18 PROTECTION OF PLANTS — 1924-25 



On this acccunt and through the necessity cf having collections of insect pests of their district 

 for Durely practical purposes, such as demonstrations during lectures, exhibitions, etc., and also the 

 need ot lending such collections to schools, cabinets of the local agronomists, (1) etc the nstitu- 

 tions were obliged to collect all rests regardless of the amount of harm done by them The collect- 

 ed material is then sorted, and st d ed with the help of institutions such as the Zoological Museum 

 of the Academy of Sciences, the Central Phytopathological Station, etc. Accordingly there gra- 

 dually developed a close connection between the entomological institutions and the Central 

 bcien'inc institutions. 



The collections become all the more valuable if they present the wl ole life hi.story of pests for 

 It IS possible to fight against them in one or other of their stages with the greatest success only 

 when the conchtions in which they live during diflferent stages of their de\ elopment are ' fully 

 known. 



Special attention is therefore paid by these institutions to observations on th- pests in their 

 natural surroundings, on plots of land specially set apart for such e>:periments, in gardens, etc 

 or other observation points, with the further confirmation of these obser ations in laboratories' 

 where cages are used in the different stages in their development, In this manner the problems 

 of these institutions came to a certain degree in contact with problems attacked by institutions of 

 a purely experimental type. 



The experimental institutions have this advantage over the others in that thev can confirm 

 their observations, taking into consideration the factors which have their effect upon"^the culti ated 

 plants, and consequently on the organisms which live on these plants. Therefore those institutions 

 whose principal purpose was to help peasants to destroy pests, being deprived o the necessary 

 means (such as specially prepared plots of land), usually did not attempt to find means of thus 

 ■destroying these insects which are not yet fully known. 



Thus a dividing line crept in between the entomological or phytopathological bureaus and 

 the entomological or phytopathological stations. This line, owing to the weakness in the de\e- 

 lopment of the respective sections of experirrental stations, is net yet clearly defined, and 

 the research functions, especially in cases of absence of an experimental institution in the particular 

 region, are so far as possible performed by the bureau. This part of their work cannot cla m to be 

 the rough and ccmplete as will be clearly seen in the description o the entomological stations and 

 bureaus given later on. At the same time in some cases, especially where there has been formed a 

 close connection between the entomological bureau and experimental institution, the applied scien — 

 tific investigations have been fairly well developed. 



To the investigational work must be added the testing of cUfferent substances and apparatus 

 for destroying the pests, which was done by many entomological stations and bureaus. In some 

 cases the results of these experiments proved to be very important in organizing control measures 

 (for e.xample, the testing poison baits to destroy locust proved the possibility of adopting this 

 method, which is much cheaper and simpler than spraying the plants with poison.) 



If the measures for destroying insect pests en masse have more or less reached their aim, the 

 same cannot be said about demonstrating to peasants the means for destroying pests, for in many 

 cases this part of their work has not been fully and widely developed. 



The reason for this lies in the fact that owing to the s.nallne s of their staffs, the institutions 

 were not in a position to do the work, while the local agronomical staffs, whose work it really should 

 have been, usually proved themselves insufficiently i)repared for it. Therefore, many stations and 

 bureaus tried to organize a special staff of instructors in insect control from among the local agro- 

 nomical staffs, by giving special courses of instruction. 



Besicles this, some of the isolated entomological institutions with their own forces made de- 

 monstrations of control measures to the peasants, by means of "flying detachments". 



As the success of demonstration work depends upon the facihty with which peasants can 

 obtain the necessary apparatus for using different kinds of substances for destroying pests, special 

 attention was paid by the entomological stations and bureaus to enable the peasants to obtain such 

 apparatus more easily by estabhshing sloie houses in the institutions; in addition measures v/ere 

 taken that the storehouses should sell only those apparatus and substances which had already 

 been tested by the entomological institutions. 



As to the other work of the station entomologists, the most highly developed part of it was 

 the consultation work. 



Entomological stations and bureaus, being first of all the advisers of the respective local ins- 

 titutions, are often requested by them to discuss at conferences, meetings, etc. different methods 

 of destroying agricultural pests. At the same time they are obliged to give advice to those who 

 ask for information, advice or directions. These purposes are accomplished by the staffs in two 

 ways:— 



(ij Local instructors in agriculture. 



