THE INJURY TO CROPS BY INSECT PESTS 5 



always present and doing more or less damage and occasionally 

 becoming so abundant as to threaten the life of the trees or their 

 crops. Twenty per cent of the value of our fruit products, 

 worth at least $30,000,000, is certainly destroyed by insect 

 pests every year. 



Forest Insects. Only those who have had opportunity to 

 observe the ravages of insects in timber and in timber products 

 can appreciate the enormous losses which they occasion. Prob- 

 ably no one is better informed upon this matter than Dr. A. D. 

 Hopkins, in charge of the Forest Insect Investigations of the 

 U. S. Bureau of Entomology, who has made a life study of these 

 pests in all parts of the country. In a recent circular he states * 

 that " the amount of insect-killed and damaged timber left in the 

 woods, plus the reduction in value of that utilized, to be charged 

 to insects is not far from an equivalent of 10 per cent of the value 

 of the annual output of forest products of all kinds, in the rough. 

 The total value of the forest products of the United States in 1907 

 is given as $1,280,000,000; the losses from insect depredations 

 would therefore represent an annual loss in cash value of more 

 than $100,000,000." To this should be added a similar loss to 

 farm woodlots, which may be estimated at an additional $10,000,- 

 000. The insect injury to the shade trees of city streets, parks, 

 and estates should also be mentioned, for such pests as the gypsy 

 moth, the elm leaf-beetle, tussock moths, etc., are not only causing 

 enormous losses and large expense for their control, but they are 

 often destroying the values of real estate and through, killing the 

 trees are destroying the scenic value of property and changing the 

 esthetic environment in a manner which it will require many 

 decades to remedy, if the previous conditions can ever be even 

 partially reproduced. The State Forester of Massachusetts has 

 recently shown that the New England States and the Federal 

 Government have spent fully $7,000,000 in fighting the gypsy and 

 brown-tail moths in New England, and at the present time the 

 New England States, the Federal Government, municipalities and 

 private individuals are spending fully $1,000,000 per annum 

 * A. D. Hopkins, Circular 129, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. Agr. 



