The sun., 1890-08-03
A GOOD WORD EVEN FOR THE CROW.
NE IL q Mighty Cute Bird. snd It Ism
Easy to Fool Him.

NE IL q Mighty Cute Bird, end It Isn't
Easy to Fool Him.
SCRANTON, Aug. 2-Farmer Lucius g. Clark
OF North Arlington township 10 q great friend
Of crows He declares that that the noisy, big
birds do a great deal moro good than harm
on his place. and he never allows his sons to
rob their nests. or to shoot or trap them. Con-
sequently all the crows that nest In Farmer
Clark's woods every summer. and sail over his
broad acres at all seasons Of the year. are
much tanner than those that flock on the farms
OF some Of his neighbors. Even though he 10
kind to his big family Of crows, Farmer CLARK
says that the black rascals have until this sea-
son been in the habit OF scratching up lots Of
his corn as soon as 1t was planted and OF pull
ing up lots more shortly after 1t had become
nicely sprouted. But the cutworms and other
crawling things that the crows devonred more
than paid for the damage they did to the corn,
and that was why he cherished the glossy
birds, he said.
When corn planting time como this spring
Farmer Clark thought he would SEQ If he
couldn't make the crows let the corn alone
after 1t had been planted. He boiled a lot Of
tar in large kettle. dumped his seed corn
into 1t, and kept stirring the mass until each
kernel was completely covered with coating
OF tar. and after that he rolled the corn IN
pulverlzed lime till 1t was white. He planted
i the Same day: and the crows clawed few
several ie hours. W The Cunning IN fellows eVidentIy
couldn't make out what the COMPOUNDED stuff
Was for they dropped the kernels ,as though
Isn part Of the d and tried other i
The corn didn't taste right to any Of the
and there the whole fiock met at a back corner
OF the lot and had noisy discussion over the
ths erows 81 sailed away aishted Uaf on oh S
scratched into It and sudden ly started back to
where Its companions were sitting silently on
way S that that i L was the same nasty stun as the
rest. Then the whole flock iawed az tight as
crow crow sailed forth to different section OF tho
field, tackled hill. took kernel In its bill
fence with the same disgusting report. For
| two hours the crows took turns at inyestigat-
y t 9s oSsd sees fS
away to the woods on the hillside. Farmer
Ola X had watched them all the time and he
declared that the crows let that Held entirely
In another patch the men planted two rows
and lime. The rows were ton rods apart. and
| the cunning crows unearthed every hill In each
row aHd So6blsd 1D every kernel 4, q corn but
| ing rows, where the tarred corn was. Farmer
CLARK said that their eye-teeth had been cut in
sharp to be led into the aame painful expert
| ence again. Plain corn was planted in the two
tai i ali up up the next day. Then the men put beans
| In the corn hills. and the beans were not dis
| turbed by the black rascals
Another strange thing about the behavior OF
| Farmer Clark's Hook Of crows WAS noticed by
| the watchful farmer when the cultiyRtor was
In the latter field dozens Of crows followed the
| cultivator. and picked up hundreds of cut
| worms. When the farm hand turned his horse
| but as soon as he had got well started on his
way to the other end OF the lot they settled
| down o few rods behind him and resumed
| their work. When the farmers field was Quilt
| yated not GROW went near 1t, and Farmer
| Clark has had to fight eutWorms by hand. to
or two Of plain corn In it for the crows to
| scratch up and eat.