422 ENTOMOLOGY 



abundance of injurious insects, we are led up to the science of meteor- 

 ology; and if we undertake to master the obscure subject of their diseases, 

 especially those of epidemic or contagious character, we shall find use 

 for the highest skill of the microscopist, and the best instruments of 

 microscopic research. 



" All these investigations are preliminary to the practical part of our 

 subject. What shall the farmer do to protect his crops? To answer 

 this question, besides the studies just mentioned, much careful experi- 

 ment is necessary. All practical methods of fighting the injurious insects 

 must be tried first on a small scale, and under conditions which the 

 experimenter can control completely, and then on the larger scale of 

 actual practice; and these experiments must be repeated under varying 

 circumstances, until we are sure that all chances of mistake or of acci- 

 dental coincidence are removed. The whole subject of artificial remedies 

 for insect depredations, whether topical applications or special modes of 

 culture, must be gone over critically in this way. So many of the so- 

 called experiments upon which current statements relating to the value 

 of remedies and preventives are based have been made by persons 

 unused to investigation, ignorant of the habits and the transformations 

 of the insects treated, without skill or training in the estimation of evi- 

 dence, and failing to understand the importance of verification, that the 

 whole subject is honeycombed with blunders. Popular remedies for 

 insect injuries have, in fact, scarcely more value, as a rule, than popular 

 remedies for disease. 



" Observation, record, generalization, experiment, verification 

 these are the processes necessary for the mastery of the subject, and 

 they are the principal and ordinary processes of all scientific research." 

 The official economic entomologist uses every means to reach the 

 public for whose benefit he works. Bulletins, circulars and reports, 

 embodying most serviceable information, are distributed freely where 

 they will do the most good, and timely advice is disseminated through 

 newspapers and agricultural journals. An immense amount of corre- 

 spondence is carried on with individual seekers for help, and personal 

 influence is exerted in visits to infested localities and by addresses before 

 agricultural meetings. Special emergencies often tax every resource 

 of the official entomologist, especially if he is hampered by inadequate 

 legislative provision for his work. Too often the public, disregarding 

 the prophetic voice of the expert, refuses to " close the door until the 

 horse is stolen." 



Aside from these emergencies, such.as outbreaks of the Rocky Moun- 



