February, '17] CROSBY AND LEONARD: FARM BUREAUS AND INSECTS 23 



of his crop in a practical way, that is, under the conditions actually 

 existing on his farm. 



It should also be remenabered that, while it is important to so ar- 

 range demonstrations that they shall be of practical value and on a 

 commercial scale, the main emphasis should be on the reasons for the 

 success or failure of the work. By maintaining this attitude, success- 

 ful demonstrations become of greater educational value and even 

 failures may be made to teach important lessons. This is especially 

 true of demonstrations of insect control where there are so many factors 

 to be considered not under the control of the grower — such as weather, 

 early or late seasons, severe or mild winters and the relative degree of 

 development of plant and insect at critical times in the season. 



In this connection, it might be well to point out that as far as insect 

 work is concerned the farm bureau manager's activities fall under two 

 heads — first, conducting formal demonstrations; and second, giving 

 expert advice to those farmers engaged in growing special crops such 

 as fruit or vegetables. In most cases the two methods can be com- 

 bined to advantage. While many questions of insect control may 

 properly serve as subjects for formal demonstrations, the local adviser 

 in fruit growing regions will find that his services will be of much greater 

 value to growers if he constantly keeps in very close touch with the 

 insect situation and is able to give the growers expert advice as to the 

 proper sprays and the proper time for applying them. Isolated formal 

 demonstrations of methods of insect control cannot be of as great money 

 value to the growers of a community as would results from continued 

 and timely attention to their spraying problems throughout the season. 

 The latter method has been tried out with highly satisfactory results in 

 at least one county in New York where an assistant to the farm bureau 

 manager was available to give his entire time and attention to this work 

 throughout the season. 



It is important to determine as definitely as possible what are the 

 more serious insect problems in each locality. In this way it would be 

 possible to concentrate attention on demonstrating the control of those 

 insects which are most destructive and so prevent wasting energy on 

 work against insects which are less injurious but which, on account of 

 their novelty or conspicuousness, more often attract the attention of 

 the grower. It is therefore desirable to determine as definitely as 

 possible for each locality what are the most important insect problems 

 before deciding upon a subject for demonstration. While this may 

 be already known in a general way, there are many cases in which 

 such information is lacking. In some instances it might be desirable to 

 conduct surveys of insect problems in the growing of certain crops. 

 For instance, an arrangement could be made with the farm bureau 



