28o An American Fruit- Farm 



man is hardly stayed in this country from the 

 wanton destrtiction of birds. The mind of our 

 people is not yet right on bird-protection, nor will 

 it be right until they are the law, and not one bird 

 helpful to man by destroying insects can be killed 

 wantonly on American soil.^ 



Every State has some sort of game law, the best 

 at present, fixing penalties for killing birds **out 

 of season," or with '* automatic guns," ''traps" of 

 certain kinds, and providing for special officers to 

 see that the law is executed. But to-day there is an 

 army of more than 5,000,000 men who at some 

 time during each year scour forest, field, mountain- 

 side, thicket, and glen and kill every feathered 

 creature in sight. There must be a bird-conscience 

 in Americans before they will adequately protect 

 the birds. 



It appears by the census that the destruction of 

 farm products by insects in 19 12 was more than 

 $973,000,000. Only a few hundred millions! 

 What are they to a great, a powerful, an intelligent, 

 a progressive country like ours ! Not every 

 country can feed its bugs and worms a thousand 

 millions a year and build a Panama Canal, and 

 four warships, and no end of post-offices, and 

 knock off the tariff on foodstuffs, and do sundry 

 other minor things in one year — ^and survive! 



* There are innumerable books about birds. The best single volume, 

 as yet, is Our Vanishing Wild Life: Its Extermination and Preservation, 

 by William T. Hornaday, Sc.D. With maps and illustrations. New 

 York; New York Zoological Society, 19 13, 411 pp. 



