p. 16

1045

-1199-
1861.

When, a few years ago I wished to find what had been written on the subject of the native, naturalized and cultivated grasses of the United States, it was necessary to visit Philadelphia New York, and Boston before I could make even a catalog of the different species or kinds already discovered and described in books.

The cost of this class of books is very considerable owing to the greater expense of illustrations and the limited sales, hence they are beyond the means of many of our citizens, especially of those whose taste and inclination leads them to make scientific investigations and discoveries.

When Dr. Fitch undertook to study and report upon the insects of New York injurious to her crops, trees, fruits and vegetables, to find their names, habits, their changes from the egg to the perfect insect, and the best mode of preventing their ravages, he soon found that the "appropriation" made for his purposes scarcely enabled him to meet his bookseller's bills.

Of the importance of such investigations, it is unnecessary for me here to speak. It is to the progress made in science and its application to the arts that we are indebted for much of our material wealth and for our civilization.

It is this also that has given us power to accomplish what before was only dreamed of,. Nor can we suppose that the harvest of scientific truths is yet fully gathered.

What is true of scientific matters is equally true with reference to the arts. If a citizen of Wisconsin should invent a machine that appears to him to be a new and useful addition to our labor saving instruments, he has no means of knowing whether it is really new or whether some other person may not have already invent-