Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-06-02

For the CouKlBR.
Protection u BIRDS and their Nests.
At this season Of the year, when the
birds are trying to out vie each other
in singing and warbling, wc OBJ
serve very readily among the most
intelligent, that their secret ambition
IL to be near man. Michelet declares
"that without them, man could not
live;' yet there arc many who do not
feel the importance of protecting tho
birds and their nests, nor realize that
they were created 10 love and serve
man, for they do not permit them to
be useful, but delight In their destruc-
ton while the little creatures are man
ifesting their devotion towards them.
We do not object to tho killing Of
game birds, in the proper season, -
fixed by law, but VIC do find fault
with the wanton destruction of the
birds by tho ruthless bird killers.
An item Ia . Chicago paper, not
long since, states that ten thousand
quails and prairie chickens were fed
to the swine, and that In the country
west Of Chicago, quails, rufiled grou.e
and prairie chickens are destroyed by
the million, irrespective OF law or Sea
con. Tons of birds arc shared and
shot out Of season, and boiled down
and fed to swine. On one day there
stood on the corner Of two streets, .
wagon containing one hundred and
eighty dozen Of prairie chickens,
while upon the sidewalk were piled
thirty.seven boxes, containing I've
hundred and sixty dozen Of quails-
corrupt, accompanying, and condemned
BY the officers Of the Board Of Health,
- unfit for the swine, even.
The birds must soon disappear be-
fore such recklessness and vice, and
ths divinely arranged balance between
birds and insects IL becoming destroy
ed by the ruthless bird killers, which
has caused In our own and our sister
States, the grasshorpers and other
noxious insects to multiply and swarm
until the cry Of famine ripgs in our
ears from our sister States. This 10
the retribution for the violation Of the
harmony Of natures work and law.
We take the following facts from the
1873 report Of the Massachusetts, State
Board Of Agriculture
CAS- . result OF the decrssaisg In the
number Of birds In the United States,
We ind that insects have been steadily
Increasing, and the aggregate loss
through this agency, 10 now much
greater than IN former years. Since
1850, the damage done each year BY
such insects - the canker-worm, Cur
rant worm, wheat nudge, Hessian fy,
ETC., has been greater and greater; 20
that in some sections the cultivation
Of some particular crops has been
abandoned. Insects that are abundant
In the West, are gradually working
eastward, Is tho Colorado potato bee
tie; and only earnest, steady effort
will prevent the continued increase Of
these pests Of the land. There are
about thirty species OF insects that
sabsist on our garden vegetables. The
grapevine has about fifty insect en-
smies; the apple tree seventy.iive !;
our different shade trees, some over
one hundred wheat and other grains,
fifty. The crop Of wheat In Illinois
was injured by insects In ono year,
to the estimated amount Of S75, 600 600.
The Estimated annual destruction Of
property by insecte, In tho United
States, il ~ high - $500, 000,0O The
effect Of this loss II felt, not alone By
the farmer. II IL to this, in . large
measure, that many poor mon owe
their poverty; to this must be a.trih-
uted the high price of farm produce,
and all healthy food, and the couse.
quent increase OF disease aud want in
our large cities.
We do not hesitate to say that at
least one.eigLth Of this loss by insecta,
might be prevented by the careful
protection and encouragement of
birds; or, put It in another way: the
carelessness of the people Of the Unit.
cd States, in this respect, costs them ut
least $5O,00O0OO yearly, besides much
unhappiness and suffering"
Amy observer will readily perceive
that there 10 Z strong local attachment
existing among the bird race, and when
the days Of nest building come, they
especially return to their old haunts,
thus to rear their young; and this Il
tho time, above all others, that they
are most useful to man, for 1t 10 then
that they begin 10 forage with . per-
sistency that amounts TO real labor, TOR
they have to feed and satisfy the gap.
Ing mouths of their little ones-by
this means they aid and serve man.
aud II man, in return for their servi.
ces, win protect their lives and nests,
they will multiply in our midst, and
In the same rattle - they multiply will
the insects decrease and disappear
and the equipoise Of nature again, Ia
| . great measure, be restored, and the
spread Of desolation and famine bl
stayed. w. E. CHAMBERS.
Go and see Kelley, he sells paints
cheap. $50 mal14sw I
nAMKA IVA mT EnI