140 Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History. 



cation of some worthless or otherwise noxious weed would at 

 the same time dispose of the rust fungus, what a step of pro- 

 gress would be made! It cannot be said, from what we now 

 know, that this is probable, but it certainly is possible, and not 

 this only. In such cases no estimates can be ventured as to the 

 value, measured in dollars and cents, of the smallest contribu- 

 tion to positive knowledge. Years of patient and able research 

 may pass without reward, or a day's labor may beneficially 

 affect the world. The field is very large and the soil very rich; 

 but the cultivators have little more than begun their labors, 

 and those competent for the task are still few. No great pecu- 

 niary inducements urge them forward. There are no patents 

 to be had on discoveries they may make. The products of their 

 labors, however rich, are not to be appropriated by themselves, 

 but the gathered harvests must equally be divided among all 

 men. Science may be enthusiastically pursued for its own 

 sake, and mankind owe much to labors thus pursued; but it 

 is certainly proper that the State should provide the means of 

 equipment and livelihood for those able and willing to devote 

 their energies to such investigations and experiments. 



Illinois is one of the few States of the Union which have 

 provided by legislative action for an officer whose duty it is to 

 investigate and report upon insect depredations, and is alone in 

 the establishment of a well equipped and well appointed labor- 

 atory of natural history, -while the maintenance of the State 

 University, with its departments of science and practical art, 

 shows the high official appreciation of studies and investiga- 

 tions of this kind, and the intelligent views of those shaping 

 and directing the affairs of the State pertaining to our natural 

 resources and the value of natural science. The beginning 

 thus made gives much hope for the future. It is not hazardous 

 to predict increased interest as the work goes on, not only on 

 the part of those conducting the investigations, but among the 

 people at large, many of whom care little or nothing for the 

 methods and processes by which results are reached, but quickly 

 appreciate the practical value of the results themselves when 

 wrought out. 



Nothing has so far been done by the United States' autho- 

 rities for the study of the diseases of plants, though recently 



