PREFACE 



This book is intended to serve as a text and guide for 

 the study of those plants and animals so vitally related to 

 crop production as often to determine success or failure 

 therein. The information given embodies the latest re- 

 searches of that host of investigators who have done such 

 great service in the advancement of agriculture in recent 

 years. The text has been so combined with directions for 

 observation and expression that it is hoped that teachers 

 will be able to lead their pupils to a first-hand knowledge 

 of the most important plants, insects, birds, and mammals 

 to be found in the region of the school. 



Most of the original engravings are from drawings by 

 Mr. W. I. Beecroft, a few being adapted from the publica- 

 tions of authors to whom credit is given in the list of illus- 

 trations. Many of the insect pictures are from woodcuts 

 originally made for the classic report on Insects Injurioi4S 

 to Vegetation, by Dr. T. W. Harris, for the use of which 

 thanks are returned to Mr. J. Lewis Ellsworth, Secretary 

 of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture. For 

 courtesies in connection with other illustrations I am in- 

 debted to Misses Hazel Dearth, Alice Manning, and I. S. 

 Cragin, and Messrs. James Hall, A. I. Randall, E. D. San- 

 derson, A. D. Selby, A. H. Verrill, and C. W. Woodworth, 

 as well as to the Experiment Stations of Illinois and New 

 Hampshire and the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture. I have also to thank Mr. W. F. Fiske, of the 

 Gypsy Moth Laboratory, for kindly reading the proof of 

 the chapters on Predaceous and Parasitic Insects. 



C. M. W. 



