12 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



vated for raisins, the product of which, when all shall come to full 

 bearing, is estimated at 200,000 boxes, or 4,000,000 of pounds.* 



The cotton plantation of Col. B. G. Lockett, near Albany, Ga., con- 

 tained in 1872, 6,500 acres of cotton.f 



From the Dalrymple farm, in Nebraska, there were harvested 12,000 

 acres of oats and 24,000 acres of wheat. The grain was cut by 125 

 reaping machines moving in divisions, and a number of steam-thresh- 

 ing machines were employed. J 



In the San Joaquin Valley, in California, there were three wheat 

 fields containing respectively 17,000, 23,000 and 36,000 acres. The 

 crop of the latter was 1,440,000 bushels. One side of the field is seven- 

 teen miles long. When plowed, ten four-horse teams were attached to 

 ten gang-plows, each gang having four plows. Lunch was served at a 

 midway station and supper at the terminus. § 



A Colorado potato field, near Denver (belonging to Mr. Rufns 

 Clark) is 150 acres in extent, and its yield for 1864 was estimated at 

 from 25,000 to 30,000 bushels. During the season more than $2,000 

 were expended in defense against the potato-beetle.** 



In 1877, in Dighton, Mass., 1,000,000 quarts of strawberries were 

 raised — over 30,000 bushels. 



The tendency in our country appears to be toward the cultivation of 

 special crops on a scale only limited by the means of handling them. 

 It; is but the natural result of the proverbial industry and energy of 

 the American people ; the great improvements recently made in agri- 

 cultural implements; the rapid increase in population; increased 

 facilities of transportation ; and an increasing foreign demand for our 

 products. But it is questionable, in view of the alarming increase of 

 insect depredations, to what farther extent this aggregation of single 

 food-plants may be carried, without the attendant multiplication of at- 

 tacking insects to a point where it shall be impossible by any human 

 means or by parasitic aid to prevent their obtaining the entire mastery 

 of us. 



4. The Immense Number of Insects. 



In number of species, insects far exceed that of all the other classes 

 of the animal kingdom combined, viz. : mammals, birds, reptiles, 

 fishes, crustaceans, worms, etc. ff The number already known is 



^For yield in former years, .see Country Gentleman, xlvii, 1882, p. 208. 



\ Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for 1872, p. 448. 



XTlie Rural Nebraska for November, 1880. 



%Coantrtj Gentleman, xxxvii, 1872, p. 633. 



** Report of the Comm,issioner of Agriculture for the year ISli, p. 280. 



t+There are about .5.5,000 species of animals knou^n, exclusive of insects. {Packard'' s Guide 

 to the Study of Insects, 1869, p. 103.) 



