RiRAL School Leaflet 



1 2=; I 



INSECT STUDY 



The Editors 



ANY teachers find that the study of insect life is 

 \'akial3le, both from the point of view of general 

 natural history and from that of economic agri- 

 culture. The life histories of some of the 

 insects are among the most interesting in the 

 living world. The loss to the famicr, due 

 to insect pests, is very great; therefore a 

 ki lowledge of the most troublesome insects and the 

 methods of controlling them is important. 



The article by Professor Glenn W. Merrick, on page 

 1255, entitled "Are Insect Foes Increasing? " is especially 

 timely, and will afford a good background for the study of 

 insect life. It would be well to discuss with the boys and girls 

 some of the general methods of controlling insect pests as well 

 as the more specific measures for each insect studied. Among 

 the general practices spraying is one of the most important and 

 far-reaching, and in these days has become almost universal 

 among progressive farmers. The importance of birds in de- 

 stroying insect pests has not been sufiticiently realized in the 

 past, and the destruction of and the indifference toward l)ird life have 

 had a direct influence on the increase of insect enemies. Now the 

 birds are being protected and encouraged because of both their esthetic 

 and their economic value. Crop rotation aids in the control of hamiful 

 insects. If the same crop is grown year after year on one field, its insect 

 enemies will multiply in that locality, and after a time become very much 

 more troublesome than they would be if the crops were changed from field 

 to field each year. It is important that waste and wild places on a 

 farm be cleaned up and kept in such condition that they do not afford 

 breeding places for harmful insects. This apjilies to fence rows and comers, 

 abandoned pastures, and like jjlaccs. That apple-tree tent caterpillars 

 have gained such headway in the State has been due, somewhat, to the fact 

 that there have been such large niunbers of wild cherry trees in out-of-the- 

 way places, which have not been properly inspected. 



In making a study of insects, the living forms should be used as far as 

 possible, and it is comparatively easy to keep them in the schoolroom for 

 a few days in a terrarium. or a temporary cage made of a lamp chimney 

 covered on top with a piece of cheesecloth. In this way the transformations 

 that occur in the lives of practically all insects can be observed, as well as 

 the identifying characteristics of each species. 



