448 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



THE VALUE OF THE BIRD IN THE ORCHARD. 



For man's purposes the work of the bird in the orchard is not so 

 thorough as that done by them in the forest. Birds are the slaves of 

 nature, and, in the main, nature's endeavors are put forth only to 

 produce such fruits as will insure the perpetuity of each species of 

 tree. With man the case is altogether different. His main object is 

 not the propagation of trees, but the production of a giant gooseberry. 

 Moreover, by introducing arsenical spraying, tarred and greased 

 bands, and other devices to counteract the evil action of insects, he 

 has, to a certain extent, taken upon himself the office of the bird. In 

 this he is wise, for it must be admitted that if he wishes a large crop 

 of fruit he must himself prevent the inroads of those insects which 

 attack the fruit directly. It can not be expected of the bird that it 

 will become an efficient ally of man in protecting the artifically pro- 

 duced fruit from the attacks of the numerous insects that are drawn 

 to the orchard by a vastly increased quantity of fruit of a vastly bet- 

 ter quality than the natural product. 



For all that, fruit growers are largely indebted to the bird for a 

 great part of their annual crop. 



In the Union of South Africa, for instance, it is found that near 

 towns, where the birds have been more especially persecuted and 

 driven away, the growing of fruit and other market produce has be- 

 come increasingly difficult, or even impossible, owing to the preva- 

 lence of insect pests which are not affected by spraying operations. 



But let us suppose for a moment — though the supposition is ab- 

 surd — that the modern fruit grower could do without the services of 

 the bird. Would that give him a right to slay it ? Apart altogether 

 from the agriculturist, what of the millions of people who, as an in- 

 crement to their ordinary livelihood, grow fruit, but who can not 

 afford either the time or the money to treat their trees in the most 

 approved and scientific way ? 



What would happen to this poorer class of fruit growers if they 

 were deprived of the services of the bird is best seen in what hap- 

 pened to Frederick the Great. This worthy, in a fit of passion 

 because a flock of sparrows had pecked at some of his cherries, 

 ordered every small bird that could be searched out to be instantly 

 killed. Within two years his cherry trees, though bare of fruit, were 

 weighed down with a splendid crop of caterpillars. 



Call the bird in the orchard an evil, if you will ; but it is a neces- 

 sary evil, and the fruit grower must make up his mind to pay the 

 bird its wages lest worse befall. 



