ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 65 



ignorant. There are regions — those parts of my own State worflt infested by the Chinch 

 Bug, for example — -where there seems really to be no choice between legal compulsion on 

 the one hand and the slow and enormously expensive operation of the law of natural 

 selection on the the other. Either the slow processes of social and economic revolution 

 must be allowed to take their destructive course, carrying down too often the bright and 

 willing farmer with the hopelessly sluggish mossbacks all around him, who breed insects 

 by the bushel to devour his crops with their own, or we must have a State or county 

 board, acting in conference with the official entomologist, empowered to recomraeud a 

 protective proceedure in cases which are clear beyond all reasonable controversy and to 

 assign penalties for a failure to conform. I would, myself, advise both State and county 

 boards — perhav)S those agricultural boards already existing — on the ground that it is use- 

 less to attempt to enforce measures, however plainly necessary, against the common senti- 

 ment of the locality." 



He then spoke of the fact that the boundaries of the State represented bv official 

 entomologists are artificial, and that in consequence matters of distribution and other 

 broad questions are seldom touched. This fact and the danger of unnecessary duplica- 

 tion of work, and other reasons, called for organization, and this organization should be 

 of flexible form, leaving each individual free to meet the special requirements of his in- 

 dividual work, and at the same time helping to concentrate the surplus effort which 

 should be contributed to the accomplishment of common ends. He suggested that a com 

 mittee on co-operation propose a list of subjects in which co-operative effort is desirable. 

 These subjects should then be attacked by volunteers, who should report to the com- 

 mitte. In this way, he thought, that the benefits of organization might be obtained 

 without the surrender of individual initiative. 



The address was discussed by Messrs. Osborn, Smith and Webster. Mr. O-sborn 

 thought that laws requiring farmers to destroy insect pests appearing on their farms 

 could be made effective, and gave the operation of the Canada thistle law in Iowa as an 

 example. He thought that such laws should apply in all cases only to such pests for 

 which good remedies could be recommended. The Fall Web-worm could, he thought, be 

 easily controlled in his State if everyone was required to destroy it whenever it appeared 

 on his place. 



Mr. Smith spoke of the difficulty of inducing many farmers to take any precautions 

 in checking the injuries of in.sects, and thought that laws requiring them to give attention 

 to such matters could not be enforced. The weed law of New Jersey was mentioned as 

 an example of the ineffective working of such laws. He was of the opinion also that the 

 number of laws required, if one were made for each pest, would be a difficulty not easily 

 surmounted, since it was not easy to get legislators to pass such laws. 



Mr. Forbes thought a community which would not enforce laws relating to farm 

 pests must be left to suffer, but he had known instances where public opinion on these 

 matters was such as to compel farmers to give them attention. 



Messrs. Osborn, Smith and Carman were appointed a committee of three to consider 

 the recommendations contained in the address. 



Messrs. Edward H. Thompson, of Tasmania, R. Allan Wight, of New Zealand, and 

 G. C. Davis, of Agricultural College, Michigan, were elected to membership. 



Mr. Osborn presented a paper entitled " Methods of Treating Insects Affecting 

 Grasses and Forage plants." In this paper he considered the insects affecting these crops 

 by groups arranged according to the method of treatment, discussing paiticularly climatic 

 conditions, natural enemies, agricultural methods, and the direct method. He presented 

 a most interesting table of insects, showing in horizontal columns the food plants, number 

 of annual broods and the condition in which the species is to be found during any month 

 in the year, and closed with the following practical recommendations : 



"(1) A general rotation of crops, especially for clover and for meadows generally, 

 and change at the end of four or five years at the most. 



" (2) Where it is desirable to keep the same field continually in grass or for a long 

 series of years, as in rough land or woodland pastures, attention to the maintenance of 

 trap lights, the use of arsenical baits or applications, burning, and the tar pan should 

 be practiced, especially after the second year. 



5 (en.) 



