326 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



FEMALE GYPSY MOTHS DEPOSITING EG' 



Each female deposits a mass containing fr 



between the moths 



efforts and this enormous expenditure, 

 these insects are slowly spreading, and 

 great damage is done yearly to wood- 

 lands, private grounds, and orchards. 

 The dissemination of these two pests 

 over the whole United States, as is ex- 

 tremely likely under present conditions, 

 would entail a like cost throughout the 

 country — a tremendous and unnecessary 

 charge on our fruit and forest interests. 



Very careful estimates, based on crop 

 reports and actual insect damage over a 

 series of years, show that the loss due to 

 insect pests of farm products, including 

 fruits and live-stock, now reaches the 

 almost inconceivable total of one billion 

 dollars annually. The larger percentage 

 of this loss is due to imported insect 



-MASSES AT THE FOOT OE AN OAK TREE 



>m 400 to 500 eggs. The light oval patches 

 are such egg-masses 



pests, and much of it undoubtedly would 

 have been saved if this country had early 

 enacted proper quarantine and inspection 

 laws. 



DANGER OP ADDITIONAL, PESTS BEING 

 IMPORTED 



Great as is the number of foreign in- 

 sect pests already imported and estab- 

 lished in the United States, there remain 

 many others with equal capacity for 

 harm, which, fortunately, have not yet 

 reached our shores or crossed our bor- 

 ders ; or, at most, have infested only a 

 limited part of our domain. 



Our increasing business relations with 

 China and other Oriental countries adds 

 enormously to the risk of the importation 



