The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1897-07-02
FARMERS AND BIRDS.
Why the Feathcred Visitors should
He Carefully Protected

up with the times" provides himself
with all the modern appliances which
are adapted to his business.
If part of the land is marsh. he will
underlay it with the most approved
system of drainage; If it has not been
properly cultivated, he buys the best
subsoil plows in order that the riches
which lie just below the surface may
be brought to light. The fertil-
izers which he thinks best adapted to
the crop which he wishes to cultivate
are procured and applied with a lavish
hand; knowing as he does that this ex-
penditure will repay him, perhaps,
a hundred fold. The enterprising farm
er calls to his AID not only all the inn
proved tools and improvements for Gull
tivation, irrigation and protection, but
invokes also all the forces of nature,
which can in any way assist him. He
lifts the subsoil and invites the air to
help him pulverize il ;he erects a wind
mill and asks the wind to aid in rails
ing the water with which to irrigate;
he digs bitches, and calls upon the wa
ter, which the wind power has lifted,
to do its part in nourishing the parched
earth. Thus his vegetables, his grain
and his grasses, through an intelligent
use of natures forces, spring up and
flourish for time; but only to meet
new dangers. Now the insects APP
pear upon the scene and the aspect
changes.
Can it be that the farmer has put him
self to all this great expenditure of la
Dor, tools, material, and time, only to
be thwarted at last? 1t certainly looks
so. But nature, which was responsible
for the danger. now provides the remedy
and that remedy is the birds, which
come in regular order each spring, alS
most as regular as the seasons. In the
"Bigelow Papers" this reference smade
to the blackbir in "a New England
SPRING."
"Fust come the blackbirda clatterin' IN
tall trees,
An settlin' things in windy congresses
Queer politicians. though, for I'll be
skinned
Eff all on 'em don't head against the wind"
tllC OithShDlldo 6OOA
lowed by others, and when the proper
time comes each family does its full
duty, and the insects are obliged to
succumb. 1t is stated by competent au-
thority that the red-winged blackbirds
destroyed in a single locality more
than 16,000,000000 insects during one
season. The backbird does not rival
Patti as a singer, but it does attend
strictly to business; and its business
Cike that of an entomoiogist) is bugs.
But long before this, other birds have
been working for the farmer. searching
all the hidden places, under tie bal k of
trees, about old stumps, amidst the
moss and dead leaves, and in other
places which the farmer never dreams
of, for the concealed larvae" where the
embryo insects are thus DESTROYED by
the million. One of the most industri-
Gus of these early workers is the
Brown Creeper," which searches every
tree, as if it had special contract to
secure a certain number of specimens
of ''larvae" every week. Thus does this
bird (ilie may others) ''talie time by the
forelock" and destroy millions of in
sects before they have a chance to
emerge from this first stage of their ex-
istence.
But we must not forget our old friend
the robin, of which it is said:
"By some name or other,
All men who know him, call him brother"
The robin is more than a brother to
the farmer, for, by his acti"ity in de-
vouring insects. he sometimes benefits
the farmer. more than could real
brother.
Have the farmers any adequate idea
of the value of the services rendered
them by the birds? The best author
fly states that the birds effect saving to
the country each year of not less than
$100,000,000. The farmer should be the
birds best friend and stanch defend
er, for it is the birds alone which stand
between the farmer and the loss of
his crops. But" argues some plea
yune tiller of the soil, 'the birds eat
my cherries, and the crows pull up my
corn, and I'm bound to kill EN-"
The Smithsonian Institution long
ago sent out u warning to the farmers
Of the country regarding the impending
extinction of the birds, and the dire
full results which are sure to follow.
When the last bird yields it's life to
the pot hunter, or is offered up to sat
isfy this demands Of that tyrant, Dame
Fashion, then, and only then. will
some farmers see where they have erred
but it will be too late. The ruin will
have been wrought, the damage done.
The farmer should see to it chat the
boys and girls of his neighborhood are
taught that the killing of birds, or
robbery of their nests, Is crime; not
only an injury to their neighbors, but
an actual harm to themselves-for be-
yond all question the destruction of the
birds will cause the boys and girls of
the present day to weep bitter tears of
repentance later in life, when they real
ize the harm which has been done, and
they will reap the penalty. Under the
old English law land ours as well) "a
mans house is his CASTLE" and the man
has d IlSHO W ueIohu Ills HOino
to the extent of killing the man who
tries to enter without permission. viii
anyone attempt to say that bird who
builds a nest, in which it lays its eggs
and rears its young, has no right to pro-
lection? 1t has the right of ownership.
given by power higher than the au-
thority which granted the titles to the
land on which we live; title from it's