The Port Gibson reveille. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1890-current, 1894-04-20

others insects. The fret are useful
for the great number OF small pred.
atory animals they capture; the
second for the seeds of weeds they
consume the last for the enormous
quantity of pesliierous insects they
destroy. When the number of birds
is seriously reduced, the farmer is
sure to suffer. There 10 no ques-
tion that the destruction Of these
useful creatures has much to do
with the rapid increase OF harmful
insects and small quadrupeds that
have in some localities ravaged the
crops.
Tho enormous increase Of voIes,
sort OF field mice, in parts OF Eu-
rope in late years, has unquestiona-
bly, been due 10 the destruction of
their natural enemies, hawks and
owls, which have been shot in great
numbers by men who keep game
birds for purposes of sport. Even
themischiei done by birds common
ly considered noxious is oyerbal-
anced by the service they perform
for the farmer. The crows bad
name is not deserved, for their de-
creased number certainly has some
thing to do with the immense i'm
crease Of cut-worms, which are this
birds special food. III has even
been known To feed gEeedily on the
striped potato beetle, sharp-hav-
ored insect that no other bird will
touch.
Some birds that are OF incalcula-
BILE value to farmers are hunted ea-
gerly for the sake of their brilliant
plumage, which women use for orn-
amenging their hats. Thousands Of
persons are thus set TO work killing
them in every country on earth, and
many species are lhreated with ab-
solule determination The sIaught-
er of myriads of quail, partridges
and prairie chickens in the western
states every year accounts for the
increase of chinch bugs, which, IN
single season, have damaged west
ern crops to the extent Of 800, ,O0O,-
600.
The passion to kill seems native
to the human disposition. The
boy wants a shotgun almost before
he puts on trousers, and spends his
spare hours in slaughter. No bird
escapes, however useful or beauti-
ful. One can not even keep a pet
quail in his garden without some
boy shooting ii through the fence
and trespassing on the premises to
gather up the shattered bird.
The woods that used 70 be brill
liant with the oriole, the scarlet
tanager, the red-winged blackbird
and other yly-decked birds, are
now deserted, and the galls,-uD-
slightly excrescences on almost ey-
cry forest tree, their place.
Borers are covering forest and or
chard with dead trees acorns and
chestnuts arc perforated by their in
dividual pests and our future sup-
plies of timber are damaged serious
ly by vast armies Of insect-eremies.
There 10 only one remedy. Laws
are useless when public sentiment
is dead. The slow effect OF educa-
tion OF the young alone viii make
change. And farmers whose ex-
pcnses in growing crops nre doubled
while the produce is halved, must
awake 10 the necessity for change
In every farmers paper we now
read long articles about the spray
ing of trees, and The use OF insect
poisons. This Is all new. A few
years ago there was no necessity for
all this costly work and great loss-
Fruit trees we're loaded with per-
feet fruit. vines gave their clusters.
crops yielded their harvests, and
trees were covered with heavy toll
age. Birds nestled in every bush,
and nature, with It's justly balanced
forces, had room ior every one OF
its creatures to live its little life in
happiness and share with mankind
Its bounties.
Is all this past, never TO return,
and is the farmer to wage an ever
increasing war TO save himself from
destruction ? Every year the birds
decrease and The insects increase
Many farmers have gwen up fruit
growing, leaving this pleasant and
profitable business 10 professional
growers, with their complicated ap-
paratus for saving the fruit. But
field crops also are endangered, and
farmers must soon take the same
precautions that fruIt-growers have
been compelled to take. The little
birds that used to skip about the
trees, peering with curious eyes nn-
der every leai and searching every
Granny in the bark tor their food
have disappeared, and their merry
twillering is now unheard. she
small boys shot gun has nearly ex-
terminated them, and their useful
services are sorely missed.-Con-
densed and Adapted from the South
arm Farmer