90 THEJREPORT OF THE [ No. 19 



and another says spray often enough to keep the fruit covered with a layer of the poison, 

 so as to be sure of killing the second brood. Some advise hellebore for the pear slug, 

 while others prefer one of the arsenites, and still another would use quicklime or simply 

 road dust. Surely there is need for more method and uniformity in our work and in our 

 recommendations for the control of particalar insects. By free discussions at these meet- 

 ings much can be accomplished to this end." 



The next object laid down is ' to give opportunity to individual workers of announ- 

 cing proposed investigations, so as to bring out suggestions and prevent unnecessary 

 duplication of work.' *' This brings upon us the importance of systematic co operitioa in 

 our investigations ; it has been often urged upon up, but not much progress has been 

 made. One of the chief difficulties is that e*oh one wishes to plan hia own expsriments 

 and publish the results, in order that he may not have to share honours with another. 

 Such a feeling is not altogether to be condemned ; neither is it necessary to so plan 

 our co-operation as to make it essential to remove credit from him to whom it belongs. 

 Let us suppose two entomologists are planning independently to test tha efiect of insecti- 

 cides upon foliaee. Each carries through his experiments and publishes the results of 

 his labors. They are still independent experiments, the results of one not supporting or 

 contradicting to any great extent the resulcs of the other. Had each known what was 

 being planned by the other, they could have arranged to carry out their experiments so 

 that they would be largely duplications of each other, and when the results were pub- 

 lished we should have double evidence upon the points under consideration where results 

 agreed ; and where they disagreed, we might be able to find in the different conditions 

 the reason for it. Such a co-operation would bring results of far greater value than 

 those obtained by independent experimentation, and neither party would lose any glory ; 

 in fact, each would receive more credit because of the better conclusions that could be 

 drawn from the work. And then how carefully every conclusion would be reached and 

 backed by positive proof for fear that the other party might get different results ! Saoh 

 duplication as this is of the utmost importance to establish scientific truth, and the more 

 we can have of it the better. It is only the ' unnecessary duplication of work ' that our 

 constitution deprecates." 



'• It is frequently the case that one is working out with considerable care the life 

 habits of an insect, and a little information from exact observations upon some particular 

 point in other localities would be of great service to him. The person giving the iuforoa- 

 ation would have full credit for what he did, and the world would have the benefit of the 

 combined results. When time can not be taken by the head of a department lor this aid, 

 it may often be the case that a special student in entomology would be glad to get his 

 name into a bulletin for doing a little good work. I have a cas5 in mind to illustrate. 

 The speaker is working on the life history of the codling moth. His observations make 

 him wonder how it can be possible that there can be so few as one brood or so many as 

 three or four anywhere. He would be greatly aided if a few entomologists in different 

 parts of the country would make the following observations and report results this year. 

 First, obtain date of blooming of the earliest apple trees. Second, determine the time of 

 appearance of the first moths of the second brood by collecting a few of the earliest 

 wormy apples and rearing the moths from them. Third, determine when the brood of 

 worms that go over winter without pupation begin to leave the fruit. This can be done 

 by placing cloth bands on the trees about July 15 th, and removing the larvfe that appear 

 under them once a week until those have been taken that do not change to a chrysalis 

 within a short time. Then, with the other facts that have been well worked out, it will 

 be possible to state with considerable definiteness the number of broods in diffarent 

 portions of the country." 



The speaker next referred to the importance of heving at each Experimental Station as 

 complete collections as possible of insects in all their stages that are serious pests, and 

 said that the only way in which this could be accomplished was by a system of mutual 

 exchanges. After speaking very briefly on the third clause of the constitution 'to suggest, 

 when possible, certain lines of investigation upon subjects of general interest,' he went on 

 to the last clause, ' to promote the science and advance the study of entomology.' 



"The usefulness of any applied science depends upon min's knowledge of the natural 

 laws operating in that science. An astronomer could not determine the very day, hour, 

 and minute when an eclipse of the sun would be visible at a parcicular spot on the earth's 



