February. '09] JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 37 



Chairman Brittox: The next thing on the program is the dis- 

 cussion of the presidential address. 



Mr. Washburn : Mr. President, I think it admits of no discussion 

 whatever. 



President Forbes .- I suspect, if the discussion is limited to those 

 who heard it in full, that it will be very brief indeed. 



Mr. Sherman : ]\Ir. Chairman, I would like to hear some one else 

 make some comments. One point which struck me especially was 

 the necessity of the entomologist making sure that his recommenda- 

 tions are not only published, but to see that they are followed in 

 victual practice on the farm. I think he is right in saying we lose 

 the most important part of our work if we let it go at publication and 

 do not make certain that it reaches the persons who need it. I don't 

 know what the method is in other states, or even in Dr. Forbes' o^vn 

 state, but I do know that in my own state, and all the other states 

 that I have worked in, the value of probably nine tenths of the bul- 

 letins sent out is lost because they are not so distributed as to reach 

 those who need them most. I think that we do lose more than half 

 of the effectiveness of our work because we fail to put it out in such 

 a way as to have it become a part of the actual practice of the farmer. 



Mr. Symons: Mr. President, I think that the suggestion by Dr. 

 Forbes, of entomologists consulting with the agriculturists and hor- 

 ticulturists in planning out future work, is certainly one to be 

 commended and one that we should all adopt so far as possible. 

 There is no doubt that many of our lines of work overlap. Sugges- 

 tions from men working along agricultural lines particularly should 

 certainly be very gladly received by the entomologists. 



Mr. Sanderson : Mr. President, one thing that struck me in Dr. 

 T'orbes' address is that relating to the production of plants resistant 

 to insects, by selecting those individuals which had survived under the 

 unfavorable conditions. I don't know whether very much has been 

 done along that line by entomologists. There was some work done 

 with cotton and other crops, and there has been considerable done by 

 the plant pathologists. I also heard a paper at Lansing. Michigan, 

 about a year ago, suggesting the production of resistant plants by 

 selecting individuals which have come from fields infected with va- 

 rious diseases, such" as the wheat rust, oat smut, potato diseases, etc. 

 There might be a question whether this is a field for agriculturists 

 or entomologists. It seems to me that it is a place for team work, 

 and I think we want to get more of that in tackling the fundamental 

 problems connected with insect investigations. It is of fundamental 

 importance that the agriculturists, entomologists and horticulturists 

 should all work together to develop such resistant varieties. 



