78 



moetinss wore .sivon where llie treiitiiieiit of foiilln'odd was shewn ;ui(l 

 many otlier phases of heekeepini,' nclnnlly denionsli-.-ited. 



Another service we liave been alile to render the lieekei'pers was secur- 

 ing sugar to feed colonies which were sliort of stores. All during the sugar 

 shortage we have been able to secure sugar for all beekeepers in actual 

 need of sugar and this fall we have again supplied many tons of sugar 

 when it could be secured in no other way. 



Under the Conservation Act we have very broad powers and the Division 

 of Entomology should he able to handle any emergency that may arise in 

 insect or plant disease control. It was this very fact that we did have the 

 power to handle such situations that helped us this summer at Wash- 

 ington when the Federal Horticultural Board was considering placing 

 a quarantine against the shipment of all small grains out of this state, 

 because they believed the "Take-All" disease of wheat was established 

 here. The Chairman of that board, Dr. Marlatt, said he hoped some 

 day each state would see the wisdom of giving broad enough powers 

 to a commission or board so that emergencies such as ours, could be handled 

 by the states themselves, without the federal government having to establish 

 quarantines against them. 



You would naturally suppose that any excitement caused by an insect 

 outbreak would be to our liking, yet we often bend our efforts to allay 

 the excitement rather than add fuel to the flames. The army worm scare 

 this summer will illustrate this. While in the southern part of the state, 

 I had an urgent call to go to Henry County and when I arrived thei-e a 

 day late I found about two or three thousand farmers and other volun- 

 teers out digging trenches around wheat and rye fields. Not one trench 

 in a hundred was effective and in only one case was trenching really 

 necessary. I asked the newspapers to publish the real facts in regard to 

 the army worm situation in their county and to get the farmers back to 

 work on their corn which needed cultivation. The army worm panic 

 cost $30,000 a day in that county as a farmer's time was worth at least 

 $10.00 per day in his corn fields and the trenches that were dug were 

 worse than useless. The army worm scare did an immense amount of 

 damage because the first people on the ground did not understand condi- 

 tions. I saved many counties from having a similar panic by getting 

 there in time to allay their fears by showing the real conditions. 



The florists have many perplexing insect problems and have had very 

 little systematic help in any of the states. Their problems are differ- 

 ent from the farmers or gardeners in that they do not have seasonal con- 

 trols such as the winter brings to the farmers. With the thermometer 

 held at a growing temperature the insect pests can multiply all year unless 

 artificial means are used to control or exterminate them. A wide range 

 of plants is often grown under one roof and an insecticide, which will give 

 results on one plant, will ruin the foliage on others. I am hoping to be 

 able to give the florists and greenhouse men more assistance along these 

 lines and have plans under way to assign a man to this work this winter. 

 AVe have rendered much valuable assistance to the florists but I would 



