STATE POMOLOGiCAL SOCIETY. 167 



more than in summers past, and I told my friends that I was 

 going camping out for the season. And so I did, but I. stayed 

 right at home all of the time and had the happiest season for 

 years. We simply camped at home. We were fortunate in 

 having men who were willing to go without pie, most of the 

 time, and who were even satisfied with an occasional meal of 

 bread and milk. I believe most men would be willing to live 

 plainer than they do. We women are to blame ourselves for 

 thinking we must have so many varieties of food. 



Last year I learned that there was a sale for some kinds of 

 cocoons found in this state. I enlisted the scholars of my 

 Nature Class and taught them what to look for, and where and 

 how to handle them and then paid them a commission. We 

 had a new teacher come from out-of-town, and she told me that 

 she was much surprised at the first week of school to see the 

 children scatter at noon and recess for the neighboring woods 

 and roadsides. And when they returned to the schoolhouse 

 they had boxes and pails, and she would hear them talking like 

 this:— "See my Polys," "Well, I've got two los" or "I've got 

 three Lunas," or "See what a big Cecropia I have." She told 

 me that ours was one of the nicest schools she ever had, and do 

 you think me conceited if I take a little credit of that to 

 myself for giving these scholars something to take up their 

 minds out of school ? This summer one of the little boys earned 

 three dollars towards a bicycle, and one of my girls earned her 

 college tuition for a year. Outside of the gain in health, educa- 

 tion and pleasure of Nature Studies there are many ways they 

 can be turned to pecuniary profits. First class herbariums can 

 be sold to colleges. Many kinds of our wild flowering plants and 

 bulbs are sold to florists. The man who studies forestry can 

 better understand how to utilize and conserve the values in his 

 timber-lot. 



What would our Maine orchards be today, if some one did 

 not study insect pests? 



We work hard for what we get on the farm and sometimes 

 we are tempted to call it drudgery. But nothing is drudgery 

 which we really love to do, and I think most of us like our 

 work better than we realize. It needs a long sickness to teach 

 some people that they really like to work. After a person has 

 been obliged to sit around during a long convalesence and see 



