SIMON BROWN'S ADDRESS. 653 



the food which the plant requires than in a compact soil ; that 

 these open mouths catch fertilizing substances from every 

 passing breeze, and drink them in from the cooling dews and 

 genial showers. He forgets that the sand which he applied to 

 the clay land, has found potash in the soil, become soluble, 

 been taken up by the roots of the plant, carried to its utmost 

 extremities, and now covers the straw of his wheat field with 

 a delicate and beautiful coating of sand, or enamel, which 

 gives it strength to stand erect, and thus present its seeds to 

 the influences of the sun and air, and bring them to perfection. 



While he reaps, shall he not inquire how this came, and 

 compare it with another field, which fell to the ground and 

 failed to perfect its grain ? Will he not investigate these 

 causes, and thus acquire more knowledge of the operations of 

 nature, and more power over his crops ? 



By an accurate knowledge of the times when insects appear, 

 and the kinds of plants on which they prefer to feed, the time 

 of planting and sowing may be varied, so that it may be pos- 

 sible to escape their ravages in some degree in this manner ; 

 or as their period of existence is often very brief, we may learn 

 their time of retiring to a winter home, and destroy them there 

 by late ploughing or other means. The season of their coming 

 and retiring, the food they require, and the length of time they 

 remain, being accurately understood, will, at least, give us a 

 power over them we do not now possess. But this is not all 

 we gain. This knowledge admits us to some of the secret 

 and wonderful operations of irrational life, and thus leads us, 

 by successive steps, "through nature up to nature's God." 



The rose bug, for instance, has received its name from its 

 annual appearance coinciding with the blossoming of that 

 plant, and this fact may operate as a note of preparation 

 against its ravages ; and so it may aid us against the cater- 

 pillar, cankerworm, curculio, and beetles. The latter insect 

 sometimes proves exceedingly destructive. The discovery was 

 made by a gentleman, that they visited and defoliated his 

 cherry trees in the night. When this habit was known, they 

 were shaken down and destroyed in large numbers, and the 

 trees afterwards saved. This fact was learned by reference to 

 a work on insects, and will illustrate what it has become too 

 fashionable to condemn as book-farmings as if facts recorded 



