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balance of nature which man is ahvays tending to upset. Even in wild nature the 

 balance is never quite complete ; at best the equilibrium is unstable. 



'"It is very interesting that the two great classes of successful fliers should be, 

 in the wide economics of Nature, fitted against one another, wings against wings, 

 freeman against freeman, invertebrate against vertebrate, "iittle brain" against 

 "big brain", "inscinct" against "intelligence". Practically this is the most im- 

 portant conflict of classes that the world knows" — (Thomson). 



Among other well-known enemies of insects are toads, skunks and snakes, 

 which are too frequently killed on sight. Mr. Norman Jack, the well-known and 

 well-informed horticulturist of Chateauguay Basin, sent me a letter, received 

 too late for the Annual Meeting, containing the following important suggestions : 



"First, — due to the indiscriminate trapping and destruction of foxes, and 

 skunks, in the fruit growing sections, field mice and destructive rodents have 

 become much more plentiful, and the probability is that there will be found many 

 trees girdled, or partly destroyed, when the snow is gone. How little the general 

 public realizes that one of the fruit growers' best friends, by keeping crickets and 

 white grubs in check, is the much despised pole-cat or skunk. The writer 

 hopes that in the near future there will be legislation brought in whereby there 

 wull be a closed season, if not a complete protection, for these two orchards 

 friends. 



"Second,— a further suggestion which the writer would make is that the 

 laws relating to the protection of bird-life be more widely diseminated and that 

 copies be sent to the authorities of every Agricultural Society in the province, and 

 also to the heads of Municipal Councils of towns, villages, etc. and also if possible 

 to every Justice of the Peace. 



"Third, — another item ^\'hich in the writer's opinion should be considered 

 is that of compulsory care of orchards. One has only to take a trip into Montreal 

 to notice along the way the many neglected apple trees which are a menace to 

 every orchard for many miles. The writer cannot see the moral right whereby a 

 party can neglect a fruit orchard and permit it to infest the country with disease 

 and insect pests, and not try to remedy it, any more than one should be permitted 

 to allow noxious weeds to flourish, without some attempt to control or destroy 

 them, or a cattleman to keep a herd of diseased cattle. The owners should be 

 compelled to care for their trees properly, or cut them down and burn them. This 

 no doubt will appear to be drastic measures but it is only by some such drastic 

 action that we can bring the neglectful owners to a realization that in a measure 

 they must be responsible for their neglected trees." 



There are, moreover, many predaceoas insects that kill large numbers of 

 injurious form.s. The lady-birds feed almost entirely on plant-lice and scale 

 insects ; the ground-beetles on cut-worms, canker-worms and other caterpillars, 

 and on many injurious grubs in or on the ground; some of the Hemiptera and 

 other insects are also predaceous. 



Parasitic Animals and Plants. The part played by parasites is very im- 

 portant. They may be grouped into (a) parasitic insects, such as the chalcids. 



