364 PR OF. SNOW ON EN TOMOL OGY. 



relations of tlie Avorld of nature, and for his own good establishes a new order 

 of things. Instead of allowing the grapevines and fruit trees to remain in 

 the forest, separated from one another and associated with hundreds of other 

 species of vines and trees, he for his. own convenience and comfort gathers 

 the vines by themselves into vineyards, and the trees by themselves into 

 orchards. He then improves the quality of the fruit by cultivation. But 

 these altered conditions furnish vastly improved facilities for the multipli- 

 cation of the many species of insects which find their homes upon or w^ithin 

 the vines and trees. What were formerly useful pruners and restrainers of 

 an over luxuriant vegetation, now become ruthless destroyers, and man 

 must exercise his keenest intelligence to protect himself from ruin. The 

 annual damage inflicted upon crops and fruits in the United States has been 

 variously estimated from $300,000,000 to $500,000,000. An equal destruction 

 of property by an army of invasion would cause our national government to 

 expend millions of dollars in defence. The loss occasioned by the ravages 

 of the Eocky Mountain or Hateful Locust during the past year, cannot fall 

 below $100,000,000. Yet the total amount annually expended for the repres- 

 sion of insect foes by congress and all our state legislatuers combined does not 

 exceed $18,000. 



I would therefore suggest, under the head of public measures : 1st. Leg- 

 islation to comj)el every man to keep his grounds free from insect pests. JSTo 

 one has a right to foster noxious agencies for the destruction of his neigh- 

 bors' crops and fruit. 2. A bounty might be offered in certain cases by the 

 county, state or general government for the capture of injurious insects. A 

 reward of twenty-five cents a bushel for locusts during our recent visitation 

 \)j this scourge would doubtless have prevented a large portion of the dam- 

 age inflicted. Such a reward would certainly be as legitimate as the cus- 

 tomary bounty for gopher skins. 3. The introduction of parasites should be 

 undertaken by the general government. Many of our most destructive in- 

 sects have been introduced from Europe. In the old country they have 

 many parasites to keep them in check, but as yet few ot these parasites have 

 made their way to this country, so that our foreign foes have proved most 

 destructive on account of the absence of their natural checks. That the 

 plan proposed is a feasible one has been proved by Dr. Le Baron, the Illinois 

 State Entomologist, who has successfully introduced into northern Illinois a 

 parasite upon the apple bark louse, 4. Every State in the Union should 

 employ a competent man as State Entomologist, who should give his whole 

 time to the work of investigating the habits of insects, and disseminating infor- 

 mation among the people. Messrs. Fitch, Eiley and Le Baron have saved 

 millions of dollars to the great States of New York, Missouri and Illinois, by 

 tbeir indefatigable entomological labors. The salaries paid to these men 

 have been a thousand fold returned to the states employing them. 5. The 

 legal protection of insectivorous birds. A commission should be appointed 

 to determine what birds should receive this protection. G. The plan -^vo- 

 posed for the appointment of a national commission for the prevention of 



