JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 



OFFICIAL ORGAN AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGISTS 



APRIL, 1911 



The editors will thankfully receive news items and other matter likely to be of in- 

 terest to subscribers. Papers will be published, so far as possible, in the order of re- 

 ception. All extended contributions, at least, should be in the hands of the editor the 

 first of the month preceding publication. Reprints may be obtained at cost. Con- • 

 tributors are requested to supply electrotypes for the larger illustrations so far as pos- 

 sible. The receipt of all papers will be acknowledged.— Eds. 



Efficiency engineering is the application of scientific principles to 

 ascertain the most economical method of accomplishing a given task. 

 Economic entomologists have been from the very first, efficiency engi- 

 neers in their own fields. Some of our mechanical and agricultural col- 

 leges may yet give the degree of E. E. E. — Efficiency Engineer in 

 Entomology. The primary burden of the economic entomologist is to 

 demonstrate possibility; next comes economy in execution. The 

 symposium on spraying in this number is a notable contribution to 

 this phase of efficiency engineering. The spraying apparatus of early 

 days was planned for very different work and there was little adapta- 

 tion to the special conditions obtaining in the field. A number can 

 recall the hand outfits used in the ear y days of the gipsy moth work. 

 Compare them with the present high power outfits capable of spraying 

 forest land for less than S7 an acre — a figure way below possibilities 

 with hand labor. The ample power, heavy hose and solid stream 

 nozzle represent a stage in the development of an efficient spraying 

 outfit. No one dares to say the limit of efficiency has been reached. 

 The solid stream, while well adapted to certain phases of woodland 

 work, is open to serious criticisms. A considerable amount of poison 

 is wasted even with the most skillful handling. The impossibihty of 

 closely controlling the applicationof the spray militates strongly against 

 its general employment in shade tree work. A mechanical extension 

 nozzle operated from the ground and capable of rapid and extensive 

 modification in height, direction and character of spray, is an impor- 

 tant desideratum. The unusually long extension nozzle on universal 

 bea,rings, used in the roadside gipsy moth work, is a step in this direc- 

 tion. One manufacturer has put on the market a mechanical spray 

 tower which needs testing out and probably some improvement. The 



