THE AMEEICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



I 



often diminished at least one-third in vakie by a 

 single insect — the Cotton-worm — thus at one fell 

 swoop picking the pockets of the nation of some 

 fifty millions of dollars. 



On the whole we are certainly speaking with- 

 in bounds when we assert that, taking one year 

 with another, the United States suffer from the 

 depredations of noxious insects to the annual 

 amount of three hundred millions of dollars. 

 "VVe by no means maintain that it is possible by 

 preventive measures to save to the nation the 

 whole of this gigantic sum ; but we do contend 

 and firmly believe that it is perfectly practicable, 

 by long continued observation and careful ex- 

 periment, to save a considerable percentage of 

 this enormous sum total. It may, and probably 

 will, take many, many years of hard work in 

 the field, and anxious deliberation in the closet, 

 to arrive at such a result; but in the mean time 

 every step that is gained in advance will be so 

 much money saved to the community. Sup- 

 pose, for example, that during the next two or 

 three years preventive measures should be dis- 

 covered, by which the total annual damage in- 

 flicted by insects is diminished only to the 

 amount of one-half of one per cent. Then, ac- 

 cording to the data given above, the nation will 

 gain annually for all time to the amount of one 

 MILLION and a half DOLLARS. Compared with 

 such figures as these, the few thousand dollars 

 annually voted by different States in the Union 

 as salaries to their State Entomologists, are a 

 mere flea-bite. 



It has been, and doubtless will be, contended 

 by many, that no practical benefit is ever likely 

 to arise to the farmer, the gardener, or the fruit- 

 grower from the researches of professional en- 

 tomologists; and that any common farm laborer 

 is as capable of discovering the best practical 

 mode of counter-working some particular nox- 

 ious insect, as the most experienced entomologist 

 in the land. Let us look into this question a 

 little closer. Two men go out trapping and 

 hunting to the region of the Rocky Mountains, 

 one of them familiar with the habits and 

 haunts of the bear, the wolf, the fox, the martin, 

 the flslier, the lynx, the beaver, the otter, the 

 deer, the elk, the antelope, the buffalo, etc. ; the 

 other totally ignorant on all these points. Which 

 of these two men is the most likely to come 

 home with a good stock of peltry ? Surely every 

 one will agree that, in such an enterprise as this, 

 it is only the experienced hunter and trapper 

 that is likely to meet with success. Now let us 

 take another case. Two men go out into the 

 field to endeavor to discover some mode of de- 



stroying wholesale a particular bug. One of 

 the two has spent half a lifetime in studying 

 the habits and the natural history of the thirty 

 thousand distinct species of insects that are 

 found within the limits of the United States; 

 the other one knows nothing whatever of ento- 

 mology — supposes that Bees change into But- 

 terflies, Butterflies into Bugs, and Bugs into 

 Beetles^and can not for the life of him tell the 

 difference between a Snout-beetle and a Snout- 

 moth. Which of these two men is the most 

 likely to succeed in the work which he has un- 

 dertaken? We pause for a reply. 



It would be unbecoming in us to dwell upon 

 what we have ourselves accomplished towards 

 enabling the agriculturist to fight his insect foes 

 with advantage. But we may, without fear of 

 being accused of self-conceit and vanity, relate 

 a single fact relative to what has been effected 

 in this direction by others. For the last twenty 

 years the great State of New York has employed 

 Dr. Asa Fitch to act as its State Entomologist. 

 During that period numerous Reports upon 

 noxious and other insects have been published 

 by this distinguished naturalist in the Transac- 

 tions of the State Agricultural Society. Let us 

 see, now, what is the opinion of the most en- 

 lightened agriculturists in the State of New 

 York as to the practical benefits derived from 

 these Reports. At a recent public meeting 

 of their Agricultural Society, Senator A. B. 

 Dickinson gave it as his deliberate opinion, that 

 the writings of Dr. Fitch had saved annually to 

 the single State of New Y'ork the large sum of 

 fifty thousand dollars ; and, so far as appears 

 from the record, not a single dissenting voice 

 was raised against this most remarkable asser- 

 tion. 



We shall only remark, to conclude this subject, 

 that there is one esi^ecial mode in which a jour- 

 nal, such as we propose to publish, will become 

 of great practical benefit to all that numerous 

 class who arc engaged in the cultivation of tlie 

 soil. It is the common practice with almost all 

 who belong to this class, whenever they dis- 

 cover that their plants have been injured by 

 bugs, to slay indiscriminately every bng that 

 they come across. Yet nothing^ is more certain 

 than that, of the whole number of species of in- 

 sects, at least one-fourth part are beneficial to us 

 by preying upon other insects, while in all pro- 

 bability at least one-half of the whole number 

 are neither beneficial nor injurious. AVe pro- 

 pose, by means of good wood-cuts and colored 

 engravings, to foniiliarize the American eye 

 with the different kinds of bugs, so that they 



