26 PROTECTION OF PLANTS — 1924-25 



bureaus at Elizavetpol and Baku concerned themselves chiefly with locust con- 

 trol. 



During the same period (1914-1917), local organizations were formed at 

 Rostov, Saratov, Vladikavkaz, Ekaterinode and in Siberia, while existing 

 stations were enlarged. 



After the Revolution of 1917, the stations in the outlying provinces which 

 had proclaimed their independence, namely the Baltic States and the Cauca- 

 sian republics, were cut oft entirely from Russia proper. In most cases these 

 provinces had a non-Russian population and the lot of the Russian specialists 

 in the stations was not an easy one, for the new national authorities maintained 

 an attitude of suspicion against them as Russian "oppressors", and required of 

 them a knowledge of the native language. The lot of those entomologists, how- 

 ever, who remained in Russia proper was still worse, and the Red Terror, civil 

 war, typhus and starvation have taken away many of them, including several 

 leading specialists. Besides, the new, ignorant, often illiterate Bolshevik 

 authorities at first paid little attention to the agricultural, being occupied with 

 the political struggle. As a result, the entomologists, and for that matter the 

 entire Russian educated classes, had to earn their living by making shoes, 

 doing clerical work, or working on farms and at the docks. Even the few men 

 who remained at the stations at their posts were obliged to grow vegetables 

 to stave ofT starvation. 



Under such conditions, where the large tracks of uncultivated land favoured 

 the increase of pests, and when control measures were almost wholly neglected, 

 the country during 1919-1921 was overrun with locusts, rodents and many 

 other pests which appeared in enormous numbers in districts hitherto exempt 

 from the attack. The losses were so great that the Soviet authorities began an 

 enormous programme of entomological work to save the crops and the people, 

 and stations were established in almost every province — often in their sub-divi- 

 sions. But it was more easy to pull down than to build up. Qualified men could 

 not be found at this time for the new posts. Instead, young men without any 

 qualifications were placed at the stations, and the pests continued their ravages. 

 However, it must be said that the money appi-opriated for the up-keep of the 

 stations was totally inadequate on account of the great decrease in the value of 

 paper money. Moreover, there was great difficulty in getting the money through 

 the complicated and entangled systems of Soviet "red tape". 



One excellent result was the recognition of the economic entomologists as 

 useful members of the population. In point of comfortable living, however, they 

 were not much better off than before: their anti-locust work had to be carried 

 on with a miserably small amount of money which had to be extracted after 

 the expenditure of much time from numberless ignorant authorities. In spite 

 of the handicaps, many of the economic entomologists made good; they cleared 

 vast tracts of Siberia and other provinces from locusts by the adoption of the 

 poison bran bait on an enormous scale. Most of the unsuitable men gradually 

 fell out and the position of the conomic entomologists was strengthened when 

 the authorities began to see their value and realized that success did not depend 

 upon mere numl)ers of stations and men but upon the quality of the men and 

 adequate funds and materials. 



With the deterioration of Soviet finances began a new movement — the 

 reduction of the number of local stations, closing first of all those opened after 

 the Revolution. Unfortunately some stations that had excellent staffs suffered 

 much reduction, while others that were doing poor work were kept intact due 



