Packard] INSECTS OF THE EIELD. 197 



insects, now that the birds are not allowed a fair chance of 

 restraining the undue increase of these pests. Our potato 

 crops are becoming dependent on the number of insects 

 rather than the excellence of artificial fertilizers ; we may 

 top-dress our wheat fields, and till the soil never so sedu- 

 lousl}^ but the fact is well known that the wheat crop in the 

 eastern states is nearly cut off by the Hessian fly, the wheat 

 midge, and the joint worm. Our corn fields in the far West 

 are dependent on the will of the grasshopper and the chinch 

 bug. The losses annually sustained by the assaults of the 

 armies of injurious insects are almost beyond calculation, 

 and so quietly and neatly is the work done, that few are the 

 farmers who realize the extent of the loss and how it has 

 been effected. Not until they study the daily life of these 

 insects and watch them bj^ day and night, and fig. U9. 

 know something of their life history ; until they 

 recognize the fact that as caterpillars and chrysal- 

 ides and winged insects they lead different lives, 

 have quite different means of livelihood, can they 

 appreciate the extent of the powers for mischief 

 in the little beings they trample on unconsciously 

 or in contempt. 



What meaning is there in the bustle and hum '^'^°'* ^^^*'®- 

 of insect life, to which the ears of most of us are deaf? The 

 only way to answer this question is to sit down for oneself 

 and watch the daily doings of some one insect and make a 

 record of them, by which others may profit. The busiest 

 man can devote a few minutes each day to a study of the 

 common insects that enter his window or visit the flowers in 

 his garden. He can readily train the ladies of the house- 

 hold, or the children, to aid in the work of observation, and 

 by thus combining the aid of several observers, test their 

 several results. All this does not require a scientific knowl- 

 edge of the anatomy and physiology of these creatures ; only 

 a little patience and interest in the subject of inquiry. An 



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