1378,] flEPOR't OP THE SECRETARY. 47 



out Elytra to be removed, but lof which the lurdua alas ! betrays no 

 hankering. How describe the multitudinous swarms of Rose-Chafers 

 that infested our Vineyards and which Mr. Kinney could only meas- 

 ure, but no man could number ! Bureaus of statistics are established 

 to investigate the causes that injuriously affect the laborer. But the 

 General Court has no ear for the husbandman, who complains that the 

 very elements of subsistence are threatened, and that the question of 

 producing food at all should have precedence of the minor inquiry : — 

 How much shall be paid for its production ? 



The Harvest year which is just expiring has not been without one 

 striking compensation for the Pomologist. He has enjoyed an almost 

 complete exemption from that mysterious Blight, whose ravages have 

 been so wide-spread and unsparing for many years past. To what 

 natural cause shall we attribute this happy immunity ? There has been 

 the usual discharge of electricity ; there have been heavy showers, and 

 about the ordinary alternations of cloud and sunshine ; although the pe- 

 riod of what are termed Dog-Days was less oppressive and sultry than is 

 customary. Yet, for the first year since he has been Secretary of this 

 Society the writer has not lost even a twig. \Vhat stern experience he 

 has had, you need not now to be informed. He learns, from a very 

 general interrogation, that others, fellow-sufferers heretofore, were 

 equally fortunate. Still no ray of light penetrates our ignorance. If 

 of fungoid origin — as would appear to be the better opinion,— what 

 produces it, or excites its virulence ? The law provides for Inquests 

 in the event of crime or death, whereby the dignity and peace of the 

 Commonwealth are assailed. A deadly peril to one of its material 

 interests attracts no attention ; — cannot even aspire to a place among 

 the Orders of the Day. The Grange agitates for more careful consid- 

 eration of the interests of Husbandry. But its Representatives, after 

 tliey have climbed Beacon Hill and got wonted to its Castle of Indo- 

 lence, devote their time and study to the menu at Parker's. The wri- 

 ter can recollect no Report from the Committee on Agriculture, for the 

 last Decade, suggesting aught but " leave to withdraw." No proposi- 

 tion emanating from an individual Member of the Legislature, bucolic 

 or otherwise, has looked to the protection of the community, engaged 

 in and dependent upon the cultivation of the soil, from damage by 

 ravening birds, insects, or blighting disease. We tax ourselves to 

 maintain a Police and Militia, to guard against a possible breach of the 

 peace. Probably Massachusetts cannot afford the cost of an Entomol- 



