14 GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



of money and expenditure of labor. This chapter is 

 not written for such wide-awake people, but it is pre- 

 pared with the hope that the few who still condemn 

 "book learning" may be convinced by argument and a 

 presentation of an overwhelming array of facts that they 

 are under great obligations to the results of the w T ork 

 and thought of scientific investigators. 



It is due entirely to science that the insect enemies 

 of vegetables and fruits have been so carefully cata- 

 logued and described, and remedies discovered for 

 destroying them and holding them in check. Millions of 

 dollars have been saved to the gardener and the farmer 

 in this one item of contribution from science. The inves- 

 tigations made on the subject of plant disease and the 

 remedies used to keep the plant in a healthy condition are 

 the w r ork alone of scientific brain and energy. The eradi- 

 cation of many of these troubles has made it possible for 

 the gardener to cultivate certain vegetables and fruits 

 which was next to impossible prior to the assistance 

 rendered by the scientific investigator. What a boon to 

 the cultivator of the soil is spraying! Yet scientific ex- 

 perimentation developed the spraying machine and the 

 composition of the ingredients which make up the spray- 

 ing mixtures. 



The introduction of many of the best fruits and vege- 

 tables is largely due to the effort and forethought of our 

 scientific men. The delightful Japan plums, the Japan 

 persimmons, the many varieties of the citrus fruits, and 

 the great improvement of the grape are well known 

 illustrations of this fact. 



Chemistry, among many other aids it has rendered to 

 the gardener and the farmer, must be given full credit for 

 placing the science of fertilization in the front rank of 

 important factors. How crude and unsatisfactory were 

 the methods of supplying plant food to the soil until the 



