The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-07-04
SCARECROWS.
Decadence OF. Devices to Protect Corr
fields s. Mr.. Woodruff SupposRitiof

fields Mr.. WoOdruff's SupposRitiois
Cat.
Farmers complain that of late yeah
the scarecroN has become entirely ust
less. There was a time when one
scarecrow with a st. Patrick's hat ane
an OSHKOSH frock coat would protect
corn-feld from crows of average in
telligence, but it is no longer efiicacious
The crows have become familiar Will
the appearance of the tramps who in
fest all parts of the country, and it is
well understood in crow circles thai
the tramp never carries a gun, and il
therefore harmless. The scarecrow 81
closel Y resembles the tramp that crow
fail to discriminate between them, and
imagining that the scarecrow is merely
a contemplate tramp, they steal corr
under the very shadow of its hat.
1t was always mistake to suppose
that crows could be for any length Of
time frightened by scarecrows. The
scarecrOw was an imitation man, anO
it ought to have been foreseen that the
crows would some day find that a scare.
crow incapable of firing gun could dc
no harm. The farmers should have ap-
pealed to that fear of the supernatural
which is inherent in all animals. Could
they have employed ghost to protect
their corn-tields, not a single grain Of
corn would have been stolen. Tie
success of Mr.. Woodruff efforts to id
his house Of rats by means of ghosty
cat is alone sufficient to prove that l.
we really want to frighten animals wg
must appeal to their fear of the super
natural.
1t is well known that rats and mice
can not be successfully resisted with
traps. Young rats may occasionally
wander into trap, but every expert
enced rat knows trap when he sees it
and simply laughs att In every house
there are sure to be two or three leading
and influential rats who are perfectly
familiar with traps, and who warn their
younger associates to beware of them
The old-tashioned spring trap is deci-
dedly popular among rats, for the reason
that they can readily spring it and af-
terward carry off the cheese at their
leisure. As for those ingenious traps
designed to catch mice alive, they are
entirely worthless. A rat who sees a
small box with a seductive piece of
cheese displayed behind the iron bars Of
an misunderstanding compartment
knows perfectly well that it is trap
and he will refuse to enter the door of
the box even when it is decorated with
the legend in large plain letters: Rats
will please enter and turn to the left.
The best of free cheese always on hand"
Mr. Woodruff having spent much
money on traps, and having found that
poison was in vain and real cats were
lazy, decided to try the experiment of
frightening rats by convincing them that
the house was haunted. He prepared
large stuffed cat with green glass ewes
and a ferOciOus and sarcastic smile, and
placed in her interior an electric LIGHT.
There was large closet in his bedroom
which contained half dozen rat holes
from which rats came forth every night
on foraging expeditions. In the middle
OF this closet he placed the eat and con-
nected her internal light with wires
running to a battery near his beside.
Having thus prepared his feline ghost
Mr.. Woodruff went to bed and waited
for the rats. As soon as the house was
quiet the rats came out, and when,
judging from the noise. there were at
least a dozen in the room, he turned on
his electric light. Wild squeaks of hor-
ror greeted the awful appearance OF
the ghostly cat, with her glowing eyes
and shining teeth, and there was the
rush of many feet as the frightened
rats fled to their holes. Mr.. Woodruff.
chuckling over the success of his ex-
pertinent, arose and examined the
closet. Two rats, who had tried to
enter the same hole at the same time
and had become securely jammed, were
kicking tiercely, while three female rats
lay on the floor in dead swOon. These
were soon seized and committed to the
vastly bathtub, and the ghostly cat was
left to stand guard over the rat holes
till daylight.
What Is still more remarkable, the
rats left the house without an hours
delay There had previously been, at
a low estimate, fully 1000 rats in that
house, not to speak of swarms of sub
sidiary mice. From the hour when the
stuffed cats electric light began to
glow not rat or mouse has been seen
in Mr., Woodruff'S house. The animals
that had laughed at traps, Knocked at
real cats and grown fat on poison,
were frightened off the premises by
single apparition of an apparently super
natural cat, and their stories have given
the house such an uncanny reputation
that it is safe to prophesy that rats and
mice will avoid it for years to come.
The farmers should take hint from
Mr.. WoodrufNs success. If they could
invent scarecrow representing a tramp
at work the crows would be vanquished.
They would, of course, assume the
working tramp to be supernatural
being, and the terror with which the
sight would fill them would rid the
whole region of crows for at least during
the present season.-N y Times.
n