The Utility of Entomology 



'been estimated that every known species of plant has five or six 

 species of insects which habitually feed upon it. Where the 

 plant is one that is valuable to man and is grown for his use, 

 the horticulturist or the farmer finds himself confronted, pres- 

 ently, by the ravages of these creatures, and unless he has cor- 

 rect information as to the best manner in which to combat them, 

 he is likely to suffer losses of a serious character. We all have 

 read of the havoc wrought by the Kansas locust, or grasshopper, 

 and of the ruin brought about by insects of the same class in 

 Asia and in Africa. We all have heard of the Hessian fly, of 

 the weevil, and of the army-worm. The legislature of Massa- 

 chusetts has in recent years been spending hundreds of thou- 

 sands of dollars in the attempt to exterminate the gipsy-moth. 

 The caterpillar of the cabbage-butterfly ruins every year material 

 enough to supply sauer-kraut to half of the people. The cod- 

 ling-moth, the little pinkish caterpillar of which worms its way 

 through apples, is estimated to destroy five millions of dollars' 

 worth of apples every year within the limits of the United 

 States. And what shall we say of the potato-bug, that prettily 

 striped beetle, which, starting from the far West, has taken pos- 

 session of the potato-fields of the continent, and for the exter- 

 mination of which there is annually spent, by the agricultural 

 communities of the United States, several millions of dollars in 

 labor and in poisons ? 



A few facts like these serve to show that the study of ento- 

 mology is not a study which deserves to be placed in the cate- 

 gory of useless pursuits. Viewed merely from a utilitarian 

 standpoint, this study is one of the most important, far outrank- 

 ing, in its actual value to communities, the study of many 

 branches of zoological science which some people affect to regard 

 as of a higher order. 



The legislature of Pennsylvania acted wisely in passing a law 

 which demands that in every high school established within the 

 State there shall be at least one teacher capable of giving instruc- 

 tion in botany and in entomology. The importance of entomol- 

 ogy, while not perceived by the masses as yet, has been recog- 

 nized by almost all the legislatures of the States; and not only 

 the general government of the United States, but the governments 

 of the individual commonwealths, are at the present time em- 

 ploying a number of carefully trained men, whose business is to 



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