78 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



is more common, their foliage is denuded and their vitality 

 sapped by hosts of hungry insects whose ravages might be 

 prevented with a minimum amount of intelligent effort on 

 the part of man. 



So general is this latter form of injury that tree lovers are 

 being continually brought to face what may be well named 

 "The shade-tree insect problem." The damage may be 

 slight, and confined to a single valued tree ; or it may be 

 great, and seriously affect the shade trees of an entire com- 

 munity. Under one guise or another the problem recurs 

 with the seasons and apparently in increasing magnitude. 

 It is indeed a problem that may well receive the earnest 

 consideration of this Board, — a body which for half a cen- 

 tury has actively and consistently encouraged every effort 

 making for the better preservation of fruit and shade trees. 



That damage by insects is increasing seems to be an ac- 

 cepted generalization. Things were not thus in " the good 

 old days," if we are to believe commonly circulated state- 

 ments. Admitting frankly that insect damage is now of 

 more importance than formerly, I would suggest that, in 

 contrasting present with past conditions, due allowance be 

 made for the infirmities of memory and the deficiencies in 

 records. Accounts of insect depredations in the early years 

 of civilization, while relatively scarce, show that injury by 

 these pests has been contemporaneous with the development 

 of agriculture. 



Considering the slight attention given to natural history 

 in early literature, the sacred writings contain many inter- 

 esting references to insect damage. Of the plagues of 

 Egypt, three were of an entomological nature, — lice, flies 

 and locusts ; while the lament of the prophet Joel, "That 

 which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten ; and 

 that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten ; 

 and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar 

 eaten," may well strike a responsive chord in the hearts of 

 agriculturists of the present day. 



Three hundred years before Christ, Aristotle described 

 several noxious insects ; while Pliny, writing about 77 A.D., 

 has given lengthy details of insect damage. Theological 



