38 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 4 



"I should feel myself utterly incompetent to advise my constituents 

 regarding tlie proper treatment for the codling worm, plum curculio, 

 San Jose scale, oyster shell scale, scurfy scale, or a hundred other insects 

 if I had not worked them out personally, and tested the recommenda- 

 tions of others, no matter from whence they came or with what author- 

 ity they were backed." Again, speaking of his work on the wheat 

 joint worm Mr. Gossard says: "We receive hundreds of letters each 

 year in regard to this insect, and are often asked to deliver lectures 

 upon it at Farmers' Institutes. We cannot do this satisfactorily 

 without having a first hand acquaintance with it and are satisfied 

 that, however good may be the work done by agents of the United 

 States Government and entomologists of other states, we will at 

 least be able to contribute something which they have not found." 

 Mr. H. A. Surface has the following to say on this point: "I con- 

 sider it very important for economic entomologists to work out in 

 their own states the problems that are there present, and if results 

 on these lines have been obtained in other states, I think it highly 

 necessary for each entomologist first to try the methods and make 

 personal observation of the results before he places them before the 

 pubhc." 



Briefly, then, subjects, which have already been or are now being 

 investigated, are made projects of research because the entomologist 

 finds that in order to intelligently advise his constituents, it is neces- 

 sary to know how measures worked out elsewhere will operate under 

 local conditions, or that there are noteworthy differences in habit or 

 that the commonly recommended measures are inadequate. 



Whether this duplication is necessary and desirable or merely a 

 waste of effort is also well discussed in the letters. Mr. W. E. Britton 

 says, "There are many cases where local demand seems to warrant 

 the taking up of work in a certain state where there has happened to 

 be more or less duplication, and I do not see how it can be avoided. 

 Many people expect that work of a certain nature mil be done by 

 the station, and AAdsh to see it done in their own orchards, sometimes 

 placing trees, labor and materials at the disposal of the station. It 

 is hardly worth while to ignore such demands, and while there is some 

 loss of money and effort on account of this duplication, in many cases 

 it is a good thing in that the work of one man will corroborate 

 that of another, or if results should differ, it simply shows that more 

 work should be carried on along the same line." Mr. E. W. Berger 

 says, "I am inclined to regard it (duplication of work) as a verifica- 

 tion of each other's work. If it disagrees, it is evident that somebody 

 has blundered and the work must be done over," Mr. H. A. Gossard 

 says, "I believe that there has been too little duplication of entomo- 



