562 State Board of Agriculture, &c. 



pick one by one hundreds of thousands, it may be, of worms 

 or bngs from phmts or trees, but yet liand picking has been 

 actually tried more than once within a short time on a large 

 scale and the labor has been very fully rewarded in every 

 instance, the toil being less and the advantage greater than 

 was expected. Tliere are many insects that can not be thus 

 dealt with, but many can, and I have recommended it in 

 no case in which it has not, to my own knowledge, been 

 tried with success. I think that hand picking might be 

 profitably attempted, at least on a small scale, in very many 

 cases where it is not thought of. 



Many persons in their zeal to remove the trouble- 

 some insects that swarm over their plants, crush indis- 

 criminately every insect that comes in their way, and 

 perhaps tJiis is the best thing that some can do, but a 

 little knowledge would be a great help here, for there are 

 useful insects as well as injurious ones, and it is as bad to 

 destroy a friend as to fail to destroy an enemy. I do 

 not think that crushing insects is tlie best mode of des- 

 troying them. Some Ijeetles, if crushed by the finger, 

 may cause sores, especially if the skin be scratched or 

 broken, yet this is not of very great importance, as such 

 injury is not likely to be great, but if a female full of 

 eggs be crushed and left, the eggs may hatch as well 

 as if laid naturally, and so no good be done. Worms 

 and grubs of all sorts may, of course, be crushed between 

 the tlimnb and finger, if one is not particular as to the con- 

 dition of his hands, but scalding is better, and the best and 

 most eifectual method of destroying any insect is to burn 

 it. A hot fire is one of the few things from which an in- 



