442 



JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 



[Vol. S 



COMMENTS ON ORGANIZATION IN AGRICULTURAL COL- 

 LEGE EXTENSION WORK IN ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 



By R. A. CooLEY, Professor of Zoology and Entomology, Montana Agricultural Col- 

 lege, Bozeman, Montana 



Certain factors, recenth^ new, tend greatly to stimulate interest in 

 extension work in economic entomology. The same factors have given 

 a new impetus as well to the extension efforts in other departments 

 of agricultural knowledge but to those branches of the agricultural 

 college often spoken of as the science departments, and including en- 

 tomology, which are concerned in the more specialized branches of 

 agricultural knowledge and require particularly the service of special- 

 ists, the new movement comes bringing particular interest, new respon- 

 sibilities and, above all, a great opportunity. In the opinion of the 

 writer, official economic entomologists, in particular, are called upon 

 to make a special effort in order that a right beginning may be made 

 and that the fullest measure of good may result eventual^ from the 

 present rapidly changing conditions. I refer in particular to the 

 Smith-Lever Act which became a law on May 8, 1914, and to certain 

 items in the appropriations to the L^nited States Department of Agri- 

 ' culture which authorizes extension work, but which are being expended 

 largely in cooperation with, and under the direction of, the agricultural 

 colleges in the several states. 



When the Smith- Lever Act becomes fulh" effective in the fiscal year 

 1922-23, if the states all accept the federal allotments, there will be 

 available in the United States from federal and state treasuries the 

 sum of $9,160,000 to which may be added unknown but very material 

 sums from the L^nited States Department of Agriculture and from 

 upw^ard of 3,100 counties, all of which sums are to be expended under 

 the direction of the agricultural colleges in extending ''useful and prac- 

 tical information on subjects relating to agriculture and home econom- 

 ics." There is a very general sentiment that the counties should 

 each appropriate a sum equal to that received from the state and federal 

 governments. If this standard is reached the sum, aside from that 

 received through the Department of Agriculture, will be again doubled. 

 We may, therefore, roughly estimate that this work will be supported 

 in about ten years by something like S20,000,000 annually. 



The agricultural college has thus laid out before it a new condition 

 full of great possibilities to w^hich it must adjust itself during the next 

 few years. Economic entomologists are to share in the growth and 

 development, but to what extent the}" will share will be influenced to 

 some extent by the interest and zeal they show. 



