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H/8/1921-2-

The chosen article, read by Mary Brooke,
was on "Protecting the U.S. from Plant
Pests." In years past, before 1912,
there was no law to protect the U.S. from
having shipped within its borders the
many enemies so disastrous to plant
life. As a result, America became
a regular dumping ground for the plant
refuse of other countries. "Several years
ago the Dept. of Agriculture issued a
careful analysis of the losses caused
to the principal crops of the U.S. by
insect pests, showing that these losses
amounted to upward of a billion
dollars a year, a [?] at that time more
than sufficient to meet the entire cost
of the administration of the Federal Gov.
That was under the old price of crops.
Under recent prices, these losses would
appreciate two billion dolllars annually.
These losses are caused by a host of pests,
insect & fungus, that effect fruits,
farm crops, & forest trees, but more
than 50 per cent of these losses are due
to insect & diseases which have come to us
from foreign lands. Among these are some
of the worst enemies of our principal