110 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 11 
Houser, who had volunteered to take up this work if it was so desired 
by proper authority. He therefore was a district food commissioner 
in charge of two counties from April to July 1. The one remaining 
member of my staff was appointed military instructor in Wooster 
University and gave four afternoons per week to military instruction. 
My most dependable help were graduate student assistants in the 
University, one hundred miles away, whose services were placed at my 
disposal by Dr. Osborn, they voluntarily assenting to this arrangement. 
So we started on a publicity campaign and a survey of entomological 
conditions, so far as our funds would permit. Fortunately, the pub¬ 
licity campaign had been pretty well shaped up and several of the 
articles written during the winter while we were yet at peace with the 
rest of the world. 
In my office, each letter is subject-indexed when it is answered. 
The stenographer’s duty is not ended with a letter until the species 
that happens to be the subject of inquiry has been entered in the index- 
book in alphabetical order and a record made of the name of the writer, 
the date, and the locality from which the complaint came. We don’t 
use the card system, it is too bulky, we use a loose-note system, each 
page having on it from 1 to 30 entries. We have in this way a record 
of every insect that has ever been a subject of complaint since the sta¬ 
tion was established. I can, therefore, tell in a few minutes if grass¬ 
hoppers, Hessian flies or any other insect was present in the state in 
considerable numbers the preceding year or through any series of years. 
I can also tell at a glance from what localities they were reported. If 
I am not satisfied from a casual inspection of the record sheet, I can 
turn the record over to the clerk and ask that a map be made up from 
the record and in less than an hour I can have a map in hand which 
will show the localities from which a pest was reported the preceding 
year or through a series of preceding years. So I can tell about what 
to look for in a general way. I predicted in my early reports to Dr. 
Howard that we would have aphids and we did, but I was not able to 
specify that the potato aphid would be the conspicuous representative 
of this group. I was also able to indicate where the wheat-joint worm 
was located and to say there was little or no threat of Hessian fly or 
chinch bug. The Tussock caterpillar, canker-worms, curculio, potato 
beetle and a few others, developed exactly according to my forecast. 
One of our first steps was to write to the county agents and district 
food commissioners, enclosing a list of manufacturers and dealers in 
insecticides and of makers and assemblers of spraying machinery and 
urge them to see that our press bulletins were given a place in their 
county papers; also to make sure there was a plentiful supply of in¬ 
secticides and spraying materials available to their farmers. A ques- 
