4 STATE BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. 



a harmless or an injurious insect to deal with. It is also by no means 

 a bad thing to bring to the general attention the vast number of 

 species that occur in so limited a territory, and it affords striking 

 evidence of the importance of information concerning these creatures 

 who do more harm each year than any one other adverse circum- 

 stance that the farmer has to contend against. It is a conservative 

 estimate to say that the farm crops in New Jersey are annually 

 reduced 20 % by insect attack, and all of this reduction comes from 

 the farmer's profits. 



Some very general directions as to methods of treatment are also 

 interspersed under the headings to which they are most appropriate ; 

 that is, under " Scale Insects " will be found brief directions of the 

 method of dealing with insects of this character, and similarly other 

 injurious groups will be noted. It would carry me altogether too far 

 to write concerning the characters of the insects and how they may 

 be recognized ; nevertheless, some account of their development and 

 the modification that they have undergone in reaching their present 

 state may prove interesting, and a short chapter is devoted to that 

 purpose. 



Though it is important that some knowledge of the anatomy and 

 physiology of insects should be possessed in order to understand how 

 insecticides act, this subject cannot be included here, and the curious 

 student who desires to know concerning these matters is referred to 

 my book on "Economic Entomology," in which all these matters 

 will be found set forth in detail. There is, however, a brief chapter 

 on the common insecticides, their range of usefulness, and the 

 methods of application that have approved themselves in practice. 



Although New Jersey ranks as a small State in this great country 

 of ours, it nevertheless presents a great diversity in the character of 

 its soils, and in the geologic formation. Ranging from the sandy 

 plains in the southern part of the State through the red shale belt in 

 its center, to the hilly north, we find conditions favorable to a great 

 diversity of plant and insect life ; and, while the actual climatic differ- 

 ence in degrees may not seem very startling, yet it is nevertheless the 

 fact that the red shale belt, which has been already referred to, does 

 separate two rather distinct faunal regions, economically considered. 



No very great space need be taken in describing the general sur- 

 face characteristics of New Jersey. The Geological Survey of the 

 State has done that in the most thorough and acceptable manner pos- 

 sible, and the clearest conception of the matter can be gained by 

 introducing a reduced copy of the relief map prepared in 1896. It has 

 been considered advisable, however, to add a list of the localities 



