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Show 1 1 , Our Yearly Loss I From Insect Pests 1 It will probably startle titu awragp B American citizen to learn tlmi, i-vcr) i year Insect pests damage ourhvc si uck 1 and the agricultural products of our f s II to an amount exceeding theentlro -expenditures of the national Govern- 1 in 'til, Including the pension roll and B i '. maintenance of the army and f i' tv. In no other country In tho ' v ii Id do Insects Impose so heavy a ' i on the products of the farm as In fl-- t . United States. A scientific agrl- I: .aural writer (0. L. Marlatt assistant assist-ant entomologist in the national Bureau of Kntomology) estimated a ', f -w years ago that a total of more B j thin $700,000,000 annual loss due to B 4'iiect pests In the United States Is B -IHow rather than above tho actual r oamagc. i Despite the careful and thorough BB work done to eradicate these pests B Kroat damage Is still Inflicted by them. H Before the cotton worm was studied B and the method of controlling it by tho h ! of arsenic sprays had become com- BE tnon knowledge this plague had levied H a tax of 930,000,000 In bad years on the M cotton crop. Tho estimate and those j that follow are based onotllclal figures B, ol I Me Department of Agriculture for B the calendar year 1004, the latest sta- B tUilo available. Much savlog has C b'cii effected since then by the meth- Bj od of the Bureau of Entomology and Mj tlif State Entomologists, but the ag- B a legato loss is still enormous. A B i knowledge of the habits and Imethoda H of controllngpravoldngthe Hessian fly, D including improved cultural methods, BB has resulted In the saving of wheat BB val ues to thefarmersaggregatlng from Hit 1100,000,000 to 1:200,000,000 annually. HK Tne apple crop of the country Ih worth Hj f torn 40,000,000 to ik,000,000 more since tu the as yet incomplete control of the BB codling motn lias been generally un- Jl derstood. The root worm was aimoat V baftled saving the corn crop to the ex- H( tent of many millions annually. The annual losses occasioned to forests and forest products by Insect pests have bcpn estimated at not less than $IO(o((UKM);(fwhlch8"0,00010)0 Is dam-no- sustained by the growing timber. The tobacco crop suffers from Insects to the extent of more than $5,000,000. The while scale would have completely complete-ly destroyed the orange and lemon orchards of California but for the introduction in-troduction of one of Its natural enemies enem-ies Norn Australia, while the control or Hie Mexican boll weevil has already saxed farmers of Texas an enormous sum, and has really made tho continu ance of cotton-growing possible. Besides these direct losses enormous damage is done by Insects to cattle and in tho transmission of disease to man. The loss in the value of horse, sheep, and cattle products directly chargeable to insects (the ox wurble, tho buffalo gnat, and the various biting flics and ticks) would aggregate, Government statisticians figure, not ess than $170,000,000 annually. To this must be added the cost of protection from Insect damage to stores' products and from the noxious mosquito, fly, and other disease-bearing Insects. Undoubtedly mosquitoes mo-squitoes as carriers of malaria and yellow fever, and flies as transmitters of typhold.occaslonsthe lossof another $50,000,000 or $00,000,000' In the form of lessened economic productivity. Ex. |