STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. ^57 



The Hon. Nevvton Rateman, the able and experienced Superintend- 

 ent of Kducalion in this State, in an article recently published by him 

 upon this subject, has happily presented tlic different rctiuiremcnts of 

 the ]v///,\q-t'r, and the /nore advanced scholars in the natural sciences. 

 After depicting, in eloquent terms, the eagerness with which the child 

 seizes u[)on knowledge when it presents itself in the form of object les- 

 sons, in the hands of a sympathizing and enthusiastic teacher, he goes 

 on to present the other side of the case, and commences with the fol- 

 lowing passage ; 



" Let it be kept in mind that in what I have been saying, I have had special refer- 

 ence to beginners in the rudimenlR of natural science. I do not .say that some teachers 

 niav not make judicious use of a text-book, even at the outset, or as soon as pupils are 

 able to read fluently ; much less would I approve the one-sided and extravagant notion, 

 now becoming so prevalent, that text-books should be entirely discarded in public 

 schools, and all the instruction be oral. A good and suitable text-book, in the hands 

 of a teacher who knows how to use it, and how to direct its use by pupils, is always a 

 help — one never to be undervalued. And for advanced classes in tlie natural sciences, 

 text-books are almost indispensable, even wjth the best teachers." 



The books which have been written upon insects are very numerous 

 and varied. They may be divided into three general classes; first, those 

 which contain accounts of the instincts and habits of insects, intended 

 to entertain and instruct children and others who do not desire to make 

 a special study of Entomology ; secondly, those who treat the subject 

 from a purely scientific point of view, and which are intended only for 

 the professed student of this science ; and thirdly, those which have 

 treated the subject practically, for the purpose of teaching, either how to 

 .rear the useful species such as the silk-worm, and honey-bee, or else how 

 to destroy those kinds which are injurious. (A considerable number of 

 books have been published, it is true, of an intermediate (les(ri])tion be- 

 tween the first two, but they are usually of such a character that they may 

 be classed in a general way with the one or the other.) The greatest 

 desideratum in entomological literature, at the present time, in my opinion, 

 is a book which will form a c(mnecting link between those works which 

 treat the subject either from a purely scientific, or an exclusively pract- 

 ical jioint of view. 



1 am continually receiving, in my official capacity, two classes of 

 enquiries; first, how to cope with injurious species — coming from prac- 

 tical farmers and horticulturists; and the other, much less numerous, but 

 not inconsiderable, ho.w to classify the insects which the encjuirer is col- 

 lecting — coining from young people who have become interested in this 

 study. To the first ([uestions I reply either by jjrivate letter, or if the 

 subject be of general interest, through the public press, or if it be [)ar- 

 tirtilarly new or interesting, through the medium of my annual report. 

 '["() the latter, 1 am obliged to reply that no work exactly suited to their 

 purpose exists; and those which come nearest to it are either out of 

 ])rint, or too expensive, or otherwise unavailable ; and those which are 

 within his reach are for the most jiart too learned and technical, besides 

 that many of the works upon different orders of insects, are scattered 



