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INSECTS INJURIOUS TO STAPLE CROPS. 



CHAPTEE I. 



INJURY DONE STAPLE CROPS BY INSECT PESTS. 



Ever since the plagne of locusts in the time of the 

 Pharaohs, insects have maintained a continual opposition 

 to agriculture. History is replete Avith accounts of insect 

 scourges and the enormous losses occasioned by them. 

 And instead of diminishing with the advancement in agri- 

 cultural methods, injurious insects have undoubtedly be- 

 come both more numerous and more destructive in modern 

 times. Every now and then we hear of communities 

 assembling for prayer and fasting to appease the Almighty, 

 whose wrath has hurled a new insect plague against them. 

 But a little reflection will show that the?e scourges are 

 entirely due to natural causes. In fact such injuries are 

 very largely due to man himself, who, in trying to subdue 

 Nature by the clearing and cultivation of the land, has 

 deprived the insects of their natural food. Thus they must 

 needs feed upon that which is substituted by him, and as 

 it is less abundant than the former wild vegetation, the 

 number of insects and the injuries they inflict are more 



