65 
mentioned also Webster’s special notes on insects infesting the roots 
of Wheat, and Smith’s work with Orthoptera in the cranberry field. 
Further, the food of the Robin has been overhauled again in Ohio 
and that of gophers in South Dakota, both subjects entomological in 
their main interests; the relations of the codling-moth injury to apple 
rot have been studied in Kentucky, apiary experiments have been con- 
tinued in Michigan, and a multitude of minor matters have claimed 
attention here and there. 
In the critical remarks which 1 now propose to make, not so much 
on the nature as on the scope of our recent work, I trust that I shall 
not be misunderstood. It would be easy and pleasant to spend the 
time remaining to me in commendation and congratulation, but, I ven- 
ture to think, less profitable in the end than to take these for granted 
and to look deliberately for deficiencies and for means of betterment. 
Undoubtedly, as it seems to me, so young an association, made up so 
largely of young men, should thoroughly criticise itself, its plans, its 
operations, and its tendencies, from time to time, with a view to giving 
its methods and its traditions an early set in exactly the right mold. 
And so, with the understanding that the comments I have here to offer 
are to be taken merely as my individual suggestions for your considera- 
tion, I venture to call your attention to some defects, as they appear 
to me, in our methods of report and publication; to certain failures of 
“practical result and their remedy, and to a noticeable narrowness of 
” 
7 
view and consequent lack or inadequacy in our treatment of general 
questions, due to the want of comprehensive organization and system- 
atic codperation among us. 
It isnot the wealth one gathers, but that which he puts to use, which 
makes himrich. It is not the knowledge we acquire, but what we suc- 
ceed in making application of, which makes us wise. It is not the facts 
of entomology we discover, but those which we persuade the farmer, 
the gardener, or the fruit-grower to use diligently for the protection or 
the preservation of his crops, which make our entomology economic. 
To discover without publishing effectually is to waste our time as serv- 
ants of the public. To publish valuable results without making sure 
of their appreciation and appropriation by our constituents is to fail of 
real usefulness and the reward of usefulness. To bring a result to bear 
on the practice of one man only, when a thousand are suffering for the 
want of it, is to fail in ninety-nine and nine-tenths per cent of our 
proper undertaking. We must first do exact, exhaustive, conclusive, 
practical, economic work, and then we must find means to get that work 
utilized or it is an economic dead loss. 
Our methods of report and publication, of dissemination and enforce- 
ment, are, in my judgment, lagging far behind our methods of research, 
and are receiving far too little attention; so little, indeed, that I do 
not remember that this topic has ever been effectually discussed at any 
one of our meetings. And yet, since it is the object of these methods 
