Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-10

harmful species affects us most closely.
At present the list of insects of prime
economic Importance in the United
States numbers rs, each of which almost
annually causes a loss of hundreds OF
thousands of dollars. OF these 80 are
native, 81 have been introduced, and SIX
are of doubtful origin, OF the 81 intro
duced species, 80 have come from Eu-
rope. All, with one exception, as acct-
dental importations. On the other hand,
of prominent European injurious IN
sects, but three are said to have come
from America.
After showing in number of IN
stances how valuable in dollars and
cents certain birds are to the farmer,
in keeping down those insect pests, Miss
Ball turned her attention to the English
sparrow, against whom she made out
pretty bad case. Even In his native
habitat, he has succeeded in driving out
the insectivorous birds that are of prime
Importance to the agriculturist. In
vestigations based entirely upon exam
ination Of stomach contents, show that
the birds diet is almost wholly Veget-
able. While some good Is done by the
sparrow in eating the seeds of weeds,
that is more than counterbalanced by
the eating of fruit, birds and grains.
He destroys the blossoms of fruit trees
and shrubs to an alarming extent, and
commits serious depredations among
ripe fruits, the grape being the worst
sufferer, then cherries, strawberries,
raspberries and other small fruits, and
Of vegetables, notably green peas The
sparrow increases with enormous rapid
ity, the progeny of &. single pair of Eng
lish sparrows in ten years amounting,
as it is calculated, to 275, TIC, 9S3. .69S.
The sparrow drives out the house wren,
tears the nests Of bluebirds to pieces,
destroying the eggs, and eats the eggs
of purple martins. In some states a
bounty is offered for English sparrows
Continuing. Miss Ball spoke in rather
deprecatory tones regarding the efforts
to enforce protection to the public well
fare by legislation. The endeavor to
protect insectivorous birds from use
for millinery purposes by the
act in the Massachusetts, Legislature of
1897 did not avail much, and is practi-
cally a dead letter, and the game laws
Of various states fail to protect. If
anything is to be accomplished in this
way, there must be uniformity of action.
The real solution of the difficulty lies
In education, by planting school gardens
and carrying on field work with the
children, thereby bringing them directly
into contact with the problems of ma
ture, training eye and ear, ability to
think and reason, and leading them to
find enjoyment in common things.
Miss Ball favored continuous instruc-
ton and familiarity with nature rather
than the introduction of bir1 day into
the schools.
At the conclusion of Miss Balrs pa
per, DR.. C. F. Hodge Of Clark Universi-
ty spoke upon the subject of the after
noon He entirely agreed with the es-
sayist that no amount of legislation was
adequate, and that our only help lay
In education, by which he meant know
ing the laws of nature and living in
harmony with them He said he he
lieyed that the introduction of practical
science into the public schools is max
ing for public morality and civic integ-
rlty. There is great danger In carry
ing legislation too far. With all the ac-
tiVity OF the Audubon societies and the
laws that have been passed. as MANY
Dlrds skins have been sold in New
York this winter as in the or wears
petore; The fact is, such things are
zone from ignorance, and the people
VINO do them should not be blamed IF
we don't get people mad, and stir them
up, things will go well.
o"AN " ms idSL year eADerl-
ence IN stopping the frog massacre, DR..
ho1ge said he did not know whether the
effects Of what he then said would last.
ne was waiting to see if the boys would
not get even with him this summer for
stopping their sport last summer. To en-
courage the feeling Of interest which
mad been stirred, he was about to offer
a prize of $40 to the child in the city who
goes the best work in studying the toad
Inc state federation of womens clubs
hau oftered him the sum of S11 to offer
as another prize for the state at large
II he could get 81 more. making sos he
would then offer the two prizes nne fo,.
she state one for the city. AS for the
frogs, ne would like to have enough
known about them at least to nrofeet
lnem through the spawning season
frogs are perfectly legitimate prey for
the boys, but, as we have game laws to
protect other creatures during fixed sea-
sons or the year, so We should nrotect
frogs. we want general movement Of
educatlon on this point: and on no other
more than the English sparrow. 1T is the
duty of every city to get rid of tbe snar-
row, and this may be done with little or
no suffering. The sparrow out of the
way, our own birds could have a fair
show. ''i
Dr. Hodge said that he had thought
of turning the birdsnestlng and bird
killing activity of boys in the direction
OF tanning birds. He had taken n bird