HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 329' 



Xo report ^vas made by Prof. Oestluud as entomologist, al- 

 though present at the meeting. He sent the following explana- 

 tory note: 



letter from prof. oestlund. 



Uniyersity of Minnesota, ') 



Geological and Xatural History Survey, V 



Minneapolis, Minn., Feb. 27, 1889. ) 



S. D. HiUman, Secretary, etc., 



Dear Sir: I did not prepare any report or paper this time 

 with intention to have it published. As I supposed Prof. Lug- 

 ger would present an elaborate paper on the subject, and with" 

 the hope that I could slip out of the responsibility of serving as 

 your entomologist, I only wrote out a few notes from which I 

 intended to speak extempore to the Society. 



But as you have again honored me with the position of ento- 

 mologist, it shall now be my earnest endeavor to do some special 

 work during the year for the Society. All along I have felt the 

 want of some elementary work on horticultural entomology 

 adapted to our locality to put in the hands of our members — a 

 work simple enough to be understood by all yet comprehensive 

 enough to present the subject in all its importance and serving 

 as a basis for observations and practical work. We do not care so 

 much for learned and scientific papers on the subject, which are 

 but little understood and I think will rather retard 'end increase 

 the interest for the subject. But this want is easier to state than 

 to fill, and I know that my own knowledge and experience is not 

 up to the task; yet with the resources that are at hand in the 

 entomological work of the experimental station, etc., I think it 

 is going to be possible to do something in this direction during 

 the year. I have no plans to submit in detail at present, but 

 you can expect to hear from me further on. 



It is with much pleasure that I have watched of late the rapid 

 increase of interest for the subject of entomology in Minnesota, 

 and I hope that this will continue as it has begun. There are 

 reasons why Minnesota should take the lead in this work as it is- 

 already doing in other directions. 



Yours truly, 



O. W. Oestlund. 



Vol IV— 42. 



