392 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1930 



The great struggle against the gipsy moth, that has continued 

 down to the present day, has had far-reaching results in several 

 directions. It has hastened the discovery of effective insecticides; 

 it has very largely improved high-power spraying machinery; it 

 has resulted in a very large-scale and long-continued experiment 

 looking toward natural control by the importation into the United 

 States from Europe and Japan of the parasites and other natural 

 enemies of the destructive species. 



The advent of the cotton boll weevil has demonstrated in a start- 

 ling way the possibilities of insect damage. Entering the United 

 States in the vicinity of Brownsville, Tex., it spread year after 

 year until in about 25 years it covered the whole Cotton Belt. It 

 brought about immense money loss; it caused the financial failure 

 of many planters and of many banks; it complicated the labor 

 situation and caused suicides among planters, bankers, and specu- 

 lators. It called striking attention, however, to the weakness of 

 the 1-crop system, and will prove in the long run to have been bene- 

 ficial to the Southern States. 



The advent of the San Jose scale in the East caused great alarm 

 for a number of years. It was the cause of quarantines against 

 American fruits by most of the countries of the world. 



The discovery that insects may carry certain diseases to man and 

 to domestic animals has proved of enormous benefit and has created 

 a new branch of preventive medicine. Work following this dis- 

 covery has eliminated yellow fever from the United States and 

 from most other parts of the world and has greatly reduced mortal- 

 ity and suffering from malaria and from many tropical diseases. 

 In fact, investigations of this kind have opened up the possible 

 habitation of tropical countries by the white race and the bringing 

 of such countries into the greatly needed food-producing assets of 

 the world. 



As time has gone on, since the beginning of the present century, 

 we have seen, partly as the result of these striking events of the 

 preceding 10 years, a rapidly-growing activity in the fight against 

 insects. A very notable event was the passage of the law creating 

 the Federal Horticultural Board administered by the Secretary 

 of Agriculture. By the means of this act the country has been 

 able measurably to protect itself against the importation of new 

 pests from abroad, and the change of this board into the present 

 Plant Quarantine and Control Administration has placed the work 

 of this branch of the public service upon a strong base and will 

 result in a more efficient protection of the country. 



In spite of the rapidly-growing actiAaty in the fight against 

 insects, however, there has come strongly to our attention the fact 

 that under present conditions, notwithstanding the increased num- 



