54 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



making. At first, their attention was directed to the possibilities of 

 improving their school grounds. These improvements might be of the 

 simplest order — might only mean the tidying up of the yard, piling the 

 wood and cleaning out the fence corners. Following this the possibil- 

 ities of decorative effort were introduced. Arrangements were made 

 Avith seedsmen whereby children could purchase packets of seed at a 

 nominal figure. They were instructed how to plant the seeds, and some 

 inducement for the care of the plant was held out by offering rewards 

 of various sorts, not of money value, however, for the best results of 

 their small garden efforts. Without going into detail, it may interest 

 you to know that the first year some twenty-five hundred children wrote 

 to the person who had charge of this work telling him how they had 

 helped to improve their school grounds. This year many thousands 

 are engaged in the same work. The State superintendent of public 

 instruction has lent his powerful aid and has greatly encouraged those 

 who have been instrumental in pushing the movement. Work of this 

 kind is possible in all parts of the country. Children are plastic and 

 may be readily influenced, but, like older people, they must see some- 

 thing ahead. Inducements of some kind, whether it be moral encour- 

 agement or material rewards, must be offered. 



In passing, you may like to know that there is a national society for the 

 improvement of town and country homes. This is called the National 

 League for Civic Improvement, which has its headquarters in Chicago 

 and stands ready to supply all persons or societies with literature 

 which will enable them to start a movement of this kind and give them 

 suggestions as to how it may be carried on. 



Charles Mulford Robinson, who has written an exceedingly interest- 

 ing little book on the improvement of towns and cities, says that ''there 

 is no one panacea for the ugliness, dreariness, or monotony of towns 

 and cities. There is no one road to victory; there must be parallel con- 

 quests by highway and by foothpath, by field and wood, by hill and dale. 

 There is work enough for all, there is a place for it." The specialist 

 seeing much in little does not see far. In zeal for pavements, one may 

 forget trees; in zeal for parks, the thoroughfare may be forgotten, and 

 so this is a work for the community and not for the individual. It is a 

 cooperative movement and is successful in proportion as cooperation is 

 real and sincere. 



SOME MICHIGAN INSECTS. 



BY PROP. W. B. BARROWS, AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



With the help of the stereopticon. Prof. Barrows showed the general 

 appearance of a number of the more destructive insects commonly 

 found in the orchards and gardens. The development of each was ex- 

 plained and their appearance in each stage described. This was pre- 

 liminary to a talk upon the best methods of combatting them, as the 

 remedy to be used in each case will depend to a large extent upon its 

 habits and the method by which each form secures its food. 



