152 TKANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



have died i£ I had not kept them alive by watering them once in 

 about ten days. Other parties were asked to make experiments, but 

 these are all I have reports from. 



In conclusion I may say that the result of this year's observa- 

 tions is a confirmation or the conclusions drawn from my last year's 

 investigations. This has been a phenomenal year in the extent and 

 severity of the drouth, that part of the season being well calculated 

 to test the efficacy of the mulching process. I have given above the 

 whole of the notes in the replies to my questions, whether they 

 favored mulching or not, because I think, like Mr. Webster, mulch- 

 ing is not an unmixed good, but must be mixed with common sense 

 in its use. Thorough fertilization will, without doubt, do much to 

 render mulching unnecessary in the Middle and Southern parts of 

 the State, but I believe it to be safer to mulch in the Northern part 

 of the State, than it is to allow the trees to take their chances in 

 the vicissitudes of wet and dry seasons, and cold and warm winters, 

 that begin with early severity, or when it is so mild that fall and 

 winter seem to blend. If the beginning of the winter of 1887-8 

 shall be so blended with the closing fall that there is a gradual 

 transition from one to the other, trees will ripen the wood that grew 

 after the September rains, and, no matter how cold the weather may 

 be in January, the trees will pass the winter with but little damage; 

 but should the reverse be the case, death to many apple trees must 

 be the result. The dry October and fore part of November have 

 acted as a check upon extensive growth since the middle of Septem- 

 ber, which, of course, is favorable. If we can keep the soil about 

 the roots of the trees moist during the growing season, so that the 

 trees shall have more of the influences they have in the Southern 

 Peninsula of Michigan, and in the Northern Atlantic States, the 

 cold winters will not produce the results they frequently do with 

 us, any more than they do there. In as far as mulching will do, 

 this it is a decided advantage. 



"n^ 



A PEN SKETCH OF BEXJ. D. WALSH, FIRST STATE ENTO- 

 MOLOGIST OF ILLINOIS. 



BY F. W. GODI^STG, M. D., EUTLAND. 



Benjamin Dann Walsh was of English extraction, having been 

 born in Frome, Worcestershire, England, September 21, 1808. Very 

 little is recorded of his early life, but from his own not^s we learn 

 that he was always kept at school under vigorous rule, where habits 

 of thorough study were inculcated, which had much to do with the 

 success of his entomological studies afterward. 



He graduated at Trinity College, Cambridge, about 1830, receiv- 

 ing the degree of Master of Arts, and intended entering the ministry. 

 The inconsistent conduct of some of his fellow students caused him, 

 however, to give up this idea, he having a strong hatred — ever 

 ready to crop out — for all forms of hypocrisy. 



