HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 165 



the various stages are usually very well marked. The first stage, 

 that of an egg, is common to all animated beings, be they animals 

 or plants, and consequently every insect hatches from an egg. A 

 sudden increase of insects is therefore not due to any mysterious 

 or unexplainable phenomenon as some ignorant people are still in- 

 clined to believe, but to the previous greater abundance of females. 

 These females prove by their very numbers that atmospheric and 

 other conditions were very favorable to their well-being, and that 

 they had an abundance of food. Being in such a healthy condi- 

 tion they deposit a very large number of eggs, which in due time 

 give forth the young larvae, caterpillars, maggots, worms, or by 

 whatever name they may be designated. If one acre with any kind 

 of plants harbors only one hundred female insects, but very few 

 persons will ever notice their presence at all. But let each female 

 deposit only 500 eggs, by no means an exaggerated average num- 

 ber, and all of a sudden 50,000 hungry caterpillars or worms ap- 

 pear upon the scene. What remains of the vegetation upon that 

 doomed acre is not a paying harvest, and even the worst observer, 

 if not entirely blind, will now notice that this field is teeming with 

 life, and he will very likely wonder whence came this multitude. 

 Suitable climatic conditions and plenty of food are the causes of 

 the rapid increase of all insects. 



The former are not under our control, as the sun will shine with 

 equal force upon saint and sinner. But we can control to a great 

 extent the amount of food which we grow for our insect foes. The 

 modern tendency is to grow as much as possible only one kind of 

 crop, because it is easier and moreover cheaper. But every farmer 

 and horticulturist in doing so, does his very best to induce the un- 

 due multiplication of such insects that are fond of that very same 

 kind of plant; he spreads the table with the most inviting and im- 

 proved morsels, and says to his enemies: "Come help yourself." 

 Of course the whole thing is somewhat akin to gambling, because 

 the farmer risks everything upon one card, and if this wins, he is all 

 right, at least so in his own opinion. But very frequently he is 

 wrong, as the many exhausted and deeply mortaged southern, 

 western, aud eastern farms tell us too plainly. But, at least as far 

 as farming proper is concerned, do such things take place only 

 away from home ? Diversified farming would, perhaps, increase 

 the number of noxious species of insects in any give locality, but 

 it would not permit any one species to become too numerous to be 

 successfully combatted. 



The introduction of noxious insects from foreign countries into 

 new regions also occurs from time to time, but is only likely 

 to take place at or near our Atlantic and Pacific coasts, Such in- 

 troduced insects, if suited to our climate, usually spread very 

 rapidly and almost without hindrance, for the simple reason that 

 their insect enemies have not been brought over at the same time. 

 It frequently takes a number of years before our friends amongst 

 the native insects take hold of the newcomers, and not until then 

 is their further spread and increase more or less checked. 



