STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 35 
ally acquainted with agriculture and horticulture. 1 have communications ask- 
ing us to reccommend ex-Gov. Robert W. Furnas, president of the State Horti- 
cultural and also of the Agricultural Society of Nebraska, as a man in every 
way qualified for the office of United States commissioner of agriculture. 1 in- 
derstand that Gov. Furnas is a candidate for the office. He is a man of great 
ability as a farmer and nurseryman, and if the present incumbent should be re- 
tired I do not suppose we could find a better man for the position, or a truer 
friend to our mterests. 
Tnsects. 
[ have looked with great concern upen the ravages of insects during the last 
three years, and the question naturally arises, what is to be done? We may 
protect a few choice trees or plants, but if destructive msects continue to multi- 
ply, what is to become of our forests, orchards, nurseries, gardens, grains and 
grasses? The past year has found the chinch-bug in the southeastern part of 
the state so numerous that the yield of wheat was reduced in many instances to 
from four to six bushels peracre. What is to prevent them from extending their 
depredations? Almost every plant has imsect enemies, and any agency that 
will check or destroy them is a friend tc man. J know of nothing so effectual 
as the 
Birds. " 
1 doubt if we can well spare any of them. Even the black-bird which has 
been considered a pirate among birds, with no rights that anybody was bound 
to respect, has some redeeming qualities that will, upon better acquaintance, 
bear investigation. . Last spring a colony of them nested in my evergreens, and, 
during the time they were rearing their young, were destroying worms and in- 
sects. Even the tent caterpillar wnich few birds molest, could not escape the 
vigilance of their keen eyes and sharp bills. But as soon as their young were 
fledged they migrated to my next neighbor's farm along the creek, and very 
soon my friend Brown came to inquire if | had a shot-gun to loan for those cus- 
sed black-birds were annoying him very much. Of course J had, and I heard 
him banging away at those birds for more than a month. I hope there is 
enough of them left to form a colony around me next year and then if they go 
away and annoy my friend, why they must take care of themselves. Could we 
keep a just debt and credit account with the birds the balance no doubt weuld 
be largely against us Saying nothing about damage for the ill-treatment they 
receive at our hands. If we should advise stringent laws for their protection, 
the answer would be. that those which we now have are not enforced and every 
boy and loafer that can shoulder a gun is privileged to shoot them immediately. 
What wonder then if the earth is cursed for man’s sake? And now let me say, 
once destroy the }irds and insects would multiply to that extent that man would 
have little left to do but fold his arms and view his own destruction, helpless 
and alone. ‘There was a time at creation’s morn when birds could talk as well 
as sing and all the beasts of the field as well as man held common converse 
with their Maker. But the lion has crouched down in his lair, the foxes have 
entered their holes and the serpent still crawls beneath the grass, while the lit- 
tle hirds that never sinned soar high toward heaven with songs of praise to the 
9 
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