Oe 
= = ates 
23 
made to show the impossibility of preventing in the long run the nat- 
ural spread of insects, the futility of attempts at extermination of well- 
established pests, and the folly of viewing with alarm matters that had 
been going on for thousands of years without very great hurt to human 
interests. For such matters he had urged in the broad sense, and not 
locally, the laisser-faire philosophy, the nature method of control, and 
had pointed out the successful and satisfactory character of such action 
in the long run, and also the temporary character of most of the ills 
which we have allowed unnecessarily, it seemed to him, to excite and 
alarm us. 
On the other hand, he had urged the concentration of our energies 
on all fields of local work which promise direct and practical results, 
and in no sense had counseled an abandonment of any legitimate useful 
effort, as was fully indicated in the latter portion of the address. 
In conclusion, he expressed the belief that we had of late shown too 
much readiness to become alarmists. He himself had been guilty as 
well as others, with the result that commerce with foreign countries 
and among ourselves is now suffering most severely. He asked the 
question, Has this been necessary or worth while? It seemed to him 
that the outcome of the Colorado-potato-beetle scare of years past indi- 
cated the true answer to this query. He said: Does anyone believe 
to-day that the potato beetle constitutes a menace to the production of 
the Irish potato? In point of fact, the constantly increasing range of 
this beetle scarcely attracts notice or comment, and yet in the early 
years of the eastward march of this insect, no other pest was so feared 
or so exploited. Foreign countries, notably Germany, as now with the 
San Jose scale, were terrified at the calamities with which the antic- 
ipated introduction of the potato pest threatened them. It is true 
that this beetle has not gained lodgment in Europe, but in this country 
it is practically everywhere, and yet the fears first aroused have abso- 
lutely disappeared. On the other hand, however, the discovery of the 
value for insecticide purposes of arsenicals which resulted from the 
coming of the Colorado potato beetle has saved for this country thou- 
sands of dollars for every dollar lost by reason of this insect. 
Many other important injurious insects have had a similar history in 
this country. The San Jose scale itself in California is a good example. 
As already noted in the address, it is far from being a menace to fruit 
culture in California to-day, and in the district where it was most feared 
and injurious it is now scarcely present at all, and generally for the 
State it has actually been a decided benefit to the fruit grower. In the 
Kast, also, as noted by Dr. Howard, its presence and rapid spread has 
greatly stimulated work in applied entomology, and this has already 
resulted in the discovery of new and valuable means of controlling 
scale insects and the improvement of old methods, so that undoubtedly, 
as with the potato beetle, the final outcome with the San Jose seale will 
witness, in the Kast as well as West, an actual betterment of conditions. 
