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assists to a recognition oi the method in which an insect should be treated. I con- 
sider it important, therefore, to teach the horticulturist how an insect \(-a\> :m<l 
how he may recognize the structures thai will enable him to determine that point. 
Knowing it, lie will know in a general way the character of the insecticides that 
must he used. lie is to be taugbl that stomach poisons are not available againsl 
Bucking insects, and that when plant lice are to he dealt with Paris green is of little 
use, while soap mixtures and other contact poisons will probably produce good 
results. It is for this reason that, whenever I make a study of an insect, I goto 
considerable trouble to explain just how the injury is «lone. I want the farmer to 
understand how his plant is affected by the attacks of the insect. I want him 
to understand how the insecticide that is recommended acts upon the insect, ami I 
want him to realize what his aim must be in the application of the material. He 
should know whether it is his aim to cover all the leaf surface that the insects may 
he killed as soon as they begin feeding upon it, or whether he must drive his spray 
into the midst of the insects where they are already congregated that he may cover 
them as completely as possible, whether all the foliage is hit or not. 
I decided also that whenever an insect could be controlled without the application 
of insecticides especial stress should he laid upon the life history, that the farmer 
might understand thoroughly the reason why a particular line of farm practice was 
recommended to him. I found by experience 1 that a farmer generally believes that 
he knows more about farm practice than the entomologist, and so far as J am per- 
sonally concerned I admit that his belief is well founded. It is always my effort, 
therefore, to fully impress upon him that what I recommend in the way of farm 
practice is not because it is the best farm practice, but because that particular line 
of work will be the worst for the insect to be reached. In this way you prevent his 
feeling that you are trying to change what he has found by experience to be a satis- 
factory routine. You admit all that he contends for; but give him another end to 
be attained, and, by putting him upon a different point of view for considering the 
subject, my experience is that he is very apt to be guided by suggestions which he 
would resent when presented in any Other way. 
From the very start I determined that, while laboratory experiments and results 
were extremely useful as guides, it was the outdoor conditions and the outdoor sur- 
roundings that had to be dealt with. Methods that are practical in the laboratory 
may seem and may actually be entirely impractical in the field. On the other hand, 
a farmer or fruit grower is sometimes ready to do a great deal of unnecessary work, 
provided he can do it at his own time or in his own way; and I generally like to 
arrange matters so as to give the farmer his own way just as much as it is possible to 
do so. All this time, however, I deal with him by suggestions. I agree to every- 
thing that he says and to all that he suggests; but I throw in a little doubt here and 
there, and I venture an expression of opinion in a timid sort of way. Sooner or 
later this bears fruit, and a man reverses his previous practice almost completely 
without any idea that it was done through any but his own good will and pleasure 
and because he himself thought it the best thing to do; in other words, while I kept 
before me the ideal to be attained I never presented it. unless I felt that it would be 
likely to meet with acceptance. 
Xow, I am quite ready to agree that while all this may be feasible in a small State 
like New Jersey, where it is possible to come into personal contact with farmers 
everywhere, it is not satisfactory as a guide in larger States where conditions are dif- 
ferent. In New Jersey agriculture and horticulture is of the most varid- possible 
description. We run all the way from grain and dairy farming to the most intensive 
truck farming; from the orchard fruit to almost every small fruit that ever gets into 
the market. We have canneries where a thousand acres go into one crop to keep 
them running during the season, and we have gardens and truck patches consisting 
of a few acres where crop after crop comes off for the local or city market. Under 
these circumstances no one locality can properly represent the varying conditions 
found throughout the State. Therefore, I have no insectary connected with my 
department of the experiment station, and while at one time I thought that such a 
thing might be desirable, I have long since abandoned the idea. I find it possible 
to visit localities where injurious insects occur, at short intervals; find it possible to 
observe them in the field under absolutely natural conditions, and find it quite pos- 
sible t;o do what little breeding is necessary with the few cages in the laboratory. I 
find it possible also, working in this way. to secure the cooperation of the farmer 
whose crop is attacked and to interest him in the study as well as in the fight against 
the insect. He will make applications at my suggestion, sometimes when I furnish 
the materials and at other times when lie has to buy them himself; but he sees 
exactly what I am driving at. He learns to understand the theory upon which it is 
attempted to control the insect, and if we succeed, he forms the best possible teacher 
to the surroundings. And while progress is sometimes discouragingly slow, vet when 
