NATURE'S CRAFTSMEN 



cal sprays, banding, and other methods of control, repre- 

 senting a saving of from $15,000,000 to $20,000,000 in 

 the value of this fruit product alone. The existence and 

 progress of the citrus industry in California were made 

 possible by the introduction from Australia of a natural 

 enemy of the white scale, an insect pest which was 

 rapidly destroying the orange and lemon orchards, this 

 introduction representing a saving to the people of that 

 State of many million dollars every year. The rotation 

 of corn with oats or other crops saves the corn crop from 

 the attacks of the root worm to the extent of perhaps 

 $100,000,000 annually in the chief corn-producing re- 

 gions of the Mississippi Valley. The cultural system of 

 controlling the boll-weevil is already saving the farmers 

 of Texas many millions of dollars, and, in fact, making 

 the continuance of cotton-growing possible; and scores 

 of similar illustrations could be cited." 



The history of the origin and operation of that benefi- 

 cent organ of our government, the Bureau of Entomol- 

 ogy, is worthy of full consideration. Its importance to 

 the country is still little understood. A few years ago 

 the average citizen knew little about it, and in his crass 

 ignorance turned off the subject with a jest about "bug- 

 ologists," and "hayseeds"; and deemed the whole affair 

 a sort of cranky side-show of the politicians, got up to 

 please the farmers! In truth, it is one of the worthiest 

 features of our civilization, one that we may justly 

 boast of, and which we should zealously support. It is 

 a reflex of civilization under the stimulus of an assault 

 of hordes of creatures whose ravages were a real peril to 

 the nation, and had wrung a cry of distress from a multi- 

 tude of disappointed and ruined laborers struggling in 

 an unequal contest with enemies too numerous, too 



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