THE POSITION OF AN ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGIST. 367 



sume. The actual solution of this question is one which calls for at 

 least a year, probably two years, of careful study upon the habits of 

 one bird, because one season's conditions may cause the food habits 

 of the bird to differ from its habits during the following season. 

 The question as to whether beneficial insects are consumed, as well 

 as the injurious forms, must also be considered. The actual market 

 value of the fruit eaten is another point. Why cannot the horticul- 

 turist and the berry raiser become entomologists? Let me suggest 

 that each one of you, not only because it is a question of dollars and 

 cents to you, but because to any one who loves nature there is a 

 certain aesthetic pleasure in it, make a study of these questions : 

 What insects are friends? What are foes? Is that bird to be wel- 

 comed or to be destroyed? 



UPS AND DOWNS OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE 

 IN MINNESOTA. 



WM. LYONS, MINNEAPOLIS. 



I cannot tell why our secretary should honor me with a request 

 to write a paper on this subject, when I have often told all I knew 

 about strawberry culture, unless it was to show his respect for a 

 pioneer strawberry grower, or he may have thought me too good 

 natured to refuse a task that could hardly be imposed upon another 

 at this busy season of the year, or perhaps he thought my wild the- 

 orizing might create a little wholesome discussion. But no matter 

 what it was, I realize that in compliance with his request I assume 

 a most difficult task, since everybody wants new ideas, new plans 

 and new theories. Now this whole ground has been gone over time 

 and again, each one telling the same old story and in the same way, 

 but perhaps the new members coming into our horticultural family 

 require just such instruction and advice as would be stale and un- 

 interesting to the older members. 



We horticulturists are always ready to give freely the informa- 

 tion which costs us dearly. 



In the part of Hennepin county that I have lived in for more 

 than thirty years, all the berry growers that have continued to raise 

 "Countess" and "Crescent" strawberries have succeeded, while all 

 who depended on the new and larger varieties have failed. The 

 only people who made money out of the new varieties were those 

 who sold plants. This is my experience of the "ups and downs of 

 strawberry growing" in my part of the country. 



I drove through the strawberry region last spring for informa- 

 tion, stopped at a great number of places and asked "What vari- 



