NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



of square miles of fertile territory which at present are 

 in the grip of insects. 



HOW TO FIGHT AND CONQUER 

 THE ENEMY 



I. Put birds under the protection of the law, and 

 at the same time create the necessary machinery for 

 the stern, unrelenting enforcement of those laws. 



2. Suppress the catapult, and impose a heavy tax 

 on owners of air-guns and shot-guns. 



3. Teach school children economic natural history, 

 and especially the value of birds to man. 



4. Prohibit the exportation or importation of the 

 plumage of wild birds. 



5. Station good energetic men with a thorough 

 training in economic entomology and the relation of 

 birds to insects all over the country to fight the insect 

 hosts and to give advice to the farmers. Money 

 spent in this way is money wisely spent. In South 

 Africa a hundred such men are required. The 

 resulting increased prosperity of farmers would add 

 largely to the Government revenue. 



"To welcome new procedures is the test of greatness, for 

 it betokens breadth of view. Most men's knowledge is cut 

 on a bias of early acquisition, and cannot be adapted to new 

 habits of thought." — Lowell. 



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