The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-04-06

same argument would apply to the ma
jority of the literary and scientific pur-
suits that occupy intelligent people
and, judged by this narrow and mate-
rial 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
| business man, intent on accommodating a
/ fortune, or engrossed with the cares
and necessities of life, care about geog-
raphy, 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 business to know the source
of the Nile or the nature of the Polar
Seas; to soar among the stars and con-
ceive of the growth and death Of
worlds; to know the age and history
of this = ball of matter on which he
treadsP VIII his coal burn any better
| for the knowledge of its origin and
nature? Does it help him, in driving
bargain, to know how many Kings Eug-
land has had, or when Washington
died? Polite literature has held
most important place in the
civilized worlds history, though It has
no connection with any C 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 because they are
not profitable, in the money getting
sense, is very apt to become narrow
minded and miserly man, incapable OF
that large enjoyment of life that follows
the full development of his faculties.
Says Shakespeare, "What is a 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, rs | have elsewhere said, in
common with all the other sciences,
entomology, viewed solely as an educat-
or, enriches the human mind by adding
to its store of knowledge, and has few,
if any, equals as a means of developing
the observing faculties of the young.
The life-habits of insects-their Won
derful metamOpOhoses their instructive
ndustries-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
not ignored. Yet lessons in animal life
the histories of living, sentient, ac-
tive creatures-can certainly be made
as instructive and entertaining as les
sons 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 scav
engerS, in removing offensive animal
and vegetable material which would
otherwise poison the air we. breathe
ID, in the fertilization of plants, many
of which could not exist, and many
others of which would remain sterile,
without their little winged pOllinizers
Sd, in furnishing food to hosts of other
animals. In all these, and in other
ways, they are indirectly beneficial to
man-nay, essential to his very exist /
ence, for if some of the lower supports
in the complicated structure of the liv-
inc world which has man for its apex
and outcome were to be removed, the /
whole structure would tOpple over or
collapse. We receive some direct bene- /
fits, also, from insects; and, not to dwell /
on those which have been and are vet .
being used as human food, | will briefly .
indicate some of the other ways in which .
they benefit US, by an illustration which .
| have previously used. 1t is an imag- |
mary 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 ''gall-nut" produced
by little gall-fy (CynipS gatigtinctOrtG,
Oliv.) on the leaves of a species of oak !
(QuercuS tntectOria) very common
throughout the Levant. The sealing |
wax which fastens the envelope inclOs- /
inc the invitation is made mainly of
shellac, the product of species of
blrk-louse (CoccuS LaccG, Kerr |
found onvariOus trees, such as the JuJu- /
be and Indian fig, in India. Her toilet /
table is, of course, illumined with wax
tapers, and for these she is indebted to /.
the common honey-bee (ApiS mellifcd), /
a naturaliZed American citizen. If she /
is a fashionable young lady, the very |
rouge on her cheeks is prepared from |
lac-lake, made either from the bark |
louise above mentioned or from the /
cochineal. The silk that enters into va
rious portions of her dress comes from .
the silk-worm, artifcially pDpagated .
in many parts of Europe and Asia, and
now beginning to attract renewed at
tention in some parts Our own country. /
Her dress is probably dyed with cochi- /
neal, an extract from the dead bodies /
of another species of bark-louse (CoccuS
cacti, Hern.) artifeially propagated on
cacti in Mexico. Finally, if the young
lady contracts some infammatOry cold,
the chances are that her physician will
apply to her person blister prepared .
from cantharides, the dried and pow
dered bodies of Spanish blister-beetle, |
of which we annually import large
quantities at great expense, though we
have many indigenous species which |
have the same qualities.
All these articles have commercial
Importance which few people suspect.
~
their sole support from the silk indus
try. Great Britain alone pays annually |
over S1,OOe, 900 for cochineal insects,
and as much more for shellac. The
United States produces annually nearly |
100000 of honey, and about 100000
pounds of wax.
RELATIONS OF INSECTS TO AGRICUL-
TURE
But these direct benefits are most |
trifing compared to the injury that in
sects do US. Not TO speak of domestic
pests, nor of those which spoil
our silks and furs, nor of those which
prey upon our timber and cause ships
to sink and buildings to fall-the dam
age inflicted on our agriculture by spe-
cies that destroy our crops is so great
as scarcely to be dreamed of except by
those who have given the subject care
f,,l at+antiOn Horace Greeley in