Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-07-22
SAVED BY THE CROWS.
ONCE THE BENEFAo IONS
OF AsHMoRE GROVE.

|
farmer. are the petted and spoiled OAR
linss of a whole district said mar
with a good sized wart on his nose anc
the air of substantial rural landowner
1.-THE locality | speak of is Ashmors
Grove. in Edgar county, HIS, and the
surrounding country. About score Of
wears ago there we're there no larger
number of crows than in other parts o.
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 stel
before ones own door without hearing
the rasping, gutteral cry of these BIRDS
ZONE 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 robber work
about harvest time That seemed quite a
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 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 new plague over
us. The farmers began to notice hith-
erto unknown sort of weevil, or worm
This blamed little nuisance not only ap-
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 a hundredfold worse than
all the damage done by the crows. But
these two separate facts We're 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 a Blue Point oyster is to Won or
me. This conviction gained adherents
very rapidly, and at last the farmers fell
SO mad at themselves for chasing away
or numbering all the crows-their best
fr1ends-that they could have kicked
themselves How to get the crows back?
That was now the conundrum. At last
general meeting was held. Everybody
for twelve miles around Ashmore Grove
was there, and the resolution was unani.
mously carried to import as many tbon-
sands OF crows us could be got, A num-
Der of reliable men We're selected for tbe
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
tlli 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
az 1t, digging up the little weevils by the
million and feasting on them. And as
once before, so this time as well.
Now crows arrived, thousands and
thousands of them. And the confidence
paced IN them was not disappointed.
Next fall there was again large corn
crop In Ashmore Grove, and within fonr
years the yield had come back to the ola
ngure-slxty bushels per acre. And the
crowss Well, thousands of them stavad
'here several seasons longer. but il was
quite noticeable how their number went
On decreasing steadily, and in the same
ratio at which the yield of corn became
larger and larger.
inns fact was rightfully asc1ibed to
Inc circumstance that the weevils wera
setung scarcer and searcer. and there.
fore the supply of delicacies for tbe b;rd
was gradually giving out, and their main
reason FOR frequenting the neighborhood
u Ashmore Grove was also disappearing
!. put there are still enough crows in that
ilstrlct-thousands and thousands ri
mem, mel They are the pets of EVERYDAY
ihey enjoy as much immunity against
'notgun and trap aud interference rs tho
pigeons OF st. Marks square do in
Venice. Chicago Herald.
He Is Policeman