20 PROTECTION OF PLANTS — 1924-25 



Tula Entomological Station: — 



Since 1897 a great deal of harm has been repeatedly done to the agriculture of Tula by the 

 appearance of different insects, mostly Hessian fly and cut-worms. These losses at last attracted 

 the attention of the Zemstvo of Tula, and at the conference of the local authorities held in Tula in 

 1909 it was decided to ask the government for 25,000 roubles (1) for the purpose of controlling the 

 insects, and also to request the Ministrj^ of Agriculture to establish an entomological station there. 



Permission to establish an entomological station was given bv the Ministry on March 9th, 

 1910. 



With the object of studj^ing the harmful insects of this province the station made a special 

 effort to m^ke its observation as far as possible in natural surroundings, and at the same time in 

 different parts of the province. To this end the station secured a number of temporary experi- 

 mental plots of land in those parts of the province where the pest to be studied was found in lar- 

 gest numbers. The experimental plots organized in this manner enabled it to find out the connec- 

 tion that existed between the life of the pests, their number, the amount of harm done by them, 

 and the economic and other conditions of the given region. In all the experimental plots the 

 same programme was followed, making as far as possible the same kin,dof experiments, thus 

 following the principle of multiple experiments which was found necessary at the agricultural 

 experimental stations. The experimental entomological plots should be as far from one another 

 as possible and cover the entire region. The Tula Station has always followed these principles in 

 studying the insect pests of this region. 



Among these insects, special attention was paid to: — 



1. Euxoa segetum, 



2. Hessian fly, 



3. Frit fly, and 



4. Clover pests, Ayion spp. 



Through the work of the station in studying Apions, the Department of Agriculture sugges- 

 ted to the Zemstvo of Tula to call together a special conference to consider clover pests in general 

 in Central Russia. This conference took place March 27-28, 1915. 



Kharkov Entomological Bureau: — 



On January, 14, 1905, a meeting of the Zemstvo of Kharkov decided to open a credit to defray 

 expenses of entomologists for the study of the life of insect pests in the province of Ivharkov for, 

 the purpose of destroying them. The Zemstvo invited two entomologists and thus the systematic 

 study of insect pests was started and the local entomological bureau founded. Although the econo- 

 mic entomologist recorded a considerable number of insect pests (altogether 66 species, among 

 them 29 field pests, 28 garden pests, 8 orchard pests and 1 forest pest), with few exceptions no spe- 

 cial harm by the pests has been observed during the last few years. 



The study of the pests is done by means of excursions made both by the personal staff of the 

 bureau and by the help of local agronomists and instructors. 



In order to inform the population of the nature of its work, the entomological and phytopa- 

 thological bureau has edited since 1913 a bulletin on the subject of agricultural pests, and measures 

 for destroying them. The bulletin is published periodically seven or eight times a year. 



To complete the description of the study of insect pests in this province, it must be stated that 

 these matters also constitute part of the duties of the entomological section of the economic 

 station of Kharkov, but this section is not yet fully organized, and is not, for the present, capable 

 of doing any systematic work. The staff of the section (the director and his assistant) succeeded 

 in obtaining a considerable amount of information about the pests found in fields, and particularly 

 the pests found on grasses, also about Gryllotolpa vulgaris Sem; at the same time thej' study the 

 question of methods and the technique of experimental work; 



Kaluga Entomological Bureau: — 



Kaluga Entomological Bureau was founded in 1912, During the two years of its existence 

 this institution could not develop all its activities. Special attention was paid by these entomolo- 

 gists to garden pests, for gardening plays an important part in the economics of this province. 

 Among the field pests if this province the most important ones are the wire worms Agriotes 

 lineatus L. and A. sputator L, also Euxoa segetum Schiff. 



(1) $12,500, 



