Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1879-06-05
AGRICULTURE.


many more, perhaps, are ignorant of
their usefulness. To the latter class It
may be interesting to know that toads
live almost wholly upon slugs, cater
pillars, beetles and other insects. max
ing their rounds at night when the far
mer is asleep,-and the birds loo,-and
the insects are supposed to be having it
all their own way. English gardeners
understood these facts so well, that
toads are purchased at so much a dozen
and turned loose, and the best of it is,
that the toads generally stay at home,
so that the gardener is not troubled with
buying his toads over again every few
days.
The toad can be tanned, and will even
learn to know SITS MASTER" and come
when called; the writer has not onlv
mad such pets himself, but could give
other instances of toad-taming that
have come under his observation.
Toads can be made very useful about
the house, and will Go not a little good
in destroying cockroaches, flies, and
other household pests. They are some
time known to eat worms, which they
grasp by the middle with their Jaws,
examining in the writhing ends of the
unfortunate articulates by means of the
front feet. Insects are seized and con-
veyed to the mouth by means of the
radidly darling tongue, which always
secures the victim as it is about to fly
or run away.-NelU Yo'k Tribune.
SAVE THE BIRDs.-While the relent-
less war which was once waged against
birds, has been wisely tempered to
moderation, there is still too much an
tagonism to these really good friends Of
the farmer. There are some who look
no further than the hill Of corn that has
been destroyed, or the few cherries that
have been eaten, and the wasting of
powder and shot, and the time misem-
ployed in the shooting, is the result.
This destruction of the little guardians
of our fields and crops,-guardians, not
destrOyers, lis the result Of our ignOr-
ance of their habits, and consequently
of the benefit they are to us. 1t may
be we'll doubted if bird was ever vet
killed upon a farm without damaging,
to some extent, the farmer, and yet the
men and boys often arm themselves
and 60 forth on their murderous mis-
sioE of shooting everything in the shape
of a bird Of which their eyes catch a
glimpse. Perhaps a glance at the
habits of some of our birds will serve to
awaken thought and to save many of
them from the reckless destruction
which is plotted on many farms. The
caterpillar and the apple moth is a
dainty piece of diet for the downy
woodpecker and the chicladee.
The leaf-curling caterpillar is
eagerly sought by the wren and
the cat-bird. The bobalink loves to
feast upon the canker worm, and his
stomach has often been found full of
caterpillars. Wrens and sparrows will
live wholly upon plant-lice if they can
get them. 1t is said that the threats
and even. the back part Of the beak
have been found lined with aphides,
some of them still alive, and that the
stomach was filled with the juice of the
crushed lice, and with what the micro
scope showed to be their legs. Ard thus
we shall find, almost without exception,
that the birds are our friends and not
our enemies. AT one time the French
people had eaten up nearly all of their
small birds, and the country was over
run with destructive insects. The birds
being gone, the insect world was left to
commit its ravages upon trees and
plants undisturbed. Some years ago
the shooting of rocks was stopped in
England because the bird was to be the
only remedy against the wire worm.
In Hungary at one time there was a
bounty for killing sparrows, and when
the work of destruction was about COM
pleted, the cockroaches and numerous
winged insects took possession of the
lowlands, and the sparrow had to be
again introduced. Frederick the Great
once ordered all the swallows killed be
cause they pilfered his cherries. The
work of destruction was completed in
two years, that is, the birds and cherries
were both destroyed. Then the merits
of the swallow was appreciated and it
was restored. In France a few years
ago, the preservation of the birds be-
came a national care, and we think
they are now rigidly protected. If a
country that has seen that the effects of
their destruction is an evil, is thus will
ling to acknowledge it, we might at
least conclude that it might be policy to
preserve them on our farms.
CATTLE FEEDING IN THE WEsT.-The
first feeding done in Iowa, many years
ago, says a correspondent of the Country
Gentleman, was on the Ohio plan. The
corn was cut up and set in shocks as
soon as ripe enough, and left standing
in the field till fed out. The cattle were
put into a large lot, or timber pasture,
with three hogs to one steer. The corn
was hauled out on great wagons by OK
en-, and fed on the ground. The hogs
rooted the corn about, the cattle mussed
it over, and great waste was the result.
But corn was only worth ten to fifteen
cents per bushel, and this loss did not
much matter. AS corn began to sell
higher, feed boxes were built in the
feed lot, and snapped" corn thrown in,
and no other roughness allowed. But
now nearly all feeders keep their cattle
supplied with hay, and provide warm
sheds to keep them from the storms.
Some have self-feeding boxes and feed
shelled corn. A few are getting mills
and feeding their cattle cob meal and
ground feed. Most of our feeders have
to go to the bank and borrow the cap
ital to buy the steers, paying from
II to 20 per cent. interest on the
money. And it often happens that
they begin early and do no lay in a
sufficient supply of corn. The price of
corn advances; the cattle get fat enough
to do" interest accumulates: farm
work comes on, and the feeder feels
compelled to sell at high prices that
will not make him whole for the outlay
for corn, interest and labor. The cattle
are sent to Chicago,-half fat, light
IS ooI1;po, for ehI