Insect Pests 167 



With the aid of the mycologist, the entomologist, and the chemist, 

 telling him what to do under every conceivable method of attack, the 

 commercial gardener ought to be pretty well safeguarded by now, and 

 the war he has been carrying on for years on insect and fungoid 

 diseases ought to have decimated the ranks of his foes over and over 

 again. But, alas! it is not so. The various injurious insect pests and 

 fungi appear to be, if anything, in greater force than ever, and they 

 infest our crops with as great persistence as in former years. 



Enormous sums of money are spent annually in emulsions, mixtures, 

 insecticides, fungicides, and poisonous nostrums of all sorts, in addition 

 to grease bands, smudging materials, &c.; and the trade in these remedies 

 seems to be getting larger instead of smaller. One would imagine that, 

 if the various anti-pest remedies on the market possessed any efficacy 

 at all, there should be very few insects left, and the trade in the remedies 

 would naturally contract instead of expand. One must, of course, recognize 

 that commercial growers are taking a keener interest in the diseases afflict- 

 ing their crops than they used to, and this would account in a measure 

 for the vast quantities of insecticides and fungicides that have been used 

 of late years. The hard fact, however, remains, that there seems to be 

 no diminution in either the numbers or attacks of the grower's persistent 

 foes; and this indicates the impotency rather than the destructive power 

 of the remedies. 



While not wishing to minimize the value of the various insecticides 

 and fungicides on the market, the writer is of the opinion that they are 

 not always used to the best advantage and at times when they would 

 be most likely to perform the work expected from them. Owing to the 

 different natures and periods of destruction of the various insect pests 

 and diseases, it is essential that different remedies must be adopted at 

 the times when they are likely to prove effective. 



Taking the insect pests first, they may be roughly divided into (1) 

 pests under glass, and (2) pests in the open air. 



Greenhouse Pests. The insect pests that invade greenhouses are 

 perhaps as difficult to eradicate as any. There are so many chinks and 

 crevices in walls and floors for them to breed in, and they are so difficult to 

 reach that it is not to be wondered at that they escape the effects of washes, 

 vaporizers, and fumigators. While it is probably true that thousands of 

 insects in an active state must succumb to the fumes and washes, on the 

 other hand there must be thousands at the same time in a dormant stage 

 that are not affected in the slightest degree, being protected by a covering 

 that seems to be impervious to everything except fire. In due course 

 such pests come forth, after the danger is past, and play havoc with the 

 various crops, much to the surprise of the gardener, who thought he had 

 disposed of them. 



The practical question is: How best are these enemies to be destroyed? 

 Certainly more drastic measures must be employed than those at present 

 in force. If the pests nest in the soil of a greenhouse, the gardener cannot 



