Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-04-10
SAVED BY THE CROWS.
fHsYWERE ONCE THE sEnEFAcToRs
or AsHmORE GROVE.


There is one place In the world where
crows, those old time enemies Of the
farmer, are the petted and spoiled dar-
hngs OF a whole district said a man
with good sized wart on his nose and
the AIR OF a substantial rural landowner
Inc locality | speak Of is Ashnore
Grove, in Edgar county, nla., and the
surrounding country. About a 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 droyes.
There seemed to be no end to them. Still
they came, and one could not take step
before ones own door without hearing
the rasping. gutteral cry Of these birds.
"oNE GRAND MEEsTgcK."
Now the soil Of Ashrnore Grove and
all around is heavy. fertile, black and
ioamy 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 uu 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 turned 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 lows 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 mad
been treated by the younger generation.
The few that had been overlooked in
fact sought pastures new.
But, gentlemen, we were off-badlv
OF We had mSde. as the Frenchmza
said, 'one grand meesteck.' For that
same year there came new plague over
Us. The farmers began to notice hith-
alr--r. NIL -y--.
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 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 Ashnore Grove sank from sixty
to ten bushels per acre and that in spite
OF the fact that the weather had been ex- I
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 you or /
NE. This conviction gained adherents
very rapidly, and at last the farmers felt
50 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 Ash1nore Grove +
was there. and the resolution was unani-
mously carried to import as many thou
sands Of crows rs could be got \ num-
Der Of reliable men We're selected for the
task
They went down to the Wabash river
country, which Is the richest in crows N +
the whole world, and there they organ
lied, with the help Of the resident farm
ers, a grand still hunt for crows. With
in a week the delegation returned to Ash
more Grove with several thousand crows. .
At dusk these imprisoned birds were let
loose. and rs they Jill not fly far during
the night, they generally spent the hours
TIL dawn on the tops of ueighboring trees.
Next morning they took a good survey
Of the land, found it to their liking, and
concluded 10 stay. They at once went .
at it. digging up the little weevlls by the
million and Teasing on them. And a.
once before. 50 this time is we'll
Now crows arrived, thousands and
thousands Of thesu. And the confidence .
placed in them was not disappointed
Next fall there WAS again large corn
crop in Ashuore Grove, and within four
years the yield had come back to the old
hgure-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 tue same
ratio at which the yield Of corn became
annually larger and larger.
This fact WAS rightfully ascribed TO
the circumstance that the weevils were
getting scarrer 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 that .
and thousands Of .
them They are the pets Of everybody. F
They enjoy IS much immunity against .
- 4 4 .,