Agriculture for beginners . like plant lice, feed in summer on the leaves. Throughout thewinter a single chickadeewill destroy great num-bers of the eggs of tliecankerworm moth andof the plant louse. Theblackbirds, meadow larks,crows, quail, and sparrowsare the gieat protectorsof the meadow and fieldcrops. These birds feedon the army wonns andcutworms that do somuch injury to the youngshoots ; thev also destroythe chinch bug and thegrasshopper, both of which feed on cultivated plants. A count of all the different kinds of animals shows thatinsects make up nine tenths of them. Hence it is easy
Agriculture for beginners . like plant lice, feed in summer on the leaves. Throughout thewinter a single chickadeewill destroy great num-bers of the eggs of tliecankerworm moth andof the plant louse. Theblackbirds, meadow larks,crows, quail, and sparrowsare the gieat protectorsof the meadow and fieldcrops. These birds feedon the army wonns andcutworms that do somuch injury to the youngshoots ; thev also destroythe chinch bug and thegrasshopper, both of which feed on cultivated plants. A count of all the different kinds of animals shows thatinsects make up nine tenths of them. Hence it is easy to seethat if something did not check their increase they would soonalmost overrun the earth. Our forests and orchards furnishhomes and breeding-places for most of these insects. Supposethe injurious insects were allowed to multiply unchecked inthe forests, their numbers would so increase that they wouldinvade our fields and create as much terror among the farmersas they did in Pharaohs Eg^;pt. The birds are the only direct. Fig. 2S1. A Warbler MISCELLANEOUS 321 friends man has to destroy these harmful insects. Whatbenefactors, then, these Httle feathered neighbors are ! It has been estimated that a bird will devour thirty insectsdaily. Even in a widely extended forest region a very few birdsto the acre, if they kept up this rate, would daily destroy manybushels of insects that would play havoc with the neighboringorchards and fields. Do not imagine,however, that to de-stroy insects is theonly use of da)- is far moredelightful when thebirds sing, and whenwe see them flit inand out, giving us aglimpse now and thenof their pretty coatsand quaint ways. Bygiving them a homewe can suiTound our-selves with many birds, sweet of song and brilliant of plumage. If the birds felt that man were a friend and not a foe, theywould often turn to him for protection. During times ofsevere storm, extreme drought, or scarcity of food, if the birdswere sufficiently tamed to come to man as
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
