HINTS FOR THE PROMOTION OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 721 
authority is to be localized and manifested admits of much dis- 
cussion, to enter upon which would tax your patience, and prolong 
this discourse far beyond the limits to which I intend to confine it. 
For the moment, the following may be suggested, with some mod- 
ifications, as probably feasible in the extreme cases, fortunately 
few in number, which may be exemplified by such destructive at- 
tacks as the army or boll-worm upon cotton; the Hessian fly upon 
wheat; Scolytide (bark borers) upon pine forests; and the cur- 
culio upon plums and allied fruits. 
The establishment of a fund, by the assistance of the federal 
government, state, or county authorities, or by private combina- 
tions, from which are to be paid owners of infected crops, which 
are destroyed in order to prevent the spread of the infection. This 
must of course be done under the advice of intelligent and care- ` 
fully chosen agents of the authority by which the fund is to be 
dispensed. The rate of compensation could be easily determined 
at the end of the season by the average value or yield of similar 
crops in the vicinity, and should be such a liberal fraction of the 
full value, as would stimulate the owner of the property to be de- 
stroyed to declare the infection at the earliest possible moment, 
but at the same time not so large as to prevent due diligence on 
his part to confine the infection within the smallest limits. 
Besides these two measures, which I consider of primary im- 
portance, there are several others, more easily under present con- 
trol, by the adoption of which our accurate knowledge of the 
really formidable insect pests can be greatly increased, and the 
means for their suppression intelligently and efficiently applied. 
With a condensed statement of them, I shall conclude my dis- 
course, thanking you for the kind attention with which you have 
favored me. 
1. Reorganization of the Department of Agriculture, on a sci- 
entific basis, for the proper protection and advancement of agri- 
cultural interests. 
2. Preparation of lists of the most destructive insect pests, 
with condensed notes of what is now known concerning them, that 
attention may be directed specially to those investigations neces- 
sary to complete our knowledge. 
3. Codrdination and coöperation of state entomologists with 
the chief of the Department of Agriculture, that they may work 
harmoniously and intelligently in concert, and thus avoid the waste 
` AMERICAN NATURALIST, VOL. VII 46 
