The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-07-05
OF T U

0IlLullOIS ID dl dlloAk VI AASSHs N
justed checks and balances. What
ever nature provides. she provides
something else to hold it in check,
and the result is that everything is
kept approximately in its proper
place, nothing has a monopoly, and
types and families have ar opportun-
ity to perpetuate themselves and enjoy
their share Of the good things of the
world.
Man ID a disturber of these ball
ances. He interferes with the pro-
cesaes Of nature. He chops down for
ests and causes the flow of streams,
once even n regular, to become
errat3c. He a up h q of the
earth and furnishes Judgement Of an
ideal character for single varities of
plants, making h ground unfit for
others. These operations Of his pro-
mote the concentration Of specific
kinds Of life. both plant and animal,
here and there, to the exclusion of
others which formerly had their
habitat there.
In NO country in the world was the
rabbit ever a pest until man took 1t
to Australia. It was as prolific and
as voracious elsewhere, out elsewhere
1t was pursued by its natural enemies,
and vas thus kept in check. Aus
tralia had neither rabbits nor its enc
mics. The rabbits were taken there,
but not the enemies, and behold the
result. The rabbit toe possession OF
the continent and literally stripped
bare of grass the ranges on which men
were trying to raise sheep. Doubt
less the striped potato BEETLE has been
in existence from time immemorial.
but 1t was comparatively rare and in
significant. But when men began to
grow great fields of potatoes the
beetles found food in abundance. and
1t is now a common nuisance in every
field and garden.
Hawks kill chickens, sometimes,
m the farmer has waged wal on the
hawk. Where he has succeeded in
exterminating it he has found a mark
ed increase in the number Of field
mice n other destructive animals,
for the hawk also preys on these lit
tie animals. When insectivorous birds
have been destroyed many varieties
Of fruit have failed. because insects
took possession and destroyed the
crop. On the other hand, insects are
necessary to the production Of many
fruits, because it is through their &C
tivtties that pollen is carried from
flower to flower and the work Of fer
tilization is carried on.
In a certain section of California.
Il we have read somewhere, an effort
was made a raise a very fine variety
OF figs which had been imported from
the orient. The climate and general
.cond...ea5 were ideal for them. The
trees grew and flourished and bios
somed ~profusely, but fruit could not
be got to "set." Someone discovered
that because Of a peculiar formation
tof the blossom Of this particular fig,
the insects Indigenous to that section
could not reach in to pollinate the
flowers. Further investigation showed
that this work vas done in the east
ny q parasite OF the fig tree itself.
Some Of the bugs were imported and
turned loose, and there was no more
Hrouble about the fig crop.
We have developed a system Of life
(which makes necessary many of the
things which we are doing. We can-
not live in a state Of nature and pluck
Jour food from the trees or grub it
fout OF the earth wherever it has
grown by chance. We must interfere
with nature. But it pays to study
nature. nevertheless. because when
We understand her processes we NAV
modify them and apply them to our
own work. All yer the country there
b an awakening to the importance Of
this subject and a better appreciation
OF the value of a knowledge Of how
nature works