228 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



depeuds the success of an enterprise. We cannot afford to feel un- 

 concerned in this matter, lest the hen that lays the golden eggs should 

 be killed. Let us push onward, for "where there is a will there is a 

 way." It includes a good deal of work to raise small fruit, especially 

 strawberries, and it is just as important to dispose of the fruit as it is 

 to raise it, in order to save disappointments. 



L. A. Goodman, A^estport, Mo.: 



Dear Sir— I had Intended to write on strawberry culture, but I And there has been 

 much written on this subject to be almost confusing, and I could not, with the limited 

 time I have, do It justice. On the other hand, writings on selling the fruit are not so 

 plentiful. Earnest, up-to-date fruit-growers are invited to give their best thoughts on 

 this subject, and if this question can be successfully solved, it will give fruit-growing an, 

 Impetus as nothing else will. 



Wishing you a gODd meeting, I am. Respectfully yours, 



E. Leithold. 



Wednesday, 8 p. m. 



Meeting called to order by the President. 

 Music — Piano duet. 



SOME USEFUL INSECTS AND THEIR PRODUCTS. 



Mr. President, GeDtlemen and Ladies — The subject assigned me 

 on the program is "Our Insect Friends and Enemies," a sufficiently 

 comprehensive theme which, in the allotted time, could only be cov- 

 ered in a very general way. For a change from the usual character of 

 entomological papers, I have thought it might be agreeable to view the 

 subject from the optimistic side, and to note the benefits for which we 

 are indebted to the insect world, so far as we recognize them, as an 

 offset to the injuries, concerning which we nowadays hear so much. 

 I shall, therefore, at this time only attempt to catalogue some of the 

 more prominent of our insect friends. As for our insect enemies,, 

 "that IS another storj'," and Mr. Stedman has already told it in part. 



In thinking of insects simply in relation to ourselves — in the light 

 of the annoyance and loss they occasion us — we unwittingly do great 

 injustice to an indispensable link in the great chain of organic being. 

 We seldom remember — we do not even know — the countless indirect 

 ways in which they contribute lo the wellbeing of the higher orders 

 of animals, which, in their turn, are necessary to the comfort or luxury 

 of man. 



The all-wise Creator, who fashioned these wonderously perfect, 

 though tiny beings, did not do it simply to afflict tbo human family, 

 although, as with many other agencies, they have been and no doubt 



