194 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



in making man to have dominion over every creeping thing that creepeth-. 

 upon the earth is but a miserable faihire. 



At the risk of repeating ideas ah'eady expressed, I venture to state 

 some of the practical lessons which may be drawn from this subject. 

 And first it enforces the necessity of true cultivation, producing solid, 

 not excessive growth, and healthy plants and fruits, and avoiding the 

 over-cropping, which is one of the most fruitful sources of weakness and 

 disease. It enforces the necessity of careful observation of those pro- 

 cesses which are beneficial, that they may be repeated, and of those 

 which are injurious, that they may be avoided, and of selection of the 

 soils adapted to the different classes of fruit; of working so far as pos- 

 sible with nature rather than against her, for at the best the contest 

 with nature in the cultivation of fruit is severe enough to tax all our 

 energies. 



Second, it enforces the policy of planting forest trees for shelter, and 

 emphasizes the beneficial effect which they otherwise exert upon the 

 climate. It gives me much pleasure to obsen'e that the people in various 

 sections of the country, and especially in the West, are becoming sensible 

 of the importance, the absolute necessity of providing for the prodigal 

 use of timber, and the planting of the vast areas of treeless prairie or 

 desert. 



Third, it shows the importance of the study of the habits of insects 

 and of concerted, systematic, and general efforts for their destruction, and 

 still more of preventing their introduction into new countries now 

 exempt from their ravages. I notice in the catalogue of Kansas nurs- 

 erymen, the statement that every new plant received is carefully examined 

 with a magnifying glass and washed, to make sure that every insect or 

 ^^% is destroyed — a most commendable practice, which, if it had been 

 followed with the currant bushes brought from Europe, would have saved 

 a world of trouble with the imported currant worm. Our watchfulness 

 ought to be such that the first signs of a new insect or disease should be 

 certainly detected and instantly trampled out like the rinderpest. 



Fourth, we see more strongly than ever, the need of producing new 

 varieties of fruit which shall combine the highest quality, with strong 

 constitutions, capable not only of resisting the cold of winter, but the 

 attacks of other more formidable enemies. Just as the civilized man is 

 liable to a thousand diseases from which the savage man is exempt, so 

 our improved varieties of fruit are subject to a thousand ills unknown to 

 their wild progenitors. We can not for this reason give up these improved 

 fruits, any more than we can return to the savage state because nervous 

 diseases have increased, but we must continuallv remember that our finest 

 fruits are to a great extent artificial beings, liable to the attacks of insects 

 and fungus diseases exactly in proportion to their refinement, and con- 

 sequently that the more their character is elevated, the more they need 

 the constant care of art. 



When a country ceases to be new, it also ceases to produce fruit with 

 that spontaneousriess and absence of care found in new countries, and we 

 can no longer have perfect fruit without untiring watchfulness, system^, 

 and energy, but with these we can. 



