October. "15] COOLEY: AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE EXTENSION WORK 443 



It has long been obvioush^ true that a very imperfect use is being 

 made of the great mass of practical entomological knowledge that has 

 been accumulated. Remedial measures have been worked out for 

 many of our more common insect pests, but, in many if not in most 

 cases, these remedies are not put into general operation. As a rule 

 the farmer recognizes and knows the proper treatment for only a very 

 few of the chief insect offenders and the ones he does know are gener- 

 ally those which if left uncontrolled would very serioush^ affect his 

 crop. In other words, he uses remedial measures only when driven to 

 it and often overlooks the more obscure injuries which nevertheless 

 greatl}^ reduce his profits. Many a farmer has grown and harvested 

 a crop and placed the returns in his bank without ever becoming aware 

 that his profits were less than they should have been. A striking 

 instance of a farmer having overlooked a serious injury to his crop 

 ma}^ be related from the writer's experience. Reports of rather ex- 

 tensive damage to fall wheat due to the army cutworm {Chorizagrotis 

 agrestis Grote) had been coming to the office from a certain part of 

 Montana. Knowing that a certain man who lived in town had a 

 large field of wheat in that neighborhood, he was asked if his crop was 

 being injured and he replied that he had been at the farm and examined 

 the grain the previous day and found no injury being done and no 

 cutworms. In passing the field the day following the writer examined 

 it for the insects and found that injury was being done throughout the 

 field though no spots had been made bare. It was estimated that 

 there were about two cutworms present for every square foot of surface 

 and in some parts of the field the crop had been very seriously injured. 



There can be no doubt that very much good has been accomplished 

 through the agency of bulletins and circulars, correspondence, farm 

 papers and institutes, but it is equally certain that farm practice may 

 further be greatly benefited by putting into operation in a far greater 

 degree the results of entomological investigations. Bulletins reach the 

 farmer irregularly and if read are not often preserved. Many farmers 

 dislike to write letters and find it difficult to thoroughly state their 

 problems. Institutes are few in number, often come at a busy time 

 of the year and frequently are held at a considerable distance from the 

 home. The results of a survey made by the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 and published in Circular No. 117 showed the farm papers to be the 

 most popular among the various helpful agencies, but specialists are 

 often disheartened as they observe how inadequately these papers 

 meet the requirements. Entomologists have observed in the papers 

 not only grave errors, but discussions that do not apply at all to the 

 conditions that the readers of the particular paper have to contend 

 with. If the entomologist criticizes he is asked to prepare more articles 



