STATK HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 20 



ON A CONTAGIOUS DISEASE OF CATERPILLARS. 



BY S. A. FORBES. 



When a new country of diversified surface and varied character 

 is first ()])ened nji to settlement,- one containing' prairie and forest, 

 f^ravellv knoll and treacherous swamp, barren mountain-side and rich 

 alluvial valley, — the pioneers of the rej^^ion fix always at first upon 

 the richest tracts which are easily worked, and will yield them a 

 ])rompt return with as little outlay as possible of capital and labor. 

 The oi)en prairie, lyin<,' fairly ready for the plow, will be occupied 

 lon<jj before the wo()dland. the hill before the marsh, the valley before 

 the rockv hei<,'ht: and the alluvial river bottom. suV)ject to frequent 

 overflow, will l)e left until the pressure of population, the increased 

 wealth of the country, and the more generous returns of agriculture 

 will warrant reclamation by the costly structures of the civil 

 engineer. 



Much of this territory, neglected by the early settlers, may be 

 waste and naturally almost worthless; but much of it, on the other 

 hand, will be the most productive and valuable of all. when once 

 brought uiuler human control. 



Further, the processes of (((/ricNifiirc adopted by the pioneer will 

 be rude and superficial, as compared with those of the generation 

 following him. He will not need to trouble himself with the sub- 

 soil plow. l)ecause. where land is to be had almost for the asking, the 

 same amount of labor which it would take to plow a small area to 

 the depth of ten or fifteen inches, will reap a greater reward if spent 

 in turning over a larger area to the de))th of four. He will care 

 nothing for fertilizers, for no su))cr]»hos])hates or guano can possibly 

 add enough to the value of the bountiful crops springing freely from 

 his virgin soil to repay the expense of their purchase, transportation 

 and application. Even tile draining will be, ndatively speaking, a 

 waste of money, for he can invest his surj)lus savings to better advan- 

 tage by Imying more land at two or three dollars ])er acre, and culti- 

 vating only the ^ryer ])ortions of it. than by making extensive 

 improvements on the less tractalde ])arts of that which he already 

 owns. Much that many are accustomed to blame severely as waste 

 and shiftlessness and indolence is, at this period of a country's devel- 

 opment, really justifitable on the strict grounds of economic science. 

 It does not jxn/ the original settler at first to ])low dee]), to sav(> his 

 barn-yard manure, to glean the last head fr(jm his harvest fields, to 

 build barns for the protection of his wild ])rairie hay. He can spend 

 what strength and money he has more ])rofitably in other ways, — 

 ways which to his father and grandfather would have looked like 

 the prelude to speedy ruin, Ijut whi( h he knows to be, in his circum- 

 stances, the sure conditions of prosperity. 



