ILLINOIS HORTICULTUIiAL SOCIETY. 329 



and caterpillar ihiriug the summer. This bird is exclusively insectivorous, as its beak indicates. It 

 will reward yt)U lor shelter afforded. Encourage the visits of the downy woodpecker (Picus pube- 

 scens) by simply letliiif? him alone. lie has wonderful ingenuity in finding the unseen enemy: not 

 by seeing it— thai is iniposslMe; not by smell, nor by any motion. It is as ([uiet as a mummy. No, 

 he finds it by sounding: he taps all s('ales alike, but stops to make a hole through the one under which 

 the cocoon lies. Unless all orchardists uuite in destroying this insect pest by industriously carrying 

 out the above prevonlives, the amount of wormy fruit will not diminish, but its yearly increase will 

 continue to excite alarm. 



Dr. Hull — Thei'e are some things in this essaj^ that are new to me : that cedar birds eat 

 the canker worms; does not see what use there is in lighting tires to destroy insects, 

 for if all the directions were carried out there would be no insects left. 



Holcomb — Riley said he had never caught a canker moth with light. 



Davis J. — Would burn up all rubbish around a place. We can control the burning 

 of fires, but we can not regulate the birds — would use all means to destroy insects. 

 Thinks the birds are rather made too much of. 



Huggins — Will not lights or tires attract our friends as well as enemies? 



Dr. Hull — Mr. Walsl* has said that but few of our insect friends are attracted by 

 light. 



ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CULTIVATION OF FLOWERS. BY MRS. J. B. RIEVK, 

 MOULTON, SHELBY COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



As I have been solicited to write an essay on flowers, I will endeavor to try; but it seems to me 

 there need be nothing said to encourage any one in so obvious a duty as the cultivation of flowers— 

 the beautiful flowers! For what would this world be without flowers? And shall we not cultivate 

 them? 



"How exquisitely sweet 

 This rich display of flowers — 

 This airy wild of fragrance. 

 So lovely to the eye. 

 And to the sense so sweet I ' ' 



" Flowers! the cultivation of flowers!" some say, *' of what use? It gives us neither meat, drink 

 nor clothing." Well, suppose it does not? Does not the mind require food as well as the body? 

 Shall we always he plodding? Will it always be the inquiry, " what shall we eat, and what shall we 

 drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed?" Must the care of the body engross our whole atten- 

 tion, when the earth, the seas, and the skies are all full of the beauties of God's wonderful creation? 

 Shall we close our eyes to all this beauty, when an all-wise God has placed it here for our enjoyment ? 

 We need not compass sea and land for our gratittcatlou : the means lor healthful and innocent relaxa- 

 tion are within the reach of every oue. F'lower gardens were ever highly esteemed by persons of 

 refined taste. The highest personages of earth have been delighted with the expansion of flowers; 

 and even a more highly exalted than any of earth's sons called the attention of his followers to the 

 beauty of flowers, w'hen he said: " Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toll not, 

 neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like 

 one of these." 



Nature in her gay attire unfolds a great variety that is ple:ising to the human mind, and therefore 

 has a tendencj' to tranquilize the agitated jnissions, and exhilarate and nerve the Imagination, and 

 render all around us delightful. Who that breatlies the delicious fragrance of the morning flowers 

 glittering with dew, but can look up with greater confidence to Ilim who has strewn with such a 

 bountiful hand and such liberal ijrofusion the evidences of His goodness all around us! 



"And the sinuous paths of lawn and moss, 

 Which led tiavugli the gar<len along and across, 

 , Some opened at once to the sun and the breeze. 



Some liist among liowers of blossoming trees, 

 Were all paved with daisies and delicate bells 

 As fair as the fabulous asphodels; 



And flowerets which drooped as day drooped too 



Fell into pavilions, white, purple and blue. 



To roof the glow-worm from the evening dew." 



In reply to the question sometimes asked, "What is the use of flowers?" let me ask. What is the 

 use of anytliing? What do we live for, but to improve our better nature ? There are many things 

 pleasing to the eye, some of them expensive and not within the reach of all; but flowers may, with- 



