52 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 14 



Of the smaller and less prominent crops, the following insects were 

 reported and in each case an outline of the best developed control 

 measures were sent to the reporter.- — Strawberry weevil, crown borer, 

 and leaf roller; pea aphis, turnip aphis, and melon aphis; onion maggot 

 and onion thrips; cucumber beetles, cabbage worms, and com ear 

 worms. 



With respect to accuracy and reliability, the reports vary, but con- 

 siderable confidence could be placed in them in the case of the more 

 conspicuous forms of injury. The tabulation of data from three dif- 

 ferent sources, namely, the crop reporting service, the newly established 

 pest reporting service, and the work of the field men of the department 

 showed that information from the three sources tallied very closely. 



Omissions of serious insect injury were rare, only one case being of 

 great importance. This was a cankerworm outbreak covering a couple 

 of townships. As the cankerworms had practically disappeared by the 

 time the first report blank was sent out, this omission is not surprising. 



With respect to the promptness with which reports of insect and 

 disease attacks were received, the principal value came in the case of 

 progressive and long continued losses, such as those from grasshoppers 

 and grain rust, for arm>' worm attacks are usually so sudden, brief, and 

 destructive in Wisconsin that reliance must be placed on county agents 

 for control. The\- are the only ones who can reach the scene of the 

 damage in time. 



The cherry slug reports from Bayfield county mentioned above were 

 fortunately received just at the beginning of the attack, a condition 

 imder which maximum assistance could be given. 



The great need in work of this kind and the principal reason why pest 

 reporting has scarcely ever been undertaken systematically is the lack 

 of any adequate means of measurement of the injury. This problem 

 has not been solved as yet and perhaps will not be. 



If such a pest reporting sendee could be organized on a national 

 scale, with the establishment of permanent records, a means of studying 

 serious insect losses would be established which is not at all available 

 at the present time. It is generally understood, for example, that 

 extensive arm}'worm outbreaks have not occurred between the years 

 1900 and 1920 and that the present grasshopper outbreaks in the north- 

 em states have been threatening for about three years, but there are no 

 official records from which a future student of problems of insect out- 

 breaks will be able to secure such facts. The only insects upon which 

 such data has been acciunulated which could be used for this purpose 

 so far as the writer has information are the chinch bug and the Hessian 

 fly, and even in these cases they are not as complete as could be desired. 



