10 ! 
knowledge which we do not possess is a constant menace, which, if once | 
detected, is never forgotten. It is the old tale, ‘“‘ honesty is the best 
policy;” but this must not end the matter; we must be honest with | 
ourselves, and having once detected our lack of knowledge upon any | 
subject which comes under our notice, we must use every means in our | 
power of supplying the deficiency, and if we make a systematic study | 
of every investigation which we undertake, taking all the time careful | 
records of what we see, even with regard to the commonest insects, we. 
shall frequently have the satisfaction of finding that not only have we | 
observed all that others have, but many other things besides which will - 
raise our simple investigation from a mere study into a scientific record. | 
No man can possibly know everything even about his favorite study, 
and the sooner he knows it the better for his work. { 
A subject frequently referred to, but which can not too often be | 
repeated, is the necessity, or even, if we put it in another way, policy, | 
of making the fullest acknowledgment of al! assistance received from | 
others, whether it be from their writings or otherwise. I know of noth- | 
ing which so belittles a man’s work as to find that it is derived without | 
acknowledgment from some one eise. It is not at all infrequent, I am) 
sorry to say, to find whole sentences and clauses inserted in published | 
writings without even quotation marks. An evidence of this is found | 
in the innumerable mistakes which are perpetuated and handed down. 
from author to author before they are detected as errors. Again, too } 
great stress can not, I think, be laid upon the propriety of invariably | 
acknowledging the source of all illustrations used. ‘These are of the’ 
greatest assistance, and yet they are frequently used without a word of | 
acknowledgment. 
Now, all of this is essentially unwise from the base standpoint of 
policy alone; for although nothing may be said about the matter, be | 
sure that every instance is noticed and stands forth as a black blot on - 
the face of good work. 
A defect which is occasionally discernible in some writings upon | 
economic entomology is the want of a thorough grounding in the first | 
elements of the science. This is easily detected ; there is an uncertainty 
and indefiniteness about the work. It is like that of an artist who be- | 
gins to paint pictures before he has learned to draw well. A far greater | 
- blemish, however, which has, I think, seriously impeded progress and | 
effective work, is the fact that entomologists as a rule do not know | 
enough about the collateral subjects which affect their studies. Their 
efforts are for the most part directed towards the protection of farm ) 
crops, and yet how few make a study or have much knowledge even of | 
the elements of farming and horticulture, the growth and management 
of the various kinds of crops, the effects of different fertilizers, early 
and late planting, the rotation of crops, and the pruning and cuitivation | 
of trees and shrubs. 
All of these are of paramount importance. The knowledge is neces- | 
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