54 ANNUAL REPORT 



the occasional locust and army worm invasions, we Minnesotians pay but a smaT 

 tribute to insects. In the South it is very much greater, for in addition to all the 

 pests with which we have to contend, and many more affecting fruit and garden 

 crops, they have the ruinous cotton worms and tobacco worms, affecting two of 

 their most important products. To keep these in check necesitates a large expen- 

 diture, which ranks with the hoeing and picking in the production of the crops- 

 The planters have accepted the situation. They expect the attack of insects and 

 their attention is mainly directed to the discovery of tlie most efficacious remedies 

 and to the invention of machinery with which to apply them. 



It is a well established fact that, up to a certain point, the longer a country has 

 been settled the more numerous are the species of insects with which the agricul- 

 turist has to contend. This is a natural result from growing the .same plants over 

 large areas,, thus providing sustenance to unlimited numbers of such insects as 

 have acquired a taste for them. This being contrary to nature's method, she i^ 

 not, at first, able to keep the proper balance between vegetable and animal life. 

 After a time, however, she in most cases adjusts matters by the introduction of 

 parasites that greatly diminish the numbers of the plant-feeding species, so that 

 in very old countries the balance is again established. But nature's aid comes too 

 tardily to save several generations of human beings from serious loss, and conse- 

 quently there is a necessity for artificial remedies and preventatives. In the em- 

 plojTnent of these, as I have more than once said, there is great need of organized 

 effort. What can it avail to the thrifty farmer to burn his stub])le to destroy the 

 fall brood of the Hessian fly, or to carefully clear up all his rubbish to prevent the 

 hibernation of the chintz bug on his premises, if his careless neighbor on the other 

 side of the fence neglects all these precaiitions ? The latter will have flies and 

 bugs enough and to spare, and the labors of the former will be well nigh wasted. 



Knowledge on this sultject must be more generally disseminated. The United 

 States Government and many of the State governments are paying out annually 

 large sums of money and employing distinguished talent for the investigation of 

 the habits of injurious insects, and for the discovery of the best and cheapest 

 remedies and means of prevention, and if our farmers and horticulturists would 

 but read the reports of these oflftcers and follow their directions, they would learn 

 at what time each destructive insect was most easily mastered, and what remedies 

 and applications to use against each species. For instance, the hay or folded pa- 

 per band is an excellent remedy for the codling moth; as the larvae of the latter, 

 will hide in it in great numbers and may easily be killed. But this band would be 

 ho protection against the curculio or the canker worm; while the jarring, which is 

 effective against the two latter, would in turn be no safeguard against the codling 

 moth. This illustrates the necessity for accurate knowledge of the habits of each 

 injurious insect. 



The intensely practical farmer, is inclined to regard with something like con- 

 tempt the careful and minute inquiries and experiments of the entomologist. 

 "What difference does it make," he a.sks, "where and how these bugs breed? 

 What we want to know is how to kill 'em." And that is just what the entomolo- 

 gist wants to know, too; but he realizes the hopelessness of taking them off indi- 

 vidually, so he carefully watches them through their various transformations until 

 he discovers their most defenseless stage, and where each is to be found at that 



