112 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



have been could he have obtained an education in his youth, for he is well 

 endowed with practical good sense. Now, what I mean by this is that 

 the entomologist or botanist can do much to aid in the prevention or sup- 

 pression of insect and fungous pests, but there is a point beyond which 

 neither the realms of botany nor entomology extend, and the problem 

 becomes a question of effort — not one or two people, but of a whole com- 

 munity. I may give you information as how best to fight the codlin 

 moth, but can not compel you to follow it, nor can I compel your neighbor 

 to do so, even though your whole crop is threatened by his negligence. 



I wonder how many of you have considered the matter of old, anti- 

 quated, and nearly or quite worthless orchards, or the remnants of such, 

 that were planted out a half century or more ago, and are now scattered 

 over the country. Very often they are off back in the field somewhere, just 

 a few trees, gnarled, twisted, and leaning, the tops a labyrinth of water- 

 sprouts of all sizes and ages, the fruit, when there is any, small, knotted, 

 covered with scabs and full of worms, both tree and fruit veritable nur- 

 series for all manner of insect and fungous pests of the apple. If we 

 search about, we shall find broken bricks and pieces of earthenware, the 

 latter with pink or blue colored ribbons on them. The hands that planted 

 the trees are now folded on breasts within which the hearts have long 

 ceased to beat, and the recollection of those old faces stirs within us some 

 of the noblest feelings of manhood and womanhood. It is no wonder 

 that the old trees are allowed to remain, nor can we but look upon their 

 destruction with sorrow. Now, we either ought to carry our reverence 

 alittle further, and care for these monuments of a generation fast passing 

 away, or we should remove them, for every one of these old orchards 

 is a menace to every younger and better one in the neighborhood. If 

 cared for and sprayed annually, it would certainly improve their appear- 

 ance, and reduce the total number of codlin moths, borers, tent caterpil- 

 lars, and many other destructive insects in a neighborhood very mater- 

 ially. 



Then there is another matter that does not in the least appeal to our 

 sympathies, and yet is even more conspicuous than the old orchards. I 

 refer to the roadsides and jungle of weeds and plants that line them as 

 well as interior fences. Not only do these afford breeding places for such 

 insects as affect the plants growing there, but myriads more find shelter 

 during winter, and have only to wake up in spring and make their way to 

 the adjacent orchards, vineyards, and fruit farms, and there work their 

 will. Is it not strange that people will overlook the fact that fire, when 

 used under proper conditions, is one of the very best insecticides we have? 

 Sheep are almost as good, and I have wondered if it had ever occurred to 

 any of our people that the removal of the tariff on wool could have had 

 any effect on the occurrence of destructive insects. If roadsides, fence cor- 

 ners, and similar places were to be burned over every fall, all or nearly 

 all insects that had taken refuge among the grass, weeds, and brambles, 

 as well as many of the inhabitants of these, w^ould be destroyed. So, also, 

 a flock of sheep, if given the range of the roadsides and fields in the fall 

 and winter, remove all grass and weeds that serve to protect injurious 

 insects during the months of hibernation. Of course you can not give 

 sheep the run of younc" orchards or grounds where young vines and shrubs 

 are growing, but you can give them the range of waste places, and in 



