The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1914-08-18

stroyed and the other ten per cent
will go in few years unless drastic
measures are employed to stop the
slaughter. Farmers and fruit grow
ers of this country are losing over
81 ,000,000,000 a year by reason of
the ravages of insects. Here are a
few items in this appalling expense
account:
The cotton growers of Texas are
losing 40 millions to so millions 3
year by reason of the ravages of the
boil weevil, and all because the quail
and prairie chickens, the natural enc
mics of that bug, have been practi-
cally destroyed.
The wheat growers of the United
States are losing over S100,00O,000
year by reason of the ravages of the
chinch bug, because the quail, tha
natural enemy of that bug, has al
most been eXtermined
The farmers of the middle eastern
states are paying out $15,000,000 {
year for paris green to put on then
potato vines Why? Because the
quail the natural enemy of the pota-
10 bug, have been killed off.
We Pay For The Poison
Each of the great apple producing
states are paying $1,000,000 to 49,
100000 year for spraying apple
trees to keep down the coddling moth.
Why? Because the wood-peckers, the
sap-suckers, the robbins, the blue jays,
The blue birds, the orioles, the tana--
gers and other birds that formerly
preyed upon that insect have been
killed off, and every man, woman and
child who eats an apple or potato
helps to pay for this poison.
Some Important Records
The quail taken in a cotton field in
Texas had in it's craw the remains of
127 boil weevils. Another taken in a
potato field in Pennsylvania had in
its craw the remains of 101 potato
bugs. Another taken in an Illinois
wheat field had in its craw the re-
mains of over 200 chinch bugs. The
Bob-White has been known to eat 1875
different kinds of insects, many of
them the most injurious we have, the
potato beetle, the cucumber beetle,
cut worm, army worm, wire worm,
chinch bug, corn ear worm, the cot
ton boil weevil, and many others.
Careful students of this subject esti-
mate that quail will eat an average
of $4,000 insects and 5000, 5000
weed seeds in year-about III
pounds of insects and 100 pounds of
weed seeds.
100000 Bushels of Insects
1t is estimated that the birds dur
ing their stay in Illinois each season
destroy more than three million
bushels of noxious insects. Think OF
the consequence if the birds were all
exterminatedi And yet the slaughter
goes on. Parents send their boys to
Sunday school where they learn the
beautiful Bible stories, but they al
low them to come home and take their
air rifles and shoot the robins that
have young birds in their nests.
Prominent naturalists agree that
cats destroy more birds than any
other animal except man. DR.. Fisher
says that 100000 birds are destroy
ed in New York each year by cats.
A well known naturalist estimates
that the birds of Massachusetts eat
$1,000 bushels of insects every day in
the summer; another that ITO car
loads of insects are eaten every day
by the birds of Nebraska.
To hold the insects IN check we
need to have our gardens. fields. pas
lures and roadsides, literally alive |
with these useful birds.
There are 107 species of bugs that
prey on the elm trees, 264 that attack
$50 that prey on the birch |
es, ia that work on the beech trees.
and over 400 that attack oak trees.
Shall we protect the birds? If we
do we must make closed seasons of /
several years for certain kinds of |
game. We must prohibit unnatural /
lied foreigners hunting at any time. /
We must continue FadaraI rra+a.4in,, /
for migratory birds, and finally we
must stop absolutely the killing of |
al insect-eating birds.