78 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The farmer can easily protect himself from the depredations of 

 birds and other animals ; it is not so easy for him to do this in regard 

 to the insects, and only the farmer and fruit raiser who has a good 

 knowledge of entomology will be able to accomplish this thoroughly. 



Having since mj' boyhood applied mj'self to the study of natural 

 history in general and to entomology as a specialty, my advice to 

 you, ladies and gentlemen interested in farming and fruit raising, is, 

 you must be diligent students of the natural sciences if you desire 

 that your labor shall not be in vain and that you may derive the 

 profit which your work justly deserves. 



The study of these sciences will lead you to thorough investiga- 

 tions by the means of which you will discover your enemies in every 

 stage of development and you will then soon be able to apply the 

 best and surest remedies to protect yourselves from those depreda- 

 tions, if not entirely yet to a greater extent than without the know- 

 ledge of natural history. Your labor will be doubly rewarded ; 

 besides it will make you happy, fill your mind with useful and im- 

 portant truths, and you will prosper in the chosen part of your 

 life's occupation. I wish to night I could enthuse every one of you 

 with a love and admiration for the study of nature. You have the 

 best opportunity, living as it were in the midst of nature's works, 

 drawing from nature your resources ; you ought at least be grateful 

 enough to pay sufficient attention to nature in studying her laws, 

 which she b^^ innumerable devices invites 3'ou to do. 



But to my task. In order to give j'ou a thorough insight of the 

 insects I will mention in my discourse, I must classify them. We 

 divide the insects into the following classes, 



1. Lepidoptera^ or scale-winged insects, including the butterflies 

 and moths. 



2. Coleoptera, or sheath-winged insects, comprising the beetles. 



3. Bymenoptera, membrane-winged insects ; this order includes 

 bees, wasps, and ants. 



4. Diptera, or two-winged insects, of which the true fl}^ is an 

 example. 



5. Hemiptera^ half-winged insects, or true bugs, tree bugs, and 

 plant bugs. 



6. Orthoptera^ or straight-winged insects, grasshoppers, locusts, 

 and crickets, 



7. Neuroptera^ nerve-winged insects, including dragon-flies, etc. 



8. Apiera, or wingless insects, aphidoe, lice, flies, etc. 



