The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1876-04-20

more quickly than any other teaches to
find tongues in trees, sermons in stones,
and good in every thing" In my own ex-
perience L have known of several hypO-
chondriacs made happy and hearty by
the mental enjoyment and the physical
exercise that resulted from getting in
terested in the collecting and study of
natural history objects and it is a sig
nifcant fact that many of our greatest
scientific minds, as Charles Darwin,
Herbert Spencer, etc, began their scien-
tifc careers, and developed their love of
investigation by the study of insects.
IT DEVELOPS THE OBSERVING FACULTIES.
As I shall presently show, some knOwl-
edge of entomology is absolutely essen
tial to the agTicultuTisU, and a study of
| it should form part of every farmers edu-
cation. Those engaged in other pursuits
are not 50 vitally concerned about in
sects, and generally fail to see what ben
| eft can come from the study of them.
! | have known parents to discourage their
| children from the study of these little
| animals because it promised no practical
| benefit. But the same argument would
| apply TO the majority of the literary and
/ scientific pursuits that occupy intelli-
! gent people; and, judged by this narrow
and material standard, most of that which
| is taught in our schools Is valueless.
! What does the butcher, or the grocer, or
| the baker, or, indeed, the ordinary bUsi-
| ness man, intent on acCUmulating a for
| tune, or engrOssed with the cares and
| necessities of life, care about geography,
| or geology, or chemistry, or astronomy,
or mathematics? What connection have
| these, or the fine arts, or philosophy,
| with his pursuit? Does it help his bust
ness to know the source Of the Nile or
! the nature of the Polar seas; to soar
among the stars and conceive of the
growth and death of worlds; to know
the age and history of this baU of matter
on which he treads? VIII his coal burn
any better for the knowledge of its origin
and nature? Does it help him, in dTiv-
ing a bargain, to know how many kings
England has had, or when Washington
died ? Polite literature has held q most
important place in the civilized worlds
history, though l. has no connection with
any of the practical affairs of life. Yet
every person in my audience recognizes
the advantages of all such studies; and
the child who is deferred from them be-
cause they are not profitable, in the
mOney-getting sense, is very apt to be
come a narrOw-minded and miserly man,
incapable of that large enjoyment of life
that follows the full development of his
faculties. Says Shakespeare, g What is
man, if his chief good and market for
his time be but to sleep and feed? A
| beast-nO more" There Is no sadder
sight than a sordid and penUriOus child.
In short, as / have elsewhere said, in
common with all the other sciences, en-
tOmOlOgy, viewed solely as an educator,
enriches the human mind by adding
I l. 4. i, !,
| if any, equals as a means of developing
the observing faculties of the young.
| The life-habits of inseCts-their won
| derful metamorphoses, their instructive
| industries furnish ample food for re-
! Election, and for our natural love of the
! curious and marvellous; and it is sur
| prising that the fact has not been more
| fully recognized in our educational sys-
! TENS Botany has long since had her
| place in our schools, and her import
| anCe as a means of mental training Is
net ignored. Yet lessons in animal life
the histories of living, sentient, aC-
| tive creatures-can certainly be made as
| instructive and entertaining as lessons in
| vegetative plant-life, and should receive
as much or more attention.
COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS OF INSECTS.
Insects play a most important role in
the economy Of nature. 1st, as scaven-
gers, in removing offensive animal and
vegetable material which would other
wise poison the air we breathe; I'd, in
the fertilization of plants, many of which
would remain sterile, without their little
winged polIinizers; Sd, in furnishing
food to hosts of other animals. In all
these, and in other ways, they are indi-
reCtly beneficial to man-nay, essential
to his very existence, for if some of the
lower supports in the complicated struc-
tUre of the living world which has man
fer its apex and outcome were TO be re-
moved, the whole structure would top
pie over and collapse. We receive some
direct benefits, also, from insects; and,
not to dwell on those which have been
and are yet being used as human food, l
will briefly indicate some of the other
ways in which they benefit us, by an IL
lUstratiOn which have previously used.
1t Is an imaginary case Of a young lady
dressing for an evening party.
Her card of invitation is written with
ink, the principal ingredient IN which
If it is good inks the gallic acid made
from the sO-called "galI-nut" produced
by a little gaIlfy on the leaves of a
species of oak very common throughout
the Levant. The sealing wax which
| fastens the envelope inclosing the invi-
| tatiOn is made mainly of sheilac, the pro- I
! duct of a species of bark-louse found on
various trees, such as the Jujube and In
dian fig, in India. Her toilet table Is,
of course, illumined with wax tapeTs,
and for these she is indebted to the COM
! mon hOney-bec, HaturalIZcd American
citizen. II she is fashionable young
| lady, the very rouge on her checks is
prepared from laC-ake, made either from
the bark-lOuse above mentioned or from
the Cochineal. The silk that enter into
! various portions Of her dress comes from
| the silk-worm, artificialIy prOpagated in
many parts Of EurOPc and Asia and now
| beginning to attract renewed attention
| in some parts of our own country. Her
| dress is probably dyed with cochineal, an
| extract from the dead bodies of another
| species Of bark-louse artifcially propa-
/ gated on cacti in Mexico. Finally, If the
/ Young lady contracts some intiammatOTy
/ cold, the chances are that her physician
/ will apply to her person a-blisteT pre-
pared from cantharides, the dried and
/ powdered bodies Of a Spanish blister bee
! tie of which we annually import large
! quantities at great expense, though we
haze many Indigenous species which
have the same qualities.
All these articles have a commercial
| importance which few people suspect.
Over 100000 human beings derive
their sole support from the silk industry.
Great Britain alone pays annually over
! 81, ,0OO, 900 for cochineal insects and as
much more for shelIac. The United
States produces annually nearly 10000
900 pounds Of honey, and about 100000
pounds of wax.
RELATIONS or INSECTS To AGRICULTURE.
But these direct benefits are most
| trinirrr ,.r.rr, r,nrcd to The iritIru q nat IN