.'528 State Board of Agkicut.ture, &c. 



nois pa^-s out annually from eight to ten millions of dollars 

 for her schools, which is well spent, tliough not as well as 

 might be. While the best experts inform us that the same 

 State annually loses from ten to twenty millions of dollars 

 from noxious insects, or more than the cost of all her 

 schools; some years several times more. Pj-of. Perkins, 

 of the Vermont University, says : "There are in the State 

 of Vermont, probably not less than 800 species of Lepi- 

 dopterous insects, (L e., moths and butterflies,) and in the 

 whole United States, probably not less than 4,000, and that 

 these constitute but a small part of the injurious insect 

 world. Take, for instance, the vast number of beetles, 

 which include the various tree borers, weevils and curcu- 

 lios ; how little do we realize their characters, habits, or the 

 extent of their depredations." President Wilder, of Mas- 

 sachusetts, says: "The study of entomology, as teacliing us 

 the habits of insects, both useful and injurious, is of the 

 highest importance in connection with the culture of plants 

 and fruits, and we therefore rejoice in the spirit of enter- 

 prise which has, of late, been awakened on this subject. 

 Were we to be told that tliere was no method to prevent 

 the depredations of insects, we should lie down in despair ; 

 but we do little better while we do nothing to prevent 

 them ; and if men would give their minds to the subject, 

 most of the evils of which we complain might be pre- 

 vented." Hei'e is the opinion of a man who has not been 

 content to let others do all his studying and thinking, and 

 as a result has achieved great success as a pomologist. Of 

 com'se, every farmer cannot be an expert in so intricate a 

 study as this, but if 07ie or two young farmers in a neigh- 



