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A CLASSIFICATION OF INSECT INJURIES TO THE STRAW- 
BERRY, WITH SUGGESTIONS OF REMEDIES FOR THEM. 
The study of economic entomology, is primarily and essentially a 
study of insect injuries to vegetation, and only secondarily, and of 
necessity, a study of the insects themselves. To acquire such a 
knowledge of these injuries as will enable those interested either to 
prevent or to remedy them, must be its main object; an object 
which.can often be attained without a full knowledge of the causes 
which have conspired to produce them. In other words, it is some- 
times possible to pass directly from a description of the injury to 
a description of remedial measures, without requiring the perplexed 
farmer or gardener to take into account the technical characters, 
names, life history and habits, of the insect causing it. Wherever 
this is possible, the immense advantage is obvious, and should 
never be neglected. 
Where, as is too often the case, the injurious insects themselves are 
put to the front as the main objects of study, their injuries being 
treated merely as incidents in their life history, one must master 
the whole science of his insect before he can arrive at a remedy for 
its ravages; and as this requires an amount of skill and special 
knowledge far beyond the average farmer, the practical consequence 
is that his reliable information is usually confined to a very few 
species so destructive and abundant that their aspect and habits are 
matters of common knowledge, kept alive by tradition. Even in those 
numerous cases where a simple examination of the insect injury will 
not point the way at once to the correct remedy, it is often un- 
necessary to add more than a few words of the simplest description 
of the insect causing it, to enable the ordinary, intelligent observer 
to distinguish it from any other attack with which it is likely to 
be confounded. 
In short, while the safest and best method is unquestionably to 
become as well acquainted as possible with our insect enemies them- 
selves, as well as with the consequences of their attacks, still it 
should be borne in mind that much of practical value may be learned 
and applied without any detailed entomological knowledge, provided 
that descriptions of insect injuries are skillfully drawn up and 
properly classified. 
Furthermore, this grouping and classification of like injuries, with- 
out unnecessary reference to the various kinds of insects by which 
they have been produced, has this additional decided advantage, 
that the discussion of remedial and preventive. measures may be 
made to apply to an entire group of injuries, instead of to separate 
species of insects, as is now the common method. 
