32 TNTRODUCTORT. 



2. Before advising your neighbor to adopt a certain course 

 or remedy, be sure by repeated investigations that you are 

 possessed of a fact, not a fancy. Experiments, to be convinc- 

 ing, require that they be subjected to well defined, clearly per- 

 ceived conditions. 



3. In reporting results of experiments, it should be remem- 

 bered that " it is the weakest link that determines the strength 

 of the chain." 



One of the obstacles with which the enterprising fruit groAver 

 has to contend in attempting to prevent the spread of insect 

 pests, is the reliance their neighbors place in remedies which 

 they have not sufficiently tested before adopting them. For 

 instance : A's neighbor, ISIr. B, has decided to clean his 

 orchard to prevent the ravages of the codlin moth, and as a 

 business i)rin('iple nuikes an estimate of the cost, which will 

 prol)al)ly l)e from fifteen to twenty dollars per acre, according 

 to the size of the trees. About this time he notices an article 

 in his news])aper : " No more use for ])umps, sprays, nozzles, 

 and solutions. B}' placing a branch of an eucalyptus tree in 

 your apple and pear trees, the codlin moth will not attack the 

 fruit." Mr. B adopts the cheaj) remedy without further inves- 

 tigation. Result : the codlin moth is not destroyed, and A's 

 orchard is placed in danger. ]\[r. C. who has l)een advised to 

 use wide-mouthed bottles, with sweetened water, etc., tries the 

 experiment and pronounces it a success, having captured by 

 actual count nearly five hundred -moths in one night. The 

 success is announced, and others are induced to give up the 

 application of all other remedies, and they are successful in 

 capturing a large number of moths. Query — Are they codlin 

 moths? In one case, where four hundred and eighty-three 

 moths were captured, in an orchard as badly infested by the 

 codlin moth as any that can be found in this State, not a cod- 

 lin moth was found in the whole numl>er. In another case, 

 where locomotive licad-lights were used in an orchard at night 

 and surrounded l)y devices for capturing moths, such as pans 

 of sweetened water, rum and molasses, coal oil, etc., of tlie 

 immense number of moths ca})tured, less than one fourth of 

 one per cent were codlin moths, or one in every four hundred. 

 Ml'. I> culled ;it mv olliee a tew davs auo, and stated that he 



