The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1897-04-28
AGRICULTURAL HINTS
FARMERS AND BIRDS.
Why the Feathered Visitors should
Be 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
underiay 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 10 cultivate
are procured and applied with lavish
hand; knowing as he does that this ex-
penditure Will repay him, perhaps,
q hundred fold. The enterprising farm
er calls to his aid not only all the i'm
proved tools and improvements for cul-
tivation, irrigation and protection, but
invokes also all the forces of nature,
which can in any way assist him. He
dfts the subsoil and invites the air to
help him pulyerize it The erects wind
mill and asks the wind to aid in rails
ing the water with which to irrigate;
lac 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 ap-
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
Cor the danger, now provides the remedy
and that remedy is the birds, which
come in regular order each spring, al
most as regular as the seasons. In the
'Bigelow Papers" this reference is made
70 the blackbirds in "A New England
Spring"
stFust come the blackbirds clatterln' in
tail trees,
sAn' settlin' things in windy congresses
Queer politicians. though, for III be
skinned.
IF al on EN- don't head against the wind"
Then the blackbirds are soon fol-
lowed by others, and when the proper
tine comes each family does its full
duty. and the insects are obliged to
succumb. IL is stated by competent au-
thority that the red-winged black birds
destroyed in single locality more
than 10000, o00, 600 insects during one
season. The blackbird does not rival
Patti as a singer. but it does attend
strictly to business; and its business
liike that of an entomologist) is bugs.
But long before this, other birds have
been working for the farmer, searching
all the hidden places, under the bark 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
ct ''larvae" every week. Thus does this
bird (like may others) take time by the
forelock" and destroy millions of in
sects before they have chance to
emerge from this first stage of their ex-
istence.
But we must not forget our old friend
The robin, of which il is said:
sBy some name or other,
An men who know him, call him brother"
The robin is more than a brother to
the farmer, for, by his activity in de-
vouring insects. he sometimes benefits
tbe farmer more than could a real
brother.
Have the farmers any adequate idea
of the value of the services rendered
them by the birds? The best author
ity states that the birds effect saving to
the country each year of mol less than
500, ZOO, 900. 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, 1.-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 warning to the farmers
OF the country regarding the impending
extinction of the birds. and the dire
FIJI results which are sure TO follow.
When the last bird yields its life to
the pot hunter, or is offered up to sat
isfy the demands of that tyrant, Dame
Fashion, then, and oEly then. will
some farmers see where they have erred
but it will be too late. The ruin will
ilave been wrought, the damage done.
The time to act is now. Every farm
ers' organization should make the sal
walton of the birds its special business
Every farmer should appoint himself
a COMMITTEE of one" TO see that the
birds in his vicinity are protected; that
the laws of his state relating to birds
are enforced. Let him begin by en-
forcing the law in lis own home. and