298 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



last autumn, pursuant to a vote of the State Legislature, and 

 published in an octavo volume of 180 pages. In this report 

 several of the most common and destructive insects are mi- 

 nutely described, their habits detailed, and the best remedies 

 given for preventing their increase and stopping their ravages. 

 The work will be continued, and another portion of it will 

 probably appear the present year. When completed, in con- 

 nection with the Report by Dr. Harris, it will supply cultiva- 

 tors with the most important information. 



It is only by the most careful observation that we can 

 detect all the peculiarities of the numerous insects which in- 

 fest our trees and plants, and, without knowing them, we 

 may spend useless time in attempting their destruction. Mr. 

 Fitch states that it was, he thinks, " St. Pierre who remarks, 

 that he had made it a point to examine the several insects 

 which made their appearance upon a particular rose bush in 

 his garden, and, at the end of thirty years, he continued to 

 find new kinds which he had never seen upon the bush be- 

 fore." He further remarks, that " however assiduously one 

 may investigate the history of a particular species during the 

 period of its appearance one season, if he returns to the same 

 insect another year, additional traits in its habits continue to 

 be discovered, equal in importance frequently to those first 

 noticed," 



The publication of these Reports is preparing the way for 

 the dissemination of that knowledge so much needed, and it 

 is all-important that they should be circulated as extensively 

 as possible ; a cheap edition, which might, from its low price, 

 ])lace them in the hands of every cultivator, would be a boon 

 greatly to be desired. We trust that the State Legislatures 

 of Massachusetts and New York, composed as they are, to a 

 considerable extent, of farmers and gentlemen interested in 

 agricultural pursuits, will see that this is accomplished. If it 

 cannot be done by them, then let the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment of the Patent Office take it under their charge. A vol- 

 ume embracing the substance of Dr. Harris's and Mr. Fitch's 

 Reports would be worth a cartload of the miserable rubbish 

 which is now circulated far and wide, and furnished at a cost 



