STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 321 



something that should easily be remedied, it is hoped the same 

 will not apply for another year. 



During the year, two of the injurious insects, well known 

 east of the Mississippi, have been discovered within the bound- 

 aries of this state. Although both of these do not, in the first 

 case, concern the horticulturists, as they are insects injurious to 

 wheat and corn, yet the injury of at least one of them is of such 

 a nature that I consider it as worthy of your attention. 



The first of these is the Angaumois moth, so well known as In- 

 juriotis to stored grain on the continent, in England, as well as in 

 many of the Eastern states of this country. My attention was 

 first called to it from this state by specimens forwarded to me by 

 Mr. E. V. Beales, of this city. Soon after I received the same 

 from Prof. Porter for determination, sent in from some other 

 part of the state that I have not yet succeeded to learn. This is 

 one of the most destructive pests known to infest stored grain. 

 In the district of Angaumois, in France, it appeared in such great 

 numbers in the latter part of tite last century that the whole 

 population was threatened with famine, and the attention of the 

 government was drawn to it and commissioners ax)pointed to in- 

 vestigate the matter. It is undoubtedly an imported insect to 

 this country, though it has been found here for more than a cen- 

 tury and has shown itself quite as destructive here as on the 

 continent. Mr. F. M. Webster, who has studied this insect in 

 Illinois, quotes an opinion from the New York Sun that if the 

 progress of this pest could at that time (a few years ago) be 

 arrested by the government at an expense of $5,000,000, it would 

 be the best investment ever made for the people. As the ravages 

 of this insect often will reduce the weight of grain from twenty- 

 five to fifty per cent, the estimation is probably not much 

 exaggerated. 



I wish not only to call your attention to this insect, but to 

 make you familiar with it by presenting some of its life his- 

 tory, and by your investigating the specimens themselves, 

 with the nature of the injury done from specimens that I have 

 brought here for that purpose, that if you should find it in your 

 own grain or in that of your neighbor, you shall know what the 

 enemy is; and if we yet can not exclude this pest from our 

 boundaries, as he has now once entered, we can nevertheless do 

 much to check a too rapid spread by not allowing him to breed 

 too freely. 



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