country, destroys the forest (and with it the forest animals), plants 

 new crops, invites new insect pests, and at the same time extermi- 

 nates tlie birds and animals which feed upon those pests. He de- 

 stroys the blackbirds of the west, because they feed upon the corn ; 

 the grouse, plover and quail he sends to market for profit, doing 

 his best to exterminate them all. Soon the chinch-bug runs riot, 

 cut worms destroy his corn, migrating locusts sweep away his 

 crops and gaunt famine stalks in their path. 



The Siberians kill the birds for the milliners. Soon cut worms, 

 locusts and other noxious insects destroy the crops and nearly 

 starve the inhabitants. Thus both bird and peasant suffer on the 

 altar of fashion. Even the Siberians can learn by experience, 

 and laws with heavy penalties are passed and enforced to protect 

 the birds. 



But man thinks he can improve upon nature. He introduces 

 new forces for a purpose. A water plant is imported into the 

 southern States from South America. It chokes up the rivers, 

 and navigation is suspended. A snake-eating mammal is intro- 

 duced from India to an island in the Carribbeau, Its predaceous 

 habits become the indirect cause of such an increase of insects 

 as to render the island almost uninhabitable. The farmers of 

 Australia first destroy the game and then introduce the English 

 rabbit. Great stretches of country are soon a barren waste, given 

 up to the rabbits. Australia also imports a sparrow, which soon 

 destroys the grain crops. Unheeding this sad experience, we 

 introduce into the United States the same sparrow to feed upon 

 the span worms in our parks. It destroys the span worm, but 

 drives away our native birds, and our parks are soon infested 

 with a host of caterpillars. It also destroys our grain and fruit. 



Verily, as Wilson Flagg says, "man is only a half reasoning 

 animal; the blood of the ape still courses through his veins." 



Other introductions of insects and plants occur. The Russian 

 thistle is imported, and sweeps over our western prairies, adding 

 to the farmer's "crown of thorns." Introduced grain insects 

 destroy the crops. Moths and scales carelessly imported injure 

 and destroy the trees. 



Let man, then, study the natural conditions of field and forest, 

 abandon all attempts to improve upon nature by introducing new 

 forms of animal or vegetable life, and devote his misplaced 

 energies to protecting those native birds and animals which are 

 the naturally constituted guardians of vegetation. This is the 

 first great lesson to learn from nature's forestry. 



