THE POSITION OF AN ECONOMIC ENTOIHOLOGIST. 365 



tist to go off at half cock, to use a slang expression, after which he 

 generally has plenty of time to repent of his rash utterances. The 

 more I come in contact with the heavy men in science, the more I 

 am impressed with the extreme care and the great patience that 

 they show in going over a problem again and again before ven- 

 turing to express an opinion. Like the fable of the youth search- 

 ing for truth, they struggle onward, surmounting obstacle after 

 obstacle, and the work ends with their only finding possibly part of 

 the truth. Some of these problems are fascinating, the struggle 

 itself is fascinating if taken up in the right spirit, and if he can by 

 years of work add but a slight contribution to the world's sum of 

 knowledge, he has achieved a signal victory. 



Let us compare, if you will, the position of a scientist in an ex- 

 periment station with one in a university ; whether the scientist be 

 a horticulturist, agriculturist or veterinarian or, what interests me 

 much more, an entomologist. In the university a biologist, whose 

 work may be said to approach that of the entomologist, can take 

 up any problem which attracts him. If he pleases to study the 

 development of the sturgeon, or the method of fertilization of some 

 kinds of orchids, or the physiology of nerve muscle under cer- 

 tain conditions, he can follow out his bent to the full extent of his 

 pleasure ; but in the case of the economic entomologist problems 

 of all kinds are fired at him. He cannot choose. He must study 

 and conquer these problems of the day or to a certain extent fail in 

 his work. It is not for him to say "I should like to spend my time 

 studying the development of that larva, or the gradations in color 

 of that butterfly or the metamorphosis of that beetle" ; but serious 

 problems representing, as you know, many thousands of dollars are 

 all the time pushing themselves into his notice. For that reason it 

 seems to me the position of an economic entomologist, with all the 

 fascinating features which it offers, is a most important and a most 

 difficult one, one requiring consideration from the orchardist and 

 not criticism. 



I note on your program that I am down to say something about 

 strawberries. Strawberries are all right (with cream and sugar), 

 and I always like to see a good crop. I hesitate, however, to take 

 up a discussion of the numerous pests which attack the strawberry. 

 I feel that this body of practical men and women have worked so 

 much in the strawberries that what I might say would be like car- 

 rying coals to Newcastle. Furthermore, as you know, I am a new- 

 comer in your state, and, while I lived some years ago in Minne- 

 apolis, I have for thirteen years been living on the Pacific coast, 



