Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1891-04-23
THE ENGLISH SPARROW.


Ohio Farmer.
| am not little surprised that your
articles on the English sparrow have
awakened so little attention not only
among farmers, but among all people
Why the vastness of of this recently i'm
ported scourge is not recognized, is be-
yond my ken. They were introduced
into this country by various shipments
from Europe between 1851 and 1881
Not far from 1869 the Quaker city i'm
ported 1000. In all about 1000 were
| imported, and they have increased to
thousands o: millions, and every State
in the Union, and Canada too, has such
vast and rapidly increasing numbers of
them as to cause serious alarm. They
are waging war of determination on
our native inseetiverous and song birds,
and destructive insects are rapidly in
creasing
If there is any kind of fruit which es-
capes their ravages, from the bud to. ma
turity, | would like to know what it is
In Australia, vineyards have suffered
so that the abandment of grape culture
has been seriously talked of. Here they
are showing what they can do for
grapes, and if not soon checked, their
rapidly increasing numbers will make
grape culture very expensive if not i'm
possible. | have seen an English spar
row drive his sharp bill into nearly every
grape of a large bunch in less time than
a robin takes to make his full meal of
three or four. Why this imported pau
per destroys grapes in this way, cannot
tell. Can any of his friends, if he has
any? Their chief and less observed
depredations on fruits occur when in the
bud or flower. No kind, so far as | can
learn, escapes them. Sometimes they
eat part or all of the bud; sometimes
they pick out the embryo fruit only;
sometimes they appear to be bent on
simple, wanton destruction and drop the
bud or flower to the ground entire.
The chemical action of their filth is as
destructive as it is disgusting Ever
greens in hedges or otherwise; Orna-
mented vines and shrubs on houses,
walls and elsewhere, have been seriously |
injured or destroyed thereby. Buildings |
and monuments are not only rendered |
but seriously injured by it. /
Cistern water is made not only nauseat-
ing, but positively dangerous to life and |
health, and resting places in the shade
are no longer pleasant or even safe
where the English sparrow abounds.
Green vegetables suffer from the dep
relations of these pests at every stage,
from the planted seed to the ripening
seed, some more than others. Peas can
not be grown in some places without es-
pecial guards, and garden corn and field
corn both suffer by their taking the
sprouting kernel and in tearing open the
musk.
Wheat is their chief delight. When
put in deep with a drill they cannot
scratch or pull it up, but this tender
shoot as it comes up is good, and they
know it. If the field has been seeded ,
with grass, they put in the spare time, ,
while waiting for the wheat to come up, :
n gathering the grass seed, and as soon
is the first tender sprout appears they
Ire on hand to take it. Much of the
lamage d one in this way is attributed
o something else. 1t is not until the
vheati3 in milk that we generally be- |
,in to note his destructive habit From {
his time on nearly every farmer in the
wheat growing section has suffered,
ONE more and some less. I
What do the English sparrOws now
ost the State of Ohio each year? Can
ny one tell of any good they do to earn :
4 part pay the cost of their keeping? c