THE NEW AGRICULTURE 209 
attention to these points ? Our wealth has always been re- 
garded as inexhaustible. 
Nevertheless, no thinking person can shut his eyes to cer- 
tain national calamities that are advancing upon us ; unless 
we anticipate them we shall, before we know it, be over- 
whelmed. Two of these, in particular, may be pointed out. 
It is not uncommon to hear from time to time that an 
entire crop for miles around is attacked by insects. These 
spread from farm to farm, from county to county, from state 
to state. They can be destroyed by prompt and intelligent 
measures, but only by concerted action on the part of all the 
inhabitants. Take, for example, the recent attack of the 
cotton-boll weevil in the South, against which active warfare 
is being waged. The ravages of pests like these leave in 
their wake poverty and desolation ; sometimes whole districts 
have been ruined. 
A further peril is foreseen by statesmen. They picture the 
land drained of its best men, skimmed of its nutriment, 
and its crops destroyed by pests. These conditions must 
inevitably affect the food supply of a great nation. Failing 
to produce enough food, we shall have to be fed by for- 
eign peoples either within our borders or outside, — per- 
haps both. The danger to the country at large is that our 
farm lands, once deserted, may be quickly taken up by im- 
migrants who, bringing with them distinctly lower standards, 
will, before they can be assimilated into our national life, 
get control of it and us. 
Those who watch the times are telling us these plain truths 
in one way or another every day. What measures, if any, are 
being taken to avoid these dangers ? With varying success 
the grange and the farmers’ institutes have been constantly 
raising the level of country intelligence. Happily much 
is already being done by the Agricultural Department at 
