30 . TRANSACTIONS OK TlIK ILLINOIS 



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In the first place then, as a rule, which admits of no exceptions, the 

 trees selected for planting should be sound and healthy, and entirely free 

 from insects or insect injuries. 



I am fully aware that this is a very commonplace remark, which has 

 been repeated a thousand times, yet it is here the orchardist must begin 

 the campaign against his insect foes. If this is neglected, as has been 

 too often the case in Illinois, the enemy may obtain a permanent foot- 

 hold on his premises before he is aware of the danger with which he is 

 threatened. 



You as a Society, and I as your Entomologist, have a work to do 

 here, for it is our duty to keep this constantly before the people, in order 

 that no new recruit, entering the horticultural army, may begin his work 

 unwarned of the dangers which line his pathway. Here is one of the 

 enemies' strongholds, and hence we should make the first onset with un- 

 gloved hands. What advantage to you is it for me to trace out the gene- 

 alogy and scientific name of some solitary guerrilla, found nibbling at an 

 apple, or sucking at a leaf, when the hosts of your inveterate foes are 

 pressing hard upon you? What do you care for the solitary wanderer 

 who happens to destroy an apple, or clip a leaf, when the curculios, 

 canker-worms and codling-moths are sweeping away the fruits of your 

 labor ? It may interest your curiosity to know its name and history, and 

 it affords satisfaction to the entomologist, who is able to announce the 

 discovery of a new enemy ; but this is poor recompense for your heavy 

 loss. How much better would horticultural operations in Illinois be to- 

 day, had this precaution been rigidly heeded from the beginning? How 

 much less numerous would fruit and tree-injuring insects have been here 

 to-day, if only healthy trees from our young, untainted nurseries had been 

 used after they went into operation? Doubtless these insects would finally 

 have found their way hither ; while others, it is true, are native species, 

 but the evil day would have been greatly postponed. 



Although it does not require a knowledge of the Baconian philoso- 

 phy, or even the rudiments of Entomology to know this, but simply the 

 exercise of a little common sense and the eyes, yet there are many persons 

 who can not be convinced that the young and thrifty trees grown in our 

 home nurseries, which are comparatively new, are more adapted to our 

 soil and climate than those of the older eastern nurseries. 



Once, and once only I received some fruit trees through a tree peddler 

 from an eastern nursery, and these I found when planting were infested. 

 I then resolved I would purchase no more trees of peddlers for nurseries 

 outside of our own State, and I have faithfully kept that resolution for 

 about sixteen years, having always sent to the nearest nursery for any thing 

 I wanted in that line, and as far as possible persuaded others to do like- 

 wise. The result has been that I always obtained better trees, never in- 

 fested by insects, always what they purported to be, and at much lower 

 rates. 



Dr. Fitch, in one of his reports, states that a young friend of his, 

 ignorant of the injury he was doing, sold and delivered, in Virginia, sev- 

 eral thousand trees, which were generally affected with the apple-root 



