EXCLUDING ENEMY ALIENS WITH APPETITES DE LUXE 



BY CHARLES LATHROP PACK 



PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 



A $500,000,000 banquet to alien enemies lias been 

 given annually by the American public. These 

 aliens were not invited here, have performed no 

 service, and yet have been fed on the fat of the land, 

 adding to the high cost of living. They have tremendous 

 appetites, consuming trees or entire forests, garden crops 

 and fields of grain and cotton. These undesirable citi- 

 zens that have made America their adopted home are 

 insects and plant diseases which have been introduced 

 from foreign countries. The recent quarantine issued by 

 the Secretary of Agriculture, restricting the importation 

 of nursery stock, assures us that the treasonable 

 activities of these enemy aliens will be curbed in the 

 future. 



There's a pest for every plant. Adam must have 

 been an aged man before he got married if he first took 

 time to name all of the insects and fungi. It would re- 

 quire the life-time of an ordinary man even to pronounce 

 the names which scientists have given to the known 

 species and every day sees new discoveries added to these 

 lists. The gardener and the fruit grower, the farmer and 



tlie forester spend a great deal of time and money in com- 

 bating pests. Some plants have more than a thousand 

 insects and fungus diseases which attack sonie portion 

 i)f them, causing death or injury. However, most of the 

 pests which attack our plants are native to America and 

 have natural enemies which keep them in check. "And 

 all those fleas have little fleas, upon their backs to bite 'em ; 

 and those again have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum." 

 Thus native insects have a host of voracious enemies, 

 including birds, animals, and other insects, which pre- 

 serve the "balance of Nature." The ravages of native 

 pests seldom become devastating except occasionally in 

 small areas and for a short time when conditions be- 

 come exceedingly favorable for their rapid propagation. 

 Hitherto, America has maintained an open door to plant 

 immigrants and, year after year, destructive insects and 

 plant diseases have come to this country on these plants 

 from abroad. Some of these pests have found the Land 

 of Freedom entirely to their liking. Sometimes the 

 climate here has been exceptionally favorable for their 

 rapid development, at other times they have found new 



THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS 



10S3 



