270 Forty-fifth Report on tee State Museum. 



(particularly if they are hollow), twisted leaves, etc., afford excel- 

 lent hibernating places for the adult forms of many of the Hemip- 

 tera (commonly known as "bugs"), from which they emerge and 

 deposit their eggs in the spring, simultaneously with the com- 

 mencement of vegetation, when attack is ever most harmful. It is 

 obvious, therefore, that much benefit will result from gather- 

 ing in the autumn, all rubbish, dead vegetable matter, and other 

 refuse material, and burning it with all the insects that it is har- 

 boring; or if this be regarded as wasteful, then so compost it, that 

 the compost pile shall not be, as we believe it often is, a nursery 

 for insect pests that in the injury that they inflict more than 

 counter-balances the manurial value. 



A knowledge of Insect Pests. • — A favorite maxim of my school 

 days was, " Nosce te ipsum " — know thyself. One equally import- 

 ant in later years, of broad application, but of special importance 

 to the agriculturist, is, know your enemies. How can you suc- 

 cessfully meet them, check their operations, prevent their attack, 

 or destroy them if need be (for, fortunately, there are no laws 

 against the killing of insects), unless you know who your foe is, 

 when his attack is to be made, where it is to be made, and what 

 he purposes to do. To know this is to be forearmed and in readi- 

 ness for the fight. Are your insect enemies so many that you 

 fear that you can not make their acquaintance ? Do not be fright- 

 ened at the seeming magnitude of the task, as if you were brought 

 to contend single-handed, with the perhaps 20,000 distinct 

 species which your State harbors. Some of these are your friends, 

 others are at least harmless, while a large proportion are but com- 

 paratively injurious. In a list of 100 species, there could, I think, 

 be named all of those which it would be to your particular interest 

 to know and to study. These, at least, you should know by name, 

 so that you may confer with one another in relation to them, and 

 communicate with your entomologist or Other scientist of whom 

 you might desire information — suck as the best approved remedy 

 or preventive to be employed. The common name which every 

 destructive species, known for any length of time, lias receive^, 

 would be sufficient for your use, but it would be advisable, so far 

 as you conveniently could, to acquire also their scientific name, as 



