Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1870-04-28
SPORT versus .AEKICULTURE
AND TRADE.

AMI h n JAAs
Earnestly disposed, like all other
people who are in full possession OF
their reason, to encourage, i'll every
possible way, the outdoor sports and
exercises which maintain bodily and
mental health, we cannot deny that the
destructive propensities which class
of thoughtless or reckless people vent
upon many of the furry and feathered
denizens OF our woods and fields, in
the old settled parts of our country,
do not command our approval
At an earlier day, when the wilds
which are now populous States
swarmed with terocious beasts OF prey,
and when the first settlers had need
of the flesh Of the deer, the buffalo, and
the teathered game, whose numbers
then rendered cultivation 50 difficult,
the business OF the sportsman was a
regular pursuit, rs useful TO primitive
society as that of the butcher and poul-
tryman is now. But that period has.
already, passed, for great portion OF
this Continent, and the question how
to protect certain birds and animals
becomes rs important as it once was
how to destroy them Nor is this by
any means trivial matter, as agricuI-
turists and business men vii. discover,
whenever they take the trouble to ex-
anime the subject, and look into sta
tistics. Older countries have found it
practically necessary TO pass the stric
test enactments i'll this respect, and
the topic is growing apace, III imror
lance.
Among the great laws OF nature
which we find most actively at work,
is that OF equiltbrium IN vital as we'll as
in mechanical forces. We trace Its
operations in every department. The
rules OF production, destruction, and
reproduction, are discovered TO be con
stanly at work with almost mathemat-
ical precision. The immense multipli-
cation Of noNious insects, for instance,
is found to-kecp pace with the over
production OF certain kinds OF plants,
some OF which man himself cultivates
to an excessive degree. But, in grain
producing countries, tor instance, as
crops multiply, SO do the birds which
destroy the insects that would other
wise il. peril those crops. Hence, it i:
evident that nothing can be more un
wise than the indiscriminatc slaughter
OF our ieatheicd scavengers, whose
greedy appetites keep the insec,
growth within bounds, and whose very
Slight comparative drafts upon the
grain receipts is tar more than counter.
balanced by the services they render
To the observant eye, the operation
of this law, as it is beheld in Spring
is rs economically remarkable as it is
beautiful. Scarcely have the first
warm rays OF April begun to summo on
countless myriads of insects that breed
in the earth to prey upon the budding
germs Of flowers and heritage, Ger we
behold the light squadrons OF the ali
flocking in from all points Of the com
pass to attack the little deprcdators
The Southern horizon is alive with
them, and their brilliant plumage and
joyous notes enhance the loneliness OF
the vernal season. From distant lands.
speeding over mountain and sea, they
gather to the feast, and the pride OF
our gardens, the garnitnr, of our
sprouting fields, and the luscious
abundance Of oui orchards, are the sub
stantlal Blooms that they protect for us,
while they make war upon the fccting
oo1 craas,iO,r oobnr4c tI,.t a+L.,u,,,:,
would lay these treasures waste
Deprive us OF the sparrow, for IN
stance, and we should DC over run with
caterpilars. Extirpate the bat, and
our very homes would be invaded by
endless hosts of loathsome creatures
engendered in the night. The same
rule could be traced through every
ramification OF the animal kingdom,
even TO many OF the parasitical insects
themselves, which, within certain lin
its, actually purify the water that we
drink, and the air that we breathe.
How insane, then, is the negligence
with which we allow the idle spirit OF
destruction to deprive us Of the esti.
mablc service that SO many birds and
fowls are constantly rendering.
In Prussia, there once existed a law
that permitted the taxes to be paid
by the return of heads OF sparrows de.
stroycd i'll the fields. The sparrows
rapidly disappeared, but grubs and
caterpillars, at the same time, began to
work such havoc that the Government
at last had to import sparrows from
abroad. The same thing has been Oh
served, over and over again, IN parts
OF England, and our Park Commits.
sioners in this city have not been slow
to acknowledge the benefit their beau.
ti'ul grounds have derived from the
presence OF the English sparrows that
they have INTRODUCED.
In dcploring the Kindness that does
not recognize great facts of this nature,
distinguished naturalist has estimated
at more than 80,0O0,000 the number
of eggs Of small birds annually de-
stroyed in sheer wantonness in France,
alone; and Cardinal Donnct, in refer
ring to the statement, estimates at
Thousands Of millions the noxious insects
which the young birds would have
consumed, had they been allowed to
survive. That able and excellent man
even goes SO far as to make these facts
the basis of an appeal to the heads of
families and tutors everywhere, to pre-
vent their juveniles from warning on
the birds'-nests. Ignorance alone"
he wisely says, lis destructive"
We are glad to see that this subject
is seriously taken up by societies OF
naturalists and others, IN the Eastern
and Middle States and it requires no
sage TO prove what boon the discov-