The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1875-07-09
Necessity of Birds to Farmers.
BY MAX.

BY MAX.
If, in the economy of nature, a provi-
| sion acts to such an excess as to become
| injurious, nature herself provides the
means of cure man has only to study
her and make use of all the hints given
by nature in order to learn the adyanta-
ges she so bountifully provides for his
benefit. The insects, such as flies. bugs,
| worms, etc., serve different purposes !;
one is the distribution of pollen from
one flower to another for the purposes
of fructification another and most I'M
portant, is the publication OF the air ;the
same function as performed by the in
fusOria in water. Bat the too prOfuse
increase of the number of insects may
become nuisance; such as the flies in
our houses, the worms upon the trees,
the grasshoppers in the West. But here
nature comes in with her inexhaustible
resources, and produces numberless
birds, who feed upon the insects; and
some idea of their efficiency in this re-
gard may be formed from the tact that
the stomach of a small insectivorous
bird when killed in the evening is found
to contain thousand insects of different
species.
When some years ago the trees in the
streets and parks of New York and its
suburbs were every summer stripped
bare of all leaves by the ravages of mil
lions OF worms, Notwithstanding the at
tempts at determination made by gard
eners and others in scraping the bark,
painting the trunks, etc., attention was
called to the scarcity or rather almost
absence of small birds, caused by the
fact that as soon as single bird was
seen anywhere scores of street boys
were after it, throwing stones. Finally
the advice of naturalists prevailed and
to the German population of Hoboken,
n. j., belongs the credit of having first
imported number OF sparrows, so
abundant on the European continent, ,es-
pecially in the forests of Germany. The
result was as anticipated, the activity of
the little sparrOws as scavengers III
cleaning the trees of worms is some
thing marvellous; and in short time
they had disappeared. vegetation be-
came luxur:ant and the birds increased
from few score into thousands. Then
New York took the matter up and not
only placed the birds under the protec-
ton of the police, who prevented all
harm to them, and arrested any often
ders, but imported few score of spar
rows from England, which in one year
increased to hundreds and now number
countless thousands, while the nuisance
of worms has entirely disappeared.
The West, which is often ravaged by
grasshoppers. will have to take this hint
and cultivate insectivorous birds on a
large scale. The ravages of the grass
hopper have indeed been so enormously
destructive, particularly in Iowa and
other States, as to impoverish large
numbers of farmers through the entire
loss of their crops, upon which they ex-
clusively depended for subsistence. The
districts of country which are most in
tested by injurious insects, are those
where the presence of birds is the least
encouraged, or rather where there is
the argestindulgence in the manly sport
of destroying them.
1t was the same in France. The rural
population there were few years ago
strikingly reminded of the necessity of
preserving the birds and the Legislature
was overrun with petitions for law to
that effect. The number of birds had
been diminished from year to year,
while that of injurious insects was cor
respondingly increased. 1t was estima-
ted by those who at that time took upon
themselves the careful investigation of
the subject, that more than one hundred
millions of birds eggs were destroyed
annually in the country.
The only salvation for the West from
this visitation is in the sparroaO, which |
from its fecundity as well as its voracity |
is one of the most efficient insect de- |
stroyers in the world. 1t has never been
so encouraged and protected as to enjoy |
a fair opportunity to multiply its forces |
and to exhibit its insectivorous powers
on such a large scale as our Western
States will require. but it is the para
mount duty of every farmer to obtain |
and protect few at least of these birds. |
The investment will pay largely, as in a
few years he will have the satisfaction |
Of seeing his farm cleared OF many enc
mics, his fruit trees cleared of worms,
the larv@ of millions of insects destroy
ed.
In paper before me from one of the
foremost cotton planters of the South, he
expresses the opinion as the result of his
own observation that the presence ofthe
sparrow in the cotton belt would effec-
tually wipe out the cotton worm, the
ravages of which are estimated by tens
of millions of dollars, and l may remark
here that in Asia. where the sparrow