114 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



quantities. Of what value will all the scientific knowledge in Christen- 

 dom be to you if you will not use it intelligently? 



When I refer directly to you, I do rot mean that the people of Michigan 

 are any more negligent, or dififer in this respect from those of other 

 states, or in fact from the people of other countries, because I have the 

 very best of proof to the contrary. These appear to be weaknesses that 

 characterize the people everywhere; and I can not understand why it 

 should be so. Scientific men are continually and forever being reminded 

 that they are impractical; and they are, some of them. But in this and 

 hundreds of other cases there is a failure, among what we might with 

 jiropriety term one of the better classes of people, to use the results of 

 scientific research to practical advantage. It may be because we are con- 

 tinually living among these insects, and that familiarity does breed con- 

 tempt, that v/o are so negligent, and fail to do that which our own 

 judgment is continually whispering in our ear we ought to do, as a matter 

 of justice, not only to our neighbors but to ourselves also. 



The easy-going neighbor: He is usually a good fellow with a big, 

 warm heart; a man you can not help liking, whether you will or no. If 

 you are obliged to borrow, he will lend with a spirit that will, somehow, 

 make you feel as though you were granting a favor instead of asking one 

 of him. If you or your family are ill, he or his will be at your bedside, 

 asking only for the privilege of being of service to you. If death visits 

 your family, be will ])our into your ears words of sympathy and consola- 

 tion that will soot he and help to heal the bleeding wound in your heart, be- 

 causeyouknowthatheis sincere, and every word comes from the very bot- 

 tom of his soul. But he is easy-going. He plants out his trees or shrubs, 

 but does not care for them properly. His old orchard, back on the knoll, is 

 neglected ; his roadsides and along his fence borders are grown up with 

 an interminable tangle of weeds, brambles, and bushes. He promises, 

 again and again, and fully intends, to make an effort to destroy the insects 

 or fungi on his trees, when you ask him to do so; but he does not. When 

 yoti point out to him that he is raising insect pests that will come to you 

 and destroy your i)roperty, and ask him to take measures to prevent it, 

 he really means to do as you wish, but simply don't. You ask him to cut 

 the black knot off of his cherry or plum trees that are just over the fence 

 from yours, and he says, "yes! why, certainly," but he does not do it. 



Now, what can you do with such a man? You will bear with almost 

 any amount of neglect and procrastination, rather than speak the words 

 that will cause his injured soul to look out to you through his eyes in 

 reproach. You do not wish to, and will not, wound his feelings if you can 

 by any possible means avoid it. Why does not this neighbor of yours 

 rob you? Why does he not set fire to your buildings? W^Y does he not 

 rage at you and attempt to take your life? Because he has been taught 

 from the cradle that these acts are crimes and grievous wrongs. In his 

 childhood he waa trained against thoughts that would prompt such deeds, 

 and in manhood his mind has been so steeled against them that it not 

 only requires no effort to restrrJn himself from committing such crimes, 

 but he would be horror stricken at the very thought. He is the easy-going 

 neighbor, just because procrastination has ruled the man until he is not 

 his own master. Having never been compelled to do certain things, he can 

 not find in himself the power to do them of his own volition. But once 



