The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1890-11-12
CROWS ARE CUTE BIRDS.
A Farmer Who Has Studied Them Tries
Experiments with Them.

Farmer Lucius S. Clark, of North
Abingdon township, Pa, is great
friend of crows. He declares that the
noisy, big birds do great deal more
good than harm on his place, and he
never allows his sons to rob their nests,
or to shoot or trap them. Conse-
auently 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 is kind to his big family of crows,
Farmer Clark SAYS that the black ras-
Gals have until this season been in the
habit of scratching up lots of his corn
as soon as it was planted, and of pull
ing up lots more shortly after it had
become nicely sprouted. But the cut
worms and other crawling things that
the crows deyoured more than paid for
the damage they did to the corn, and
that was why he cherished the glossy
birds, he said.
When complaining time come last
spring, Farmer Clark thought he would
see if he couldn't make the crows let
the corn alone after it had been
planted. He boiled lot of tar in Il
large kettle, dumped his seed corn in
to it. and kept stirring the mass until
each kernel was completely covered
with a coating of tar, and after that he
rolled the corn in pulverized lime till
it was white. He planted it the same
day, and the crows clawed a few hills
of it up and were in peck of trouble
for several hours.
The corn didn't taste right to any of
the crows, and after they had sampled
hills here and there the whole flock
met at back corner of the lot and had
a noisy discussion over the mystery.
In the course of half an hour one of
the crows sailed away, alighted on a
hill, scratched into it, and suddenly
started back to where its companions
were sitting silently on the fence, yell
ing out the information on the way
| that it was the same nasty stuff as the
| rest. Then the whole flock jawed as
tight as they could for minute or so,
when another crow sailed forth to Il
different section of the field, tackled a
HILL took kernel in its bill, elected 1t
mighty quick, and flew over to the
fence with the same disgusting report
For two hours the crows took turns at
investigating, finally came to the con-
clusion that they had been unmercl-
fully fooled, and went cawing away to
the woods on the hillside. Farmer
Clark had watched them all the time,
and he declared that the crows let that
field entirely alone from then on.
In another patch the men planted
two rows with corn that had not been
coated with tar and lime. The rows
were ten rods apart, and the cunning
crows unearthed every hill in each row
and gobbled up every kernel of corn,
but they didn't touch single hill OF
the intervening rows where the tarred
corn was. Farmer Clark said that
their eye-teeth had been cut in the
former field, and that the birds were
too sharp to be led into the same pain
full experience again. Plain corn was
planted in the two rows the second
time, and the crows scratched it all uE
the next day. Then the men put beans
in the corn hills, and the beans were
not disturbed by the black rascals.
Another strange thing about the be-
havior of Farmer Clark's flock of crows
was noticed by the watchful farmer
when the cultiyator was run between
the rows of corn for the first time. In
the latter field dozens of crows followed
the cultivator, and picked up hundred:
/ of cut-worms. When the farm hanC
turned his horse about the flock rose
, up and flew to the fence, but as soor
as he had got well started on his way
, to the other end of the lot they settled
down few rods behind him and re
sumed their work When the farmer
field was cultivated not crow wen
. near it, and Farmer Clark has had t.
fight cut-worms by hand, to pay him
he says for not having planted row
or two of plain corn in it for the crows
to scratch up and eat.