INTRODUCTION. 
- 
This Bulletin contains a report by Mr. John B. Smith of his summer’s 
observations upon insects injurious to the Cranberry in New Jersey 
and Massachusetts and to the Hop-vine in parts of New York; some 
notes by Mr. Lawrence Bruner of observations on the Rocky Mountain 
Locust and other insects in the Northwest in 1883; a preliminary report 
by Mr. John C. Branner on the results of his journey to Brazil as an 
agent of this Division, in connection with Mr. Albert Koebele, to study 
insects injurious to Cotton, to the Orange, and to Sugar-cane; and a 
report by Mr. Joseph Voyle on the effects of cold on Scale-insects. It 
concludes with extracts from the correspondence of the Division, includ- 
ing unpublished reports on experiments in the cultivation of Pyrethrum 
in different parts of the United States. 
The damage to cranberry vines by insects, always severe, has been 
increasing of late years; yet our knowledge of the life-habits of the 
species concerned in the damage has been quite fragmentary. Beyond 
afew notes by Glover and Packard, and a short article by Dr. J. H. 
Brakeley, little has been published. I have long felt the need of more 
accurate knowledge of the insect drawbacks to cranberry culture and 
the best means of avoiding them, and Mr. John B. Smith, of Brooklyn, 
N. Y., was, therefore, specially charged with investigating them the 
past summer. His report will greatly help to a final and complete 
knowledge of the subject. Mr. Smith was also charged with the investi- 
gation of the insects injurious to the Hop-vine, and his report thereon 
is an important contribution to our knowledge of a subject that has so 
far received but little attention. 
Mr. Bruner, with one assistant, explored, during the past summer, 
that section of the West between Central New. Mexico and Idaho, fol- 
lowing up the Rocky and the Big Horn ranges. On account of sickness 
he was unable to fully follow the latter part of the route mapped out 
for him, but succeeded in examining much territory that had previously 
not been examined. The chief object of the trip was to ascertain the 
status of the Rocky Mountain Locust, and, incidentally, to study the 
insects affecting the chief crops of the plains and mountain regions. AS 
already indicated in my annual report, the results justify the conclusion 
that there will be comparative immunity from the ravages of the Rocky 
Mountain Locust in the trans-Mississippi country during tbe present 
year, 1884. 
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