12 



will refer to the chiuch bug'. I have exauiined carefully the estimates 

 which have been published concerning that particular insect, and the 

 following are probably quite reliable and appear to have been made 

 with due regard to all collateral considerations, as the increased value 

 of the saved crop, the cost of remedial measures, and similar subjects. 



In 1804 Dr. Shimer's estimate, which I find was drawn up with very 

 great care, put the loss in the one State of Illinois to the corn and grain 

 crops at $73,000,000. In Dr. Eiley's Eeports on the Injurious Insects 

 of Missouri, we find in 1874 there was a reliable estimate of the loss to 

 that State by the same insect of $10,000,000. In 1887 Professor 

 Osborn's estimate, founded upon the reports of the correspondents of 

 the State Agricultural Society of Iowa, put the loss in that State on 

 corn and grain at $25,000,000 -, and lastly, Mr. Howard's estimate, as 

 given in the entomologist's report for 1887, for the nine States infested 

 by the chinch bug in that year, was $60,000,000. 



Kow, gentlemen, I think that these statistics of the injuries to crops 

 by one insect alone are probably as reliable as any we can get, and 

 they give a good argument which we may use as showing the depreda- 

 tions of insects ; but it is not sufiicient that we can convince people 

 that great injury is going on ; we must show that we are doing some- 

 thing to mitigate this injury. In Professor Comstock's Eeport for 1879 

 the estimate of the possible loss in years of general prevalence of the 

 cotton Aletia is placed at $30,000,000 through the cotton States. The 

 injuries by grasshoppers in the different States of the Union and also 

 occasionally through the British North American provinces have been 

 so enormous that figures hardly give an idea of the injury they do, but 

 they are known by all to be enormous. 



As an instance, however, of what may be done to mitigate their at- 

 tacks I would merely mention those for this year, which seem to have 

 been very considerable. • In the States of North Dakota and Minnesota 

 it is probable that at least $400,000 have been saved on account of work 

 done by direct advice of entomologists — work they have in some in- 

 stances forced upon the farmers. Two hundred thousand dollars is a 

 probable estimate of the amount saved by plowing the land last autumn. 

 Another equal amount has been saved by the use of " hopperdozers." 

 Professor Bruner tells me that a sufficient number of grasshoppers have 

 been actually taken this year, which if left alone and allowed to lay 

 their eggs might next year have devastated the whole crops of those 

 two States and the adjoining parts of Manitoba. These successful opera- 

 tions have been carried on bj^the State entomologist of Minnesota, Pro- 

 fessor Lugger, and h^ Professor Waldron, of North Dakota, ably aided 

 by the advice and assistance of the agent of the Department of Agri- 

 culture, Professor Bruner, under Professor Riley's instructions ; and I 

 think it is no exaggeration to say that at least $400,000 have been ac- 

 tually saved in hard cash on this year's crop, not to speak of the enor- 

 mous loss which would most probably have followed next year had they 



