426 On the Discovery of Remedies 



In the second place, the minuteness of the size of these 

 creatures presents an almost insurmountable barrier against 

 those delicate enquiries and observations on every stage of 

 their existence, by which alone we can arrive at a knowledge 

 of the real nature and cause of the mischief, and be thereby, 

 and thereby alone, enabled to judge of a suitable remedy. 



In the third place, the want of sufficient opportunity is not 

 the least objection which may be brought against the charge. 

 It has always appeared to me, that no effectual check can be 

 given to the ravages of any insect, until its entire habits and 

 economy have been ascertained. Thus far, in the enquiry, is 

 the strict province of the entomologist, whose attention ought, 

 as it seems to me, to be directed, from day to day, and from 

 year to year, not to isolated spots of ground, but to whole 

 acres, more especially with reference to the peculiarities of 

 seasons, and to atmospheric changes : but here we have only 

 gone half way. It now becomes the province of the agricul- 

 turist to discover a remedy ; since it seems equally clear that 

 this ulterior branch of the enquiry can be prosecuted effectu- 

 ally only by persons perfectly conversant with the chemical 

 nature of soils, the action of various ingredients which may 

 be employed as remedies not only upon the insects themselves, 

 but upon the plants which may be attacked. Such persons, 

 too, are alone able to judge of the practicability of the applica- 

 tion of the proposed remedies : since it is surely needless for 

 an indoor entomologist to endeavour by experiment to dis- 

 cover remedies which, when discovered, cannot be adopted, 

 either from the great expense of the article itself, or the im- 

 possibility of applying it ; or the liability of the destruction, 

 not only of the insect, but also of the plant itself; and even 

 instances of the latter description have come under my own 

 notice. 



Hence it appears that the most efficient remedies will in all 

 probability be suggested by those persons who, residing in 

 the country, can obtain a knowledge of the economy of these 

 destructive insects, founded upon the most general and prac- 



The bounding steed you pompously bestride, 

 Shares with his lord the pleasure and the pride. 

 Is thine alone the seed that strews the plain ? 

 The birds of heaven shall vindicate their grain. 

 [Thine all the subjects of fair Flora's reign ? 

 The insect races here their rights maintain.] 

 Thine the full harvest of the golden year ? 

 Part pays, and justly, the deserving steer. 

 The hog that ploughs not, nor obeys thy call, 

 Lives on the labours of this lord of all." 



Essay on Man, ep. iii. 21 — 42.] 



I 



