62 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOLL WEEVIL CONVENTION. 



country aroused to the tremendous economic importance of the services 

 of these and other birds will decree the present wasteful and brutal prac- 

 tices to cease. 

 At the close of Mr. Muller's address the following letter was read: 



MR. WM. BUTCHER'S LETTER. 



NEW YORK, Nov. 28, 1903. 

 MR. ABE BRITTIN, 



President Cotton Exchange, New Orleans, La. 



Dear Sir: I note by the public press that the Boll Weevil Convention 

 will commence its session in New Orleans on the 30th inst. 



As the chairman of the committee for the protection of North American 

 birds, I take great interest in the deliberations of conventions like the 

 present one, inasmuch as I sincerely believe that some of the troubles that 

 your convention will discuss arise from the fact that the citizens of the 

 states that are damaged by the boll weevil have never yet realized the 

 value of the wild bird life to the country. 



Until recently the public have considered that birds were placed upon 

 the earth for no other purpose than to be killed for sport or food. 



Within the last decade scientific research has shown that all of the 

 wild birds of the country have an important economic bearing upon agri- 

 culture; the two are closely allied, and without the birds as aids to the 

 farmer, agriculture would be practically a failure. Every farmer should, 

 therefore, have an intimate knowledge of the value of each species of 

 birds. 



It is as important for a planter to know what the various classes of 

 birds do for him as it is for him to know what is the best seed or the 

 best ground, or the best fertilizers for him to use. All these subjects are 

 extremely important component parts of a farmer's success and there is 

 none of -them of more vital importance than a realization that the wild 

 birds are continually working for the agriculturists. 



Unfortunately I am so situated that I cannot be present at your con- 

 vention in order to tell you * something of the great value of birds as 

 checks to the increase of insect life, but I can by letter, and do most 

 earnestly urge upon your convention that you agitate the subject of a 

 satisfactory and comprehensive law in Louisiana to protect all of her valu- 

 able non-game birds. 



At the present time the law for the protection of the economic birds, 

 i. e., those that cannot in any sense be considered as game birds, are 

 practically valueless, as they only protct some 6 or 7 species and leave un- 

 protected in the neighborhood of narly 300 species. 



At the next session of your legislature a drastic law should be passed 

 prohibiting the killing of any of the beneficial birds of Louisiana. In 



