circulated at that time, and for a long time after the advent of the 

 beetle into the extreme east of this country, it was a common thing to 

 see large fields of potatoes with persons of all ages and both sexes, 

 each carrying a pan and stick with which they knocked the potato 

 beetles off into the pan. Little by little, however, one farmer after 

 another abandoned the " stick-and-pan" method and adopted the use 

 of Paris green, till it came into very general use. This seemed to give 

 it popularity, and there developed a readiness to use any kind of sub- 

 stance that bore the name of insect poison, till now the market is well 

 stocked with a great variety of substances which are claimed to kill 

 all kinds of insects. London purple followed closely in the wake of 

 Paris green, and kerosene emulsion has also come into great favor for 

 the destruction of the sucking insects, or such as do not eat the entire 

 substance of the leaf. Thus we have several excellent insecticides 

 which are in such general use that we may call the latter half of this 

 century the period of insecticides. 



There were men in past ages who were far ahead of their times in 

 economic entomology, as well as in other departments of human knowl- 

 edge. J. C. Schaeffer, in the third part of his work on the gypsy moth, 

 published in 17G1 , discusses the methods of destroying this insect in a 

 manner equal to Harris or Fitch, while Pastor Kimrod, in his paper 

 published in 1781 on the same insect, handles the subject with equal 

 ability. These papers were rare exceptions in those times, and prob- 

 ably made little impression on the public mind, because they were so 

 much in advance of the times. On the other hand, there are men to 

 be found in all ages who are very much behind the times, and we may 

 even now find men who believe every invasion of insects to be an 

 Israelitish plague sent upon us because of the sins of the people. 



In 1S75 Governor Harding, of Missouri, issued a proclamation 

 appointing a day of fasting and prayer for the interposition of Divine 

 Providence to relieve the calamities caused by the devastation of the 

 Eocky Mountain locust. Many of us well remember the newspaper 

 accounts of the terrible suffering and starvation in some of the West- 

 ern States caused by this insect in those times, and it need not surprise 

 us so very much if, after having tried every plan that human ingenuity 

 could devise, they should in their final extremity have appealed to 

 Almighty God. This is about the way with us all. In the supreme 

 hour, when everything else fails, we remember and appeal to the Over- 

 ruling Providence. If I may be permitted here to express a personal 

 opinion along these lines, I would say that while it is exceedingly help- 

 ful to the human soul to trust in the Divine Creator of heaven and 

 earth, I can not rid myself of the conviction that in economic ento- 

 mology God helps those most who most help themselves — those who 

 make themselves most conversant with His laws, as exhibited in the 

 life and habits of the insects they have to deal with, as well as the 

 climatic and other conditions which affect them, in fact the whole 



