I2l6 



The Cornell Reading-Courses 



appearance of the little songsters is keenest, it may help to give them the 

 gentleness that is a part of all strong character; and whatever protection 

 to their feathered friends is thus brought about will surely be an economic 

 benefit to the district about their homes. 



Study of insect life from an economic standpoint 

 It has been stated v/ith authority that the loss occasioned by noxious 

 insects every year in the United States is so great that the amount, if 

 saved, would more than pay the cost of all the public schools of the country. 



Moreover, the actual destruction 

 of valuable crops is not the greatest 

 harm that is charged against some 

 of our most common insects : mos- 

 quitoes and flies have been proved 

 to be capable of carrying in- 

 fectious diseases and are a menace 

 to health and life. 



This being true, it would 

 certainly pay the country to see 

 to it that the children in the 

 schools are taught something 

 about their insect foes and how 

 to fight them : that adult mosqui- 

 toes and house flics hibernate 

 during the winter, and every one 

 destroyed as it crawls forth in the 

 spring to sun itself on garret or 

 cellar windows is an act of self- 

 FiG. 72. Freesias defense against future swarms; 



that domestic animals and poultry are often rendered miserable and 

 unprofitable to their owners by being infested with noxious insects 

 and must be helped to get rid of such vermin; that there is a proper time 

 to spray for the destruction of the scale insects that do so much harm to 

 the fruit trees; that there is hardly a plant of the farm or garden which 

 has not one or more insect enemies to be combated and that the government 

 of the country has thought it a good investment of public money to employ 

 skillful men to make a study of the best means for carrying on the battle. 

 But all insects are not bad. Many are pollen carriers for the flowers 

 and the blooming trees: farmers who raise fruits know that raspberries, 

 blackberries, and currants "set fruits " more abundantly if their blossoms 

 are freely visited by the bees; and some plants, such as the peas and beans, 

 and the locust trees, and the squashes and pumpkins whose deep golden 



