208 LETTER-FILES OF S. W. JOHNSON 



method. He did not wait for popular demand for the 

 service he proposed to render, he was not nnduly 

 troubled as to how or whence its support should be 

 forthcoming. He laid a foundation, concerning him- 

 self chiefly ^\ith the all-important right beginning, and 

 left the outcome to the future, convinced that once 

 the work had demonstrated its own value and utility, 

 support would follow as a matter of course. The 

 coming — as horticulturist — of Dr. Britton, the present 

 state entomologist, to the Connecticut Station in 1894, 

 marks the commencement of another phase of its activ- 

 ity. Today, we in Connecticut, as in all other states, 

 can freely obtain advice or help in combating the ever- 

 present foes of our orchards and gardens ; warnings 

 are given us of the coming of destructive insects, 

 methods for their control or extermination are pub- 

 lished broadcast; preventive sprajdng of trees is the 

 rule, not the exception; and much accurate informa- 

 tion upon local horticultural questions is gained 

 through scientific investigation and widely spread by 

 means of station l)ulletins — and only twenty years 

 ago, all this was not ! 



In 1894, Professor Johnson prepared a general food 

 law which, excepting the law in force in Massachusetts 

 upon which it was largely modeled, was practically the 

 first effort at food legislation in this country. This 

 law, when presented to the Connecticut Legislature, 

 was passed at once by the House but was almost unani- 

 mously defeated in the conservative Senate. When, 

 in 1895, an attempt was made to pass a special lard 

 law, on the ground that it was impossible for honest 

 manufacturers to meet the competition of Chicago 

 packers of adulterated lard, the Legislature decided 



