The horticulturist should be cast in heroic mold, for he not only must
bear his part in the fight with moral wrong, like other men, but must
also cope with vegetable and insect evil. Weeds, bugs, worms, what
hateful little vices many of them seem in nature! I do not wish to be
thought indiscriminate. Many insects are harmless and beautiful; and,
if harmless, no one can object if they are not pretty. Not a few are
very useful, as, for instance, the little parasite of the cabbage
worm. There is need of a general and unremitting crusade against our
insect enemies; but it should be a discriminating war, for it is
downright cruelty to kill a harmless creature, however small. Still,
there are many pests that, like certain forms of evil, will destroy if
not destroyed; and they have brought disaster and financial ruin to
multitudes.

Mark Tapley hit upon the true philosophy of life, and it is usually
possible to take a cheerful view of everything; such a view I suggest
to the reader, in regard to the pests of the garden that often lead us
into sympathy with the man who wished that there was "a form of sound
words in the Prayer-Book which might be used in cases of great
provocation." Under the present order of things, skills, industry, and
prompt, vigilant action are rewarded. Humanity's besetting sin is
laziness; but weeds and insects for months together make this vice
wellnigh impossible, save to those who are so unfortunate as to live
on the industry of others. Therefore, though our fruits often suffer,
men are developed, and made more patient, energetic, resolute,
persevering--in brief, more manly. Put the average man into a garden
where there were no vegetable diseases, insects, and weeds to cope
with, and he himself would become a weed. Moreover, it would seem that
in those regions where Nature hinders men as much as she helps them,