The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1861-08-14
August


tie seek the shade, or plunging into the
cooling stream, stand knee deep in the
water, brushing their sides with moisten-
ed tails. Thus they hold the clouds of
mosquitoes and flies at bay, and guard
themselves against their tormentors.-
Swine roll lazily in the mud, coating
every bristle with the thick ooze, and
smothering another race of insects quite
as terrible to them. Fowls lie leisurely
in the shade, throwing dust over every
feather, and shaking it down over every
part of the skin. Ducks and geese sit
upon the rivers brink, industriously rub
bing their oily bills over every part of the
body, making the feathers proof against
the eggs of insects, as well as against
rain. Every animal aud plant has its
parasite, and the parasitic races and all
the tribes of insects are now in their
prime. Life would be too dull in these
hot calm Summer days, were it not for
these minute creatures filing the air with
the hum of their varied music.
The meadows are mainly stripped of
the burden of grass that covered them
few days ago, and you notice the traces
of the mower and the width Of his swath.
He has uncovered the homes Of myriads
of insects quite as beautiful, quite as full
Of the wisdom and goodness of the Crea-
tor, as the grasses and flowers that -four
ished above them. Now the air is pierced
With the shriil note of the locust, and now
the song of the grasshopper and the chirp
of the cricket fall on the ear. They
swarm in countless muititudes among the
stubble, ard every advancing step drives
a fugitive host before you.
We complain of the insects as enemies,
and in their present number, and our own
want of skill, they are among the most
formidable obstacles with which the hus-
bandman has to contend. The arrange
ments of Nature have been interfered
with in the advance of civilization, and
the harmony once existing between in
sects and other tribes Of living things, has
been destroyed. But even the most de-
structive Of these races has It's use, and
the world could not get on without its
labors. We need to direct these labors
rather than to exterminate the laborers.
If man did not interfere with the ar
rangements Of Providence, they would all
be kept in harmonious balance, and every
tribe of living things would be seen to ac-
compiish more of good than of evil in its
labors. Han has disturbed this balance
in various ways. The trees and shrubs
which were designed as the food of in
sects have been cleared away in the march
of civilization, so that not tenth part of
the original pasture ground of the insect
tribes is left in the older States. Forests
have been cut down, and swamps drained,
and the tiny inhabitants that once sung
and sported in the unbroken wilderness,
are forced to seek their living in grain
fields and meadows At the same time,
the natural enemies Of the insects, which
were designed to keep them in check,
have been almost exterminated. The
wild animals that derived large part of
their subsistence from insects, have main
ly disappeared with the forests. The
birds also, which are our best safeguard
against their undue multiplication, are
considered lawful game by every vaga-
bond that can carry a gun, and by every
cat that ought to catch mice and rats.
We have, too, not only the insects ma.
tive to our forests, but those Of other
lands introduced by commerce. These
have come in grain sacks, sometimes in
straw, or again in seeds, and upon plants
brought hither for cultivation. Provi-
dence has furnished abundant checks to
the multiplication of these creatures, and
we have only to study their habits, to-
learn how to keep them within due
bounds.
AS vet, the science of entomology has
but few admirers in this country. There
are very few who have had the time and
patience to follow these creatures through
their various changes, to study the times
and methods of their reproduction, and
the best means of ciroumventing them.
There is beginning to be felt, however, a
need of this knowledge as indicated in the
numerous inquiries ID our agricultural
and horticultural journals. Close observ.
ers upon the farm are learning how to save
the cereals from their depredations, and
pomologists are publishing their remedies
for the ravages Of insects among their
fruits. There is great need Of q wider
range of observation, and a larger class of
students who shall closely investigate the
habits of the insect tribes. This is a
work in which our young readers, espec-
tally the boys, might engage with great
profit to themselves, and with a fair pros
pect of usefulness to the community.
A cabinet specimens is indispensable
to the prosecution Of the study of ento-
mology, and these every student might
cro dnollr oathar for himself IF for in