Report of the State Entomologist 343 



methods of work, the announcement of proposed studies that unneces- 

 sary duplication may be avoided, and indication of special lines of 

 desired investigation. 



I have not dared to attempt, in the few hours that I have been able 

 to devote to this paper, to give you what I would gladly have done 

 had time permitted — a general summary of what has been accom- 

 plished by our entomologists during the past year in their studies of 

 methods of dealing with the insects with which you are specially 

 interested — those of the orchard and garden, which, by the way, 

 embrace by far the larger number of our insect enemies. I can only 

 refer to some of the results obtained through experiment, in several 

 instances elaborately conducted, and mention some of the insect 

 attacks of the year which may be of interest to you. 



Speaying Operations. 



Judging from present indications, the force-pump is destined, for the 

 future, to play a prominent part imour operations against the insects of 

 the orchard and garden — especially those of the former. It has assumed 

 its present importance, from studies made within the last few years in 

 insecticides, in simple methods through improved apparatus for their 

 easy and thorough application, and the results that follow their use. 

 The ease with which the codling-moth can be controlled, and apples 

 grown of full size (the elements permitting), of perfect form, 

 rich in color, of highest flavor, and of resistance to early decay, 

 are a sufficient attestation to its value. When we add to this, 

 that by its aid we hope soon to be able to bid defiance to the 

 plum curculio, and control the ravages of almost every insect 

 that feeds upon the foliage of our fruit trees, and of a large 

 number of those that attack the products of our gardens, I feel justi- 

 fied in saying that no orchardist or horticulturist can afford to do 

 without a force-pump; it would be costly neglect. Insecticidal 

 spraying, compared with old methods of fighting insects, as pinching 

 by hand or distributing poisons with a sprinkling-pot, is as the 

 Gatling gun in comparison with the old flint-lock musket. 



The experiments made at the Experiment Stations show conclu- 

 sively that in spraying with the arsenical poisons, much stronger 

 mixtures have been used than are necessary, and that in no case need 

 they exceed the strengh of one pound of the arsenite to 200 gallons of 

 water. As the foliage of fruit trees has at times been injured to a 

 greater or less extent by the insecticides employed, it is very desirable 

 that the minimum amount of the arsenite should be used that will 

 suffice for its purpose. Experiments for determining this will be a 

 portion of the work for the present year. It would seem that the 



