

 But it is in regard chiefly to operations that system is needed, and here 

 the entomologist is powerless when left to himself. Entomology and 

 agriculture must work together in generalizing and systematizing the 

 means of operating against these diminutive foes, before the advantages of 

 scientific knowledge and investigations can be realized. 



I shall, therefore, call your attention at this time to a plan for doing 

 this, in a measure at least, so far as horticulture is concerned. And, as 

 the first step, I suggest the division of Economic, or Practical, Entomol- 

 ogy into at least three distinct sections, as — " Horticultural Entomology," 

 " Farm Entomology," and " Domestic Entomology; " and that each be 

 considered as a special science. 



