April, '11] GOSSARD: reaching the public 253- 



standpoint of the monetary values involved, may be far more baffling 

 of solution, and may require long periods of observation and research 

 to obtain any sort of satisfactory results- — in fact, they may be in- 

 capable of satisfactory solution at all. No one thing has done more 

 to strengthen the Entomological Department of the Ohio Station with 

 its constituency than its work in spraying apples. The methods em- 

 ployed were largely transplanted from the states of the Far West, being 

 chiefly adaptations of the methods first strongly emphasized by Dr. 

 E. D, Ball, but these methods would not have been generally adopted 

 or used to any considerable extent for a long time if the Experiment 

 Station had not tested their value and adaptability to Ohio con- 

 ditions. Because of his service to the state in thus giving a great im- 

 petus to the resurrection of the fruit-growing industry, the ento- 

 mologist has gained such financial support that he has been enabled 

 to direct the leisurely investigation of some of the more difficult and 

 abstruse problems, the results of which, considered by themselves, 

 would have brought him very meager support, comparatively speak- 

 ing. It often happens that after years of faithful and conscientious 

 work on an injurious insect, the investigator can do but little more 

 than give a full account of its history, habits, instars, etc., confessing 

 that adequate remedial measures have not been found. While such 

 work is valuable and must be done, the wise director of research will 

 so distribute his effort that part of it is likely to produce strikingly 

 successful economic results, part of it will be given to important ques- 

 tions that do not seem to hold out any immediate promise of success- 

 ful solution, and another part of it can be devoted to the strictly 

 technical work which interests only the professional entomologist. 

 If the most promising fields of work are neglected, no amount of 

 faithful plodding or persistence in trying to solve more difficult prob- 

 lems will secure for the Agricultural Experiment Station Depart- 

 ment of Entomology the standing with its constituents that can be 

 obtained from doing well some important piece of work that contrib- 

 utes directly and obviously to their pocket books. So far as the 

 public is concerned, it does not matter so much whether the work is 

 entirely new and original or whether it is largely demonstrational in 

 character. Where demonstrational work is provided for through 

 other agencies than the Experiment Station, more time is, of course, 

 left to the station entomologists for original research, and it is desir- 

 able that a considerable part of their time be left for this purpose; 

 but in my opinion there is always likely to be sufficient material for 

 original observation in any large-scale demonstrational experiment to 

 justify the required outlay of time and money to accomplish it, aside 

 from considering the increased prestige gained for the department. 



