December 6, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



779 



individual crop pests necessitating oi-iginal 

 observation and investigation, and fre- 

 quently novel remedies. In the more new- 

 ly settled countries, wliere agricultural 

 holdings are large, the necessities become 

 more nearly like those of the United States ; 

 thus, in Australia many problems are sim- 

 ilar, and the same may be said of South 

 Africa, and especially the new colony of 

 the Transvaal, and the same remark may 

 be extended in all probability to those por- 

 tions of Asia which are being agricultu- 

 rally developed by the Russian people. 

 But, in the older countries, and especially 

 in the European countries, the problem is 

 different. In the address of thirteen years 

 ago the speaker quoted the chief of the 

 Agricultural Section of the Ministry of 

 Agriculture of Prussia, who in conversa- 

 tion with the writer in the summer of 1893 

 argued that Germany does not need to em- 

 ploy general economic entomologists, that 

 its experiment stations seldom receive ap- 

 plications for advice upon entomological 

 topics. Special insects, it is true, occa- 

 sionally spring into prominence; the phyl- 

 loxera is one of these, and in an emergency 

 like the phylloxera outbreak the work is 

 handled by special commissions. European 

 nations can, therefore, afford to let the 

 problem alone to a much greater extent 

 than the United States for the reason that 

 it is infinitely less important with them 

 than with us. 



From several recent European visits the 

 writer is inclined to agree, in a measure, 

 with this statement of conditions. Never- 

 theless, there is a very considerable need in 

 practically all of the countries of Europe 

 for modern, careful work in economic ento- 

 mology. A certain percentage, and it may 

 be a very considerable percentage, of many 

 crops is lost each year through failure to 

 carry on entomological work on a nluch 

 larger scale than it was done in 1894, or 

 than it is done at the present date. Scat- 



tered here and there through Europe, as 

 will appear from subsequent paragraphs, 

 there is an occasional official economic ento- 

 mologist, but, without exception, these 

 men's hands are tied for want of financial 

 backing. Their salaries are, without ex- 

 ception, extremely small from the Amer- 

 ican standpoint. They are working almost 

 single-handed, and their opportunities are 

 discouragingly small in face of the results 

 that might be otherwise accomplished. 

 They all feel these conditions strongly, and 

 they all realize the great desirability for 

 their government's good of additional op- 

 portunities for careful work. They are 

 appealed to so often, in fact, by agricul- 

 turists as to indicate the certain value of 

 added facilities, and I am convinced that 

 practically all European governments are 

 losing opportunities to save agriculture 

 from a sure annual loss which may be 

 greater or smaller, according to the con- 

 ditions. 



In the 1894 address the writer considered 

 the conditions in the following countries in 

 order: Canada, Great Britain, Germany, 

 Austria Hungary, Italy, France, Spain, 

 The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Russia 

 (including Finland), Brazil, Chili, India, 

 South Africa, Australia, British "West In- 

 dies, New Zealand and the Hawaiian re- 

 public. In anticipation of the preparation 

 of this address the officers in these coun- 

 tries just mentioned were written to .with 

 the request that they send information as 

 to the present condition of the work in 

 economic entomology in their countries. 

 The same request was sent to practically all 

 of the foreign members of the Association 

 of Economic Entomologists. Many of them 

 have responded, and from these responses 

 and from personal visits to some of the 

 countries, together with some knowledge of 

 publications which have been issued, the 

 following statements may be made : 



