78 



Eeport of Obs!',rvatiok of Injurious Insects and Common Farm 

 Pests Durino the Year 1888, by Miss Eleanor A. Ormerod. 

 F. R. Met. Soc, Etc. 



The Twelfth Annual Repoi't of our esteemed corresponding mem- 

 l)er, Miss Ormerod, has just come to hand, and is of great interest and 

 utility not only to English readers, for whom it is specially prepared, 

 Ibut also for enlightened people in all parts of the world. The same 

 general principles underlie the methods of prevention and remedy, for 

 the injuries done to crops by insects wherever they may occur, and the 

 g^ractical common sense shown by Miss Ormerod in the careful discussion 

 and treatment of the different attacks mentioned in the present report, 

 added to the experience she has gained after years of constant study 

 in a special line, should demand the recognition of the talented 

 authoress as a public benefactor by the thoughtless millions who daily 

 benefit from her labours in low prices for many of the necessaries of 

 life. Ten per cent is a very low estimate of the amount of annual 

 injury don» to farm crops by insects, and this frequently runs up to 15, 

 25, or even 50 per cent. Of this large amount of loss, by far the greater 

 part could be saved if our farmers and gardeners would only read such 

 reports as Miss Ormerod has given us. Nothing can be truer than what 

 she says so feelingly in her preface. " In a country such as this it 

 appears an evil crying for removal that the ignorance of the uneducated 

 should be allowed to cause, year by year, such a demonstrable loss to 

 the nation." The attacks, mentioned in the report include, amongst 

 others, the following orchard pests, which were very numerous in 

 England during 1888. Apple Weevil, Anthonomus pomorum, Curtis. 

 G-reen "Leaf" Weevil, Phyllohius maculicornis, Germ. Winter 

 Moth, Cheimatobia brumata, L. Lackey Moth, Clislocampa neustria, 

 Curtis. Small Erminie Moth, Yponomeuta padella, Linn. Figure-of-8 

 Moth, Diloba cceruleocephala, Linn. Mottled Umber Moth, Ilybernia 

 defoliaria, Linn. A noticeable fact in the remedies proposed is 

 that there is no mention of the arsenical poisons which are of such 

 inestimable service in our large North American orchards, and which, 

 with ordinary care, can be used with perfect safety. The attack of the 

 Hessian fly on wheat, concerning which there was so much anxiety in 

 Eigland in 1887, seems to have decreased in a marked degree, and this 



