30 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



my firm conviction that many of the States employing entomolo- 

 gists fail to derive the advantage they might from the labors of 

 those men, by pursuing the very unwise economy of issuing a 

 very small number of their reports, and then so distributing thera 

 that very few even of those fall into the hands of the agricultural 

 classes for which they were designed. 



Some of our most destructive insects have been imported from 

 the other side of the Atlantic, and in those countries have para- 

 sites preying upon them which are not as yet in this country. 

 The cabbage butterfly is one of those European insects, and one, 

 at least, of its European parasites has already found its way into 

 this country but has not as yet distributed itself everywhere the 

 butterfly has gone. It would clearl}' be the duty of a State ento- 

 mologist to investigate this matter, and import such parasites as 

 prey upon these insects in the old world, but have not as yet 

 reached this country, and distribute those already here into parts 

 where they have not yet gone. Plainly this is work which no 

 novice can undertake, and should not be attempted save by a 

 person accomplished in this department of natural history. 



It is very questionable whether the remedies now recommended 

 for many of the insects, are the best we could have ; and there 

 are many insects for which we have none at all. Can it be possible 

 that nothing new can be learned in this direction ? We should be 

 loth to admit such an idea. But who shall carry on these investi- 

 gations ? Who shall spend his time and money in tin's field of 

 research, for time and money are necessities in research ? Shall 

 we leave it to blind chance to hit upon some destructive agent 

 which shall annihilate the whole race of cabbage butterfles ? Shall 

 we leave it to those interested in agricultural pursuits to fight 

 these seen and unseen hosts of insects as best they may, and we 

 pay the increased prices which their products cost because of the 

 destruction of these insect foes ? Surely this is not good policy. 

 There should be some one who is paid to devote his time to this 

 bubiness, and is furnished with the means for carrying on these 

 investigations. Besides recommending that a State entomologist 

 be employed, I would earnestly recommend that you cultivate in 

 your boys a spirit of inquiry concerning the common insects 

 around you. If your boy will take some ordinary box with glass 

 upon one side so as to admit the sunlight, and will put into the 

 box a small branch of an apple tree with a tent caterpillar's nest 

 on it, and feed it with fresh leaves each day, noting all the changes 



