THE STORY OF AN ENTOMOLOGIST 



plenty of adventure o£ a kind in the work, for example, which 

 was carried on in the great northwestern forests against the 

 Pine Bark Beedes. 



I early hit upon the idea that it was important for the chief 

 of the service to visit his outlying stations as early and as often 

 as possible, and these field stations, beginning with 1898, became 

 very numerous. The value of these visits was partly psychological. 

 The man working alone or with only one or two assistants, in 

 a far-away region, away from scientific societies and scientific 

 companionship, and confronting the most difficult problems, is 

 likely to grow discouraged at times. In such cases a short visit 

 from the chief of the service is very encouraging, especially if 

 the chief sees, as he always does, many things that bring forth 

 complimentary words. If the worker is patted on the back and 

 told that he is doing admirably, he goes at the work more 

 cheerfully and in a much more hopeful spirit. 



I remember one very marked instance of this sort of thing. A 

 minute Thrips was playing havoc with the pear orchards in the 

 Santa Clara Valley in California. A field laboratory was started 

 and Dudley Moulton, a promising entomologist (now Commis- 

 sioner of Agricukure for the state of California), was placed in 

 charge. After some months' work of an intensive sort, in which 

 he showed great intelligence and resource, the problem still 

 promised no solution. The fruit-growers were becoming des- 

 perate. Some of the most prominent were threatening to cut 

 down their orchards and sell their land for city lots or for 

 some other purpose. About this time I dropped in on Mr. Moul- 

 ton, praised him for the admirable work he had done, and con- 

 fidently prophesied ultimate success. He told me afterward that 

 this did him no end of good. He went at his work with renewed 

 energy and in a few months the end came. He showed the 



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