The Utility of Entomology 



THE UTILITY OF ENTOMOLOGY 



All the forces of nature are interdependent. Many plants 

 would not bear seeds or fruit were it not for the activity of insects, 

 which cause the pollen to be deposited upon the pistil and the 

 seed-vessel to be fertilized. Attempts were made many years 

 ago to grow clover in Australia, but the clover did not make 

 seed. All the seed required for planting had to be imported at 

 much expense from Europe. It was finally ascertained that the 

 reason why the clover failed to make seed was because through- 

 out Australia there were no bumblebees. Bumblebees were in- 

 troduced, and now clover grows luxuriantly in Australia, making 

 seed abundantly; and Australian meats, carried in the cold-stor- 

 age rooms of great ocean steamers, are used to feed the people of 

 Manila, Hong-Kong, Yokohama, and even London. 



A few years ago the orange-groves in southern California be- 

 came infested with a scale-insect, which threatened to ruin them 

 and to bring orange-growing in that part of the land to an un- 

 profitable end. The matter received the careful attention of the 

 chief entomologist of the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, the lamented Professor C. V. Riley. In the course of the 

 studies which he and his associates prosecuted, it was ascertained 

 that the same scale-insect which was ruining the orange-groves 

 of California is found in the orange-groves of Queensland, but 

 that in Queensland this insect did comparatively small injury to 

 the trees. Investigation disclosed the fact that in Queensland the 

 scale-insect was kept down by the ravages of a parasitic insect 

 which preyed upon it. This parasite, by order of the chief en- 

 tomologist, was immediately imported, in considerable numbers, 

 into southern California, and let loose among the orange-groves. 

 The result has been most beneficial. 



These are two illustrations, from among hundreds which 

 might be cited, of the very practical value of entomological 

 knowledge. 



The annual loss suffered by agricultural communities through 

 ignorance of entomological facts is very great. Every plant has 

 its insect enemy, or, more correctly, its insect lover, which feeds 

 upon it, delights in its luxuriance, but makes short work, it may 

 be of leaves, it may be of flowers, it may be of fruit. It has 



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