290 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 4 



grandest field laboratory for the study of spray efficiency is to be found 

 in the gipsy moth infested territory of eastern Massachusetts, with 

 its hundreds of outfits of widely varying types. There is an excellent 

 opportunity in this section for additional studies of spray efficiency. 

 This is not to be construed as an implied criticism of the past with 

 its admirable record of achievement, but a suggestion as to profitable 

 fines of activity in the future. 



There is another problem in woodland work deserving of serious 

 consideration, since economy of treatment is perhaps the most vital 

 factor in such an undertaking. There have not been to our knowledge, 

 any careful studies as to the results which may by obtained from 

 appUcations to portions of trees, asid,e, perhaps, from the data gained 

 in an incidental way in the early days when it was impossible to spray 

 the tops of tall trees. There is abundant evidence to show that a num- 

 ber of our leaf-feeding pests will destroy the tops of trees unless they 

 are well protected by poison. We recall nothing that establishes the 

 efficiency or relative inefficiency of applications to the foliage of only 

 the upper portions of trees, a place where a number of our leaf feeders 

 begin operations and one where it would seem that many might be 

 destroyed with a minimum expenditure and before serious injury 

 had been inflicted. 



The recent action of Andrew Carnegie in placing at the disposal of 

 the African • Entomological Research Committee the sum of £1,000 

 for three years to defray the expenses of sending suitably qualified 

 young men to the United States for the purpose of studying the 

 practical applications of entomology is a gratifying recognition of the 

 excellent work which has characterized American investigations. 

 No country at the present time expends so much upon economic 

 entomology as America, and nowhere can be found such a corps of 

 experts. The enormous development in recent years has been the 

 outcome of a greatly increased demand for protection from injurious 

 insects. With a better understanding of the practicability of checking 

 insect enemies, there will be progressive calls for more service. These 

 can be met satisfactorily only by retaining in this branch of science 

 the most able and original workers. Such, in the long run, can not 

 afford to devote their entire energies to a field offering inadequate 

 compensation. It is a lamentable fact that, despite the enormous 

 growth in demand for entomological knowledge in the past few years, 

 there have been very few increases in the number of really desirable 

 positions, while a canvass of the situation would show that the recog- 

 nized leaders in economic work are receiving very inadequate com- 



