11 



sary, and therefore must, be ae<iiiire(l. A certain knowledge of botanj'^ 

 is most important and will be (constantly giving advantages to the one 

 who possesses it over those, who do not. 



With regard to the presentation of the results of our labors for the 

 use of others, one thing which should be avoided as ranch as possible is 

 the recommendation of remedies wliicli we have not actually tested our- 

 selves. Tiiere are so many useless and untrustworthy remedies now pub- 

 lished, particularly through newspapers, that great caution is necessary. 

 Dilferent conditions sometimes require differing remedies, according to 

 circumstances ; but I think that the best and fewest possible remedies 

 should be given for any insect treated of, so as to simplify the applica- 

 tion as much as can be done. There is no doubt that the most valuable 

 remedies are those which are simplest. As the late Mr. Frazer Craw- 

 ford, of South Australia, has well said, a remedy must be (1) effective, 

 so as to attain the object aimed at; (2) ine.rpeyisive, so as to be j)racti- 

 cal — worth the trouble and expense of application ; (3) simple, so as to 

 avoid as far as possible all chance of mistakes in applying it. 



At the last meeting of the association, in Champaign, 111., I had the 

 honor of a conversation with Assistant Secretary, the Hon. Edwin Wil- 

 lits, and he mentioned that he was frequently asked for information as 

 to the advisability of large expenditures for entomological purposes, 

 and that although en tomologists frequently spoke of the large losses 

 from insects, we did not provide politicians — and particularly himself — 

 with data by which they could explain and justify these expenditures, 

 which those who understood them knew to be of such enormous impor- 

 tance, and when we wished to point out the great injuries done by in- 

 sects we had to go back contiuuously to old published records which 

 we had all been quoting for upwards of 10 or 20 years. Now we find 

 upon investigation that accurate estimates of damage done by insects 

 are exceedingly difficult to arrive at, and the figures are so large that 

 we are rather afraid to quote them ourselves lest we should prevent 

 rather than encourage investigation, and it has been the custom of 

 entomologists to minimize the estimates for fear they shoukl not be 

 believed. Now the necessity has arisen, I think, and I lay it before the 

 association for action, in the direction of gathering together some relia- 

 ble recent statistics in a short form which may be i)rinted for distribu- 

 tion, and M'hich will cover the more important injuries to date, and the 

 part the work of the entomologist has played in reducing injury or 

 preventing loss, so that we may overcome this difficulty and provide 

 legislators and ourselves with data with which to meet this argument. 

 After a careful examination and great effort to obtain data I have found 

 that there are certain of these large estimates which appear to be relia- 

 ble. I think better results will follow the publication of a few quite 

 reliable statistics, which may be taken as typical instances, than by 

 accumulating a large number of items which would increase the chance 

 of error auel might not be read so carefully. By way of example I 



