LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



State Experiment Station. 



St. Anthony Park, Minn., Dec. i, 1904. 

 His Excellency, S. R. Van Sant, St. Paul, Minn., 



Dear Sir: The fact that we have had Httle injury this year 

 from the Hessian fly and the chinch bug" need not fill our farmers 

 with a feeling of security as regards these pests, and occasional 

 grasshopper visitations, for with the crop conditions in Minnesota, 

 we will undoubtedly always have the first two pests, and at times 

 be troubled with grasshoppers. The Hessian fly has been heard 

 from in a few counties, but there has been but little injury this 

 year, and little or no injury from the chinch bug. I have occa- 

 sionally received reports which would indicate the presence of the 

 frit fly on wheat, though no specimens have ever been sent, and 

 I have personally not met with the pest here. 



We have been surprised by the introduction of the European 

 willow and alder borer attacking our Carolina poplars, introduced 

 in this country many years ago, and gradually working its way 

 westward. This beetle is treated of on page 115. 



Your Entomologist has deemed it advisable to insert in this 

 report a key to insects afifecting the blackberry, raspberry, straw- 

 berry, currant, gooseberry, grape and melon, for the use of mar- 

 ket gardeners — this key being a continuation of the one published 

 last year on insects affecting fruit trees. It is to be hoped it will 

 be useful. In this connection I wish to call attention to the fact 

 that reports of the State Entomologist are planned to form a 

 series of references for farmers, fruit growers, market gardeners 

 and others, and to be of special use should be preserved so that 

 they can be referred to from time to time when conditions call 

 for reference. I have aimed in this report, as in previous reports, 

 to keep in mind the fact that these publications are for the use 



