THE STORY OF AN ENTOMOLOGIST 



and the most valuable. But it was found that by the time the 

 third crop was cut, practically all the seeds had been devoured 

 by this pest. We had studied the development of the midge and 

 knew its exact periods of transformation. It occurred to me to 

 investigate the crop-cutting times in relation to the insect trans- 

 formation times, and I soon found that if the time for cutting 

 the first crop were advanced ten days, the remaining two crops 

 would not be attacked, and that perfect seed would be developed 

 in the third crop. This was published (under Comstock's name, 

 of course) with the result that the Clover-seed Midge soon be- 

 came a pest of slight importance. 



This, I think, was the first time in the United States that crop 

 practise had been altered solely to avoid insect damage. And it 

 was a good deal of an achievement. 



The working out of the life history of the Midge was largely 

 done by Theodor Pergande. I helped, but Pergande made the 

 close observations. The little man (he was only five feet two in 

 height) was invaluable for many years on account of his close 

 and careful studies. In fact. Cooper Curtice once remarked that 

 the Bureau of Entomology without Pergande would be like the 

 play ''Hamlet" without Hamlet. 



I promised on earlier pages to say something more about 

 Pergande. In his younger days he was a mechanic in the great 

 gun works at Stettin, in Prussia. Disgusted with the idea of war 

 and war implements, and not liking the intensely religious atti- 

 tude of the people who surrounded him, he came to America 

 just before the outbreak of the Civil War. He landed in New 

 York with no English and very little money. He did not know 

 where to go. He found his way to the Grand Central Station, 

 fell into the line at the ticket office and noticed that the man 

 ahead of him bought a ticket for Syracuse. The word Syracuse 

 sounded familiar, so he, too, bought a ticket to that point. He 



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