PREFACE. 



To ilie President and Members oftlie Missouri State Board of Agricultnre : 



Gentlhmen : According to custom, I herewith submit to you my 

 Sixth Annual Report un the Noxious, Beneficial and other Insects of 

 the State of Missouri. The MS. is yet incomplete, but will be in 

 readiness by the time the printer needs it. 



The year 1873 has been characterized by a very short fruit crop, 

 owing more to late cold and wet spring weather tlian to any other 

 cause; and by other peculiarities which I need not mention, as they 

 will doubtless be set forth in ihe report of your Corresponding Secre- 

 tary. Owing to the increasing correspondence of this office, and the 

 increased demand on my time for lectures and essays before State 

 and local societies, I have found it impossible to perform the same 

 amount of field work that I have been able to accomplish in previous 

 years. In fact the duties of the office have become so multipled, that 

 one person can no longer perform them, as they should be performed, 

 with any degree of satisfaction to himself. As the duties of the office 

 increase, so do the expenses, and this has been especially the case 

 during the year about to close, because of the strict regulations 

 adopted by our railroad corporations which have, with few exceptions, 

 made it impossible to obtain railroad passes. Unless, therefore, the 

 means are provided to enable me to employ such assistance as will 

 relieve me of some of the necessary routine and detail, it is very evi- 

 dent that my own time will be frittered away in such details; and 

 when I can no longer make the office as efficient and useful as 1 de- 

 sire, I shall be under the necessity of severing my connection with it. 



There is another subject to which I desire to call your attention. 

 The law provides that the Entomological Report be bound in with the 

 Report of your Corresponding Secretary. The consequence is that 

 my Report, after it is printed, must sometimes lie for months in Jef- 

 ferson City before being distributed. The last Report of your Secre- 



