Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1890-07-12
SAVED BY THE CROWS.
THEYWERE ONCE THE 8ENEFACToRS
OF ASHMoRE GROVE.


crows, those old time enemies of the
farmer, are the petted and spoiled dar-
lings of whole district" said man
with good sized wart ON his nose and
the air of a substantial rural landowner.
1.-THE locality | speak of is Ashmore
Grove, in Edgar county, Ells., and the
surrounding country. About score of
years ago there were there no larger
number of crows than in other parts of
the state. But at that time these birds
suddenly began to arrive in droves.
There seemed to be no end to them. Still
they came, and one could not take a step
before ones own door without hearing
the rasping, gutteral cry of these birds.
GONE GRAND MEEsTECK."
"Now the soil Of Ashmore Grove and
all around is heavy, fertile, black and
loamy, and the average yield per acre
was at that time about sixty bushels of
corn. The farmers naturally jumped to
the conclusion that this influx of crows
was due to the fertile soil and to the
abundance of corn. They believed that
the crows were there just to eat up all
the grains of corn that were intrusted to
mother earth at seed time, and that they
would again resume their rcbber work
about harvest time. That seemed quite
natural supposition, didn't it, gentle
men?
"Well, it so happened that the farmers
of Ashmore Grove finally lost all patience
with this crow infection. War was de-
clared against them-war to the knife.
A campaign of determination was opened
up against them. Men, women and chill
dren all med out, were divided into
little guerrilla bands of from four to ten,
and then the work of wholesale slaughter
began. All sorts of weapons were used,
not only shotguns and slungshots, but
even bows and arrows, stones, fire, poison
and traps. Groups of trees on which
crows used to spend the night were
burned down. In fact it was a sort Of
St. Bartholomew night for the crows of
Edgar county. The upshot was, of
course, that mighty few crows remained
alive to tell the tale of how they had
been treated by the younger generation,
The few that had been overlooked in
fact sought pastures new.
"But, gentlemen, we were off-badly
off. We had made, as the Frenchman
said, 'one grand meesteck.' For that
same year there came a new plague over
us. The farmers began to notice hith-
erto unknown sort of weevil, or worm
This blamed little nuisance not only APP
peared in masses all over, but it was soon
noticed that it ate up the roots of the
young corn plant, thereby destroying it
completely, and afterward it tackled
even the grass in the meadows and ate
that up. The damage done by this tiny
creature was hundredfold worse than
all the damage done by the crows. But
these two separate facts were at that
time not coupled by the farmers, who,
on the contrary, still continued to kill off
all the crows they could see anywhere
That summer, gentlemen, the yield of
corn in Ashmore Grove sank from sixty
to ten bushels per acre, and that in spite
of the fact that the weather had been ex-
ceptionally favorable to the corn crop.
CORRECTING THEIR ERROR.
| "Just about this time people began to
reflect little bit. The consequence was
the conviction that the large influx of
crows in the spring had been solely due
to the very appearance of this weevil,
| which to the crows was dainty morsel,
! just as Blue Point oyster is to you or
me- This conviction gained adherents
very rapidly, and at last the farmers felt
so mad at themselves for chasing away
or numbering all the crows-their best
friends-that they could have kicked
themselves How to get the crows back?
That was now the cOnundrum. At last
a general meeting was held. Everybody
for twelve miles around Ashmore Grove
was there, and the resolution was unani-
mously carried to import as many thou
sands of crows as could be got. A num-
Der of reliable men were selected for the
task.
"They went down to the Wabash river
country, which is the richest in crows in
the whole world, and there they organ
lied, with the help of the resident farm
ers, grand still hunt for crows. With
in week the delegation returned to Ash
more Grove with several thousand crows.
At dusk these imprisoned birds were let
loose, and as they did not fly far during
the night, they generally spent the hours
till dawn on the tops of neighboring trees.
Next morning they took good survey
of the land, found it to their liking, and
concluded to stay. They at once went
at it, digging up the little weevils by the
million and feasting on them. And as
once before, so this time as we'll
Now crows arrived, thousands and
thousands of them. And the confidence
placed in them was not disappointed.
Next fall there was again large corn
crop in Ashmore Grove, and within four
years the yield had come back to the old
figure-sixty bushels per acre. And the
crows? Well, thousands of them stayed
there several seasons longer, but it was
quite noticeable how their number went
on decreasing steadily, and in the same
ratio at which the yield of corn became
annually larger and larger.
''This fact was rightfully ascribed tc
the circumstance that the weevils were
getting scarcer and scarcer, and there
fore the supply of delicacies for the bird
was gradually giving out, and their main
reason for frequenting the neighborhood
of Ashmore Grove was also disappearing
But there are still enough crows in thai
district-thousands and thousands Of
them. They are the pets of everybody
They enjoy as much immunity agains