ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 69 



selves determine by their own representatives. If in protecting themselves they protect 

 their neighbors also, they deserve no credit for this result and have no claim for assistance. 

 Yet it is a very grave question whether Massachusetts is not entitled to the assistance of 

 her neighbors or of the general government in her efforts to exterminate this insect. I 

 am offering no opinion .as to the possibility of extermination — I have expressed myself 

 both ways and cannot find another — but is not this really a matter of national import- 

 ance, and should not the national government have certain duties or powers In cases of 

 this kind ? 



" It is said that nothing is wholly bad, and so I find it possible to see a good feature 

 even in the continued spread and increased injury caused by such imported pests as the 

 elm leaf-beetle. I believe that this creature has done more to arouse public interest in 

 economic entomology than any other single factor for many years past Our cities are 

 the centres of public interest nowadays, and our metropolitan press voices its expression. 

 Insect injury to agricultural products rarely excites more than a passing curiosity, but the 

 depredations of shade-tree insects in streets, parks, or near-by country roads, and on the 

 grounds surrounding country houses attract attention immediately and produce loud and 

 continuous complaints. The press is interested, and through it the public, while those 

 most vitally affected, the owners of fine shade trees, are induced to examine into a ques- 

 tion which they would otherwise have considered as of not the least practical interest. It 

 is from this point of view that I welcome the recent great spread and increased injury 

 from this elm leaf-beetle. City and town authorities and village improvement societies 

 have taken up the matter, have inquired into it, and have even made some more or less 

 successful experiments ; and these, if continued, as they must be from the nature of the 

 case, will produce an increased interest in and appreciation of economic entomology. In- 

 secticide machinery and a knowledge of the application of remedial measures against the 

 more common pests will be required of each park department and its employees, and the 

 entomologist will be as important an officer as the landscape gardener. * * * 



"I have noted an increasing tendency of late to attempt the control of insect 

 pests by methods of cultivation or farm practice, and this, in my opinion, is much to be 

 commended. There are periods in the life histories of many insects when they can be 

 easily reached if we only know how, and where resort to some simple bit of field practice 

 may prevent injuiy. A good example of this is seen in the practice of cutting close 

 to the surface all shoots of blackberry about June 20 to prevent injury from the Agrilus 

 ruficollis. All the eggs have been laid at that time, and the new shoots will be exempt, 

 of course, while the larviie cannot develop in those that have been cut down and will die. 

 The whole matter seems so simple now, and yet it is less than two years ago that this 

 was practiced almost simultaneously in New Jersey and Ohio. 



"Preventing injury from the larva? of MeUttia ceto in late squashes by planting. 

 summer varieties upon which the eggs are laid and in which the larvae are afterwards 

 destroyed is another method which has been worth many hundreds of dollars to farmers 

 on Long Island and in New -Jersey. 



But there is yet much to be done in this direction^ and I am convinced that in the 

 future " circumvention " will be practised in many cases where we now use poison. 

 Farm practice, using this term in its widest sense to include the mechanical treatment 

 of land, selection of fertilizers, date of planting and harvesting, rotation of crops, etc., 

 will in time give us control of many injurious species which at present seem beyond our 

 reach. It must be our aim to ascertain as far as possible the circumstances least favor- 

 able to the development and maintenance of the troublesome species, and then our 

 attempt must be to produce just those conditions. 



"We should; I think, whenever possible, lay great stress upon the importance of 

 destroying crop remnants when they are no longer needed. For instance, cucuibit vines 

 are usually left on the ground after all the crop is off, alfording abundant opportunities 

 . for the maturing of Anasa tristis, the melon lice, and other pests. Removing them 

 when no longer needed and destroying will save much trouble during the year following. 

 Systematically burning potato vines as soon as the crop is harvested will prevent all 



