Entomology. 113 



acres on scientific principles. In nine years his 

 produce was doubled, and bis crops afforded one- 

 third more than those of ordinary cultivators. "^ "^ 



Entomology, too, a science but little known until 

 very recently, lays a weighty claim to the attention 

 of the horticulturist. We find the earth and the 

 air filled with thousands of living beings, assuming 

 the most wonderful changes, and gifted with the 

 most surprising instincts. Some of these, like the 

 silk-worm, the cochineal, and the cantharides, add 

 to the wealth and luxury of man, or minister relief 

 to his diseases ; others are destructive to his pros- 

 pects, and enemies to his repose. 



The oak timber in the royal dock-yards, in 

 Sweden, had been perforated, and greatly injured ; 

 the king sent to Linnaeus, the father of Natural 

 History, to trace out the cause of the destruction of the 

 timber. He detected the lurking culprit under the 

 form of a beetle, {Lymexylon navale,) and by direct- 

 ing the timber to be immersed, during the time of 

 the matamorphosis of that insect, furnished a rem- 

 edy which secured it from future attacks. * ^i< ^ 

 A caterpillar of unusual size and singular form, 

 made its appearance on the trees of the Lombardy 

 poplar, in the State of New York, about twenty 

 years ago. Many idle reports were circulated. A 

 dog was said toliave been stung by one of the cater- 

 pillars, which occasioned swelling and death ; rumor 

 soon asserted that the victim was a child, and the 

 newspapers circulated each idle tale. Now the work 

 of destruction begun — the axe was applied to the or- 

 namental trees that shaded some of the finest streets 

 of the village. The same work ot extermination 

 was carried on at farm-houses and gentlemen's coun- 

 try seats, and the stately poplars were levelled to 

 the ground and burnt. The lover of nature remon- 

 strated, but it was vain to contend against the power- 



