3 
_A note of caution is perhaps also warranted to the agents of the Bureau of Entomology 
and others concerning the advice offered inquirers as to remedies for various insects. The 
natural impulse on the part of the expert is to recommend some standard remedial action in 
relation to any insect difficulty reported. Very often, however, the remedial action recom- 
mended, while perfectly sound, is not necessarily. applicable to the particular condition 
reported, and may result in a vastly greater cost and harm than the insect complained of. A 
housewife, discovering a silver fish or a small quantity of ants, or a single bedbug recently 
arrived, naturally becomes very much alarmed as to the future security of her house and its 
contents, but it is always a wise precaution, before recommending fumigation with hydrocyanic- 
acid gas or elaborate treatment with powders or other expensive applications which may be 
more or less detrimental to walls, floors, or furniture, to advise simpler remedies and to make 
sure that the insect complained of is more than a chance discovery which may not be repeated 
erhaps for years. The same advice applies to indoor and outdoor plants, whether garden or 
field culture. Many of the insects which are ordinarily complained of and sent for determina- 
tion are undoubtedly chance occurrences which have naturally aroused curiosity and perhaps 
excited fears, but which will doubtless disappear through natural agencies without any 
treatment. 
_ The wise use of insecticides will repay many times their cost, and any damage to the plants 
will be largely offset by this gain, but the unintelligent or unnecessary use of insecticides may 
often do much harm and at least will be money and time wasted. [C. L. M.] 
ERRATA. 
On page 4 of the April letter, line 3, the words Chalcodermus xneus should have read 
Lasioderma serricorne. 
On the same page, line 5, the words ‘‘special conditions’”’ should have read ‘‘special infor- 
mation.” 
BEE CULTURE. 
Dr. E. F. Puruies, In Charge. 
Mr. N. E. McIndoo did not go to Colorado as announced in the last monthly letter but on 
account of the destruction of the apple blossoms in New Mexico, went to Benton Harbor, Mich. 
Mr. George S. Demuth went to Winchester, Va., recently to assist the county agent there 
in establishing apiaries in two county schools. Interest in beekeeping among farm demonstra- 
_ tors is increasing. ; 
CEREAL AND FORAGE INSECT INVESTIGATIONS. 
I. M. Wezsster, In Charge. 
Mr. Harrison E. Smith, of the Springfield, Mass., station, has already begun grasshopper 
investigations in Vermont and New Hampshire. 
Mr. J. A. Hyslop of the Hagerstown, Md., laboratory, has just returned from a trip of 
investigation through New York and New Jersey, and reports the clover-root curculio making 
havoc in the alfalfa fields in eastern Pennsylvania. 
Mr. J. J. Davis has returned from a trip of investigation of Lachnosterna, which included 
the States of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Kansas. 
Mr. C. W. Creel has returned to his field station at Forest Grove, Oreg.; and Mr. Rockwood 
has been temporarily detailed from Salt Lake City, Utah, to aid him. 
Mr. J. D. Caffrey is now in charge of a field station at Maxwell, N. Mex.; engaged chiefly 
in range caterpillar investigations. 
Mr. Irving R. Crawford, of South Dakota, appointed temporarily to assist Mr. Caffrey, pro- 
ceeded first to San Diego to secure parasites of the allied species of Hemileuca and experiment 
in introducing them among the range caterpillars. 
Mr. W. H. Larrimer was detailed to investigate a reported chinch bug outbreak in north- 
ern Texas. 
Among the temporary appointees, who will commence their work in June, are the follow- 
ing: J. H. Newton, of Arizona, who will be attached to the laboratory at Tempe, Ariz.; George 
R. Bailey will be attached to the laboratory at Gainesville, Fla.; J. H. Hart to the laboratory 
