52 WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



worms, small grass-worms and leaf-hoppers. Some 

 of these pests are so small, and work so insidiously, 

 that even the farmer is prone to overlook their 

 existence. The 10 per cent annual shrinkage in 

 these crops was declared to be "a minimum esti- 

 mate." 



Cotton. The great enemies of the cotton- 

 planter are the cotton-boll weevil, the boll-worm, 

 and the leaf -worm: but there are others that do 

 serious damage. In 1904 the loss from the boll- 

 weevil alone, and chiefly in Texas, was estimated 

 at $20,000,000. Before the use of arsenical poisons, 

 the leaf -worm caused an annual loss of from $20,- 

 000,000 to $30,000,000, but during recent years 

 that total has been greatly reduced. 



Fruit. The insects that destroy our fruit crops 

 attack every portion of the tree and its fruit. The 

 woolly aphis attacks the roots; the trunk and 

 limbs are preyed upon by millions of plant-lice, 

 scale-insects and borers; the leaves are devastated 

 by the all-devouring leaf-worms, canker-worms 

 and tent-caterpillars, while the fruit itself is 

 attacked by the curculio, codling-moth and apple- 

 maggot. By the annual expenditure of about 

 $8,000,000 in cash in the spraying of apple-trees, 

 the destructiveness of the codling-moth and cur- 

 culio have been greatly reduced ; but of course that 

 great sum must be set down as a total loss to the 

 farmers and consumers, in addition to a shrinkage 



