THE NEW EARTH 



pest. The Vedalia cardinalis, as it was called, 

 had won the day, and the ravages of the 

 cottony cushion scale were at an end. 



So began one of the most remarkable devel- 

 opments in the many-sided life of the New 

 Earth. The preservation of the balance of 

 nature — it was this which was at the foun- 

 dation of it all. In Australia the scale and the 

 ladybird were in check, in balance. Neither 

 one superabounded. The moment the balance 

 was disturbed, the scale getting by ever so 

 little the upper hand, that moment the lady- 

 bird began its work, keeping at it until foe and 

 pest were in balance. It has been shown that 

 if the eggs of a single codfish should all 

 mature and the eggs of the thousands of new 

 fish should likewise mature and the progression 

 proceed, it would be a matter of a relatively 

 short time before the whole universe from 

 planet to planet and out beyond the farthest 

 star would be a universe of codfish, so rapid 

 and vast the progression. But nature allows 

 but a very few of the eggs to come to 

 maturity — the balance is preserved. It is upon 

 this principle of a preservation of this balance 

 that this California Commission has worked. 



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