122 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
such insects as are injurious to fruit and timber 
trees ; and none but a country naturalist could write 
such a book. Scientific learning is not essential to 
the undertaking, seeing that the insects themselves, 
if thoroughly well described, could always be named 
or identified. The same enquiries, directed to those 
insects which infest our grain or other agricultural 
produce, as hops, turnips, &c., would be still more 
beneficial, and might be the cause of preventing, in 
some instances, great loss, if not total ruin, to indi- 
viduals. Let it not be said, therefore, that the pur- 
suits of the country gentleman, who may be attached 
to natural history, are either trivial or unproductive 
of real benefit. They embrace, in fact, the in- 
vestigation of those subjects, which render natural 
history subservient to the economic purposes of life. 
‘And if ever the agricultural world is enlightened on 
these matters, the information must come from those 
who study nature in the fields and woods—not in 
libraries and museums. 
(68.) To the man of business, confined during the 
day to the closeness of an office, or harassed by the 
anxieties of his profession, relaxation is always wel- 
come ; but it becomes doubly so, when the mind is 
at the same time instructed and delighted by pleas- 
ing images. Those who are engaged in business, 
cannot always enjoy the recreations of the country 
naturalist, or gratify their love of nature by contem- 
plating her works in the fields: but no situation 
precludes the use of books, or the formation of col- 
lections. Next to the actual sight of foreign countries, 
and the study of their living productions, nothing 
brings them before us so completely as the narra- 
