224 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



sult^ authorities, and when be finds fire recommended, wonders 

 how he ean burn his plantation and save it. To protect his ripen- 

 ing cherries he spends a day in putting several elaborate scare- 

 crows in the trees to frighten the birds away, but gets angry next 

 morning while observing a flock of sweet voiced robins perched 

 on those same fixtures eating cherries. It is proper to state that 

 after having spent two weeks in dosing his plants and trees with 

 various treatments, his ideal of a perfect garden is all torn in 

 pieces. To add to his discomfiture, while he has been fighting 

 insect enemies, rains have been frequent, and the weeds have mul- 

 tiplied among the onions, beets, carrots and cabbages, and on the 

 latter a mean worm is visible, another plague; these weeds loom 

 up in formidable numbers, cover the alleys and hide the flower 

 beds from view. In despair he concludes that either the season 

 is very unfavorable for gardening or else he has mistaken his 

 calling ; certainly horticulture covers more ground and has more 

 variety than he supposed; thinks that somebody is to blame for 

 suffering so many pests to get a foothold in the country. 



In this idea he may be partially correct. Co-operative efforts 

 by neighborhoods are the best means of warring against the pests 

 that destrov our fruits and vegetables. A single individual of untir- 

 ing industry and vigilance can do much on his own ground in 

 holding them in check ; but could a like combined effort be made 

 by a community, the labor, losses and disappointment from such 

 sources would be diminished a hundred fold. What permanent 

 relief does a man gain who works and watches his garden, if his 

 neighbor over the fence suffers his to be a central depot of all the 

 pests in the country ? Potatoes are regarded by the masses as one 

 of the essentials for food — all other vegetables and fruit are not 

 so considered, though greatly relished by multitudes; hence the 

 whole population can easily be induced to use a simple remedy to 

 destroy the vermin that prey on this crop, but not one person in a 

 hundred will devote much thought or energy to kill the pests that 

 ruin other vegetables and fruit. It remains then for a small class 

 of horticulturists to devise the best means they can to protect their 

 own, and interest the public in this matter, and awaken more gen- 

 eral activity in staying the ravages of our insect foes. 



