286 An American Fruit-Farm 



best friends. This is not a libel, but a terrible fact. 

 And yet the fanner is the most independent man 

 in America. 



Every American farmer may risk his last dollar 

 on this truth, unpleasant as it may sound, that 

 fully one-fifth of his efforts is wasted absolutely 

 by the destruction of his products by insects and 

 fungi. On many farms the waste is greater than 

 this. Powerful "trusts" protect themselves and 

 compel others to "keep hands off." Farmers and 

 fruit-growers refuse to protect themselves by 

 simply letting Nature alone. Let the birds live! 

 Who butters the farmer's bread? Do not forget: 

 it was a bird that brought the prophet his daily 

 bread. 



We now have more laws protecting birds than 

 ever before, but, unless the mind of the people is 

 behind them, they remain dead laws. All men who 

 are truly fond of hunting are the best friends of 

 game and of the protection of bird life. The time 

 has come when as a people we must take our choice: 

 dead laws, dead birds, dead vines, dead trees, dead 

 labor, or living laws, countless birds, orchards, 

 vineyards, abundant crops, lower cost of living. 



Meanwhile insect pests and fungi are increasing, 

 as they are increasing in every fruit region, in 

 every farming region in America. The natiu*al 

 check on these enemies is the birds. Why destroy 

 the birds? Why not protect them? What fruit- 

 grower would refuse a gift of a fertilizer that would 

 increase his annual harvest twenty-five per cent.? 



