The times., 1899-07-24
cFrom the New York Sun,

OF century oil narQ Work ana Snarp COM
petition with Western enterprise and new
bugs the Maine farmer has learned that
he can get his hasty pudding and Johnny
cake cheaper by buying horse-tooth corn
grown in Egypt, ILL.,, than he can by rails
ing crop at home. The result is that
while Maine grows wide areas OF maze
for the canneries and the silos, the old
fashioned husking bees have ceased to
exist, because there is no longer any corn
to husk, while the oid-time cornhouses
where the green ears were ripened have
been converted into hen pens, which fur
nish early broilers for Boston and New
York. AS the corn is now planted late and
is rushed forward by the aid Of pios-
pilates, the large army of diligent scare
crows, which formerly found steady en-
ployment from May 20 to July 6; may
consider itself lucky indeed if ii gets
work for two weeks in the year. Though
the changed conditions have demoralized
scarecfow labor and driven most OF the
images to the cherry orchards to frighten
away the robins, there is still good
opening in Maine for a wideawake scare
crow that understands his business and Is
willing to devote all of his time to cir
cumventing the arts of the crows.
"A Penobscot county crow knows nigh
onto as much as Maine Frenchman," said
Joel Richardson. "A crow can count as
far as seven, but he doesn't know eight
from eighteen. AS for the Frenchman he
can count up to the end of his fingers and
thumbs, after which he is as much lost as
a crow. But, howsomever, I'd a burned
sight ruther try to skeer Frenchman
than crow. Eff you creep behind
Frenchman and, yell 'Mojee' at him he'll
jump outen his boots. Try the same thing
on crow and he will laugh at you from
a tree when you are in the field, and then
come and hist all your corn as soon as you
go away.
My idee is that scarecrow is intended
to take the place of man and he should
be made to look like man. He should be
dressed better and have more style about
him. Just look at it. II you want to dress
up man you take him to a tailor and have
him measured and fitted to a suit. With
a scarecrow it is right the other way. You
take any old suit, or parts OF two or three
suits, and then hope to make 'em into a
man by jamming and twisting old straw
out of shape to fit the clothes. | don't
wonder the scarecrows get discouraged
and loaf when the farmers are away. I'd
do it myself
Mr.. Richardson, who has fifty acres OF
sweet corn growing for the cannery, say.
the Santiago style of scarecrow, with
Rough Riders suit and wooden Winchester
no longer in fashion, the crows seeming
to demand something more gaudy than
brown hemlock garments decorated with
brass buttons. Among the sixteen tenn
perate and industrious individuals who are
on duty in his field at present, he thinks
a natty little college student, with high
collar and orange and black blazer the
most useful. The crows seem to respect
the field in thai neighborhood and will not
mil ba Gft
less sorely pressed by hunger. The second
best man in his scarecrow company is
fat and pompous citizen with blue cuta-
way coat and tall white hat. This image
has a broken glass tumbler fastened to
his shirt front to serve for 4 diamond piH.
and, when the sun is out and the wind
blows, the prismatic rays from the shat
tered glass flash half way across the field,
conveying terror to all the crows in the
neighborhood. A figure of Uncle Sam,
dressed in regulation style. and mounted
aloft on a bicycle has proved complete
failure, a fact which leads Mr.. Richardson
to infer that crows are of the dark-skinned
Latin race, which has little love for liberty
or anything else except corn and corn
juices.
While the original creative faculty of
constructing new and terrifying forms OF
scare-crows seems to have departed from
1899, the corn growers have made up for
the loss along other lines. Many worthy
scarecrows have no doubt, been without
employment at a time when work is gem
orally good, but this fact does not imply
that the crows have had the full run Of
the fields or that the corn crop will show
a marked shortage at harvest time. June
is the busiest month OF the year for the
crows. The young birds hatch late in May,
and for the next five weeks the parents are
kept busy hunting food for their helpless
offspring. Under ordinary condition a
crow will not look at corn or any form
of vegetable, but in hard times, when car
rion is scarce and insects overspry, the
hungry birds are compelled TO take any
thing that offers. Knowing this fact the
farmers are beginning to encompass the
ruin of their ancient enemies by new and
cruel ways.
Judson Hart OF Holden put barrel OF
meat offal in his cornfield at planting time.
/, When the corn was ready TO come up the
mass was full of creeping things and gave
forth a smell which is perfume to the nos
| triis of all crows. Then he placed a small
| steel trap in the barrel and hitched it by
| a long line to stake in the centre OF his
| cornfield. For the next week a sad crow
| with a trap attached to one foot circied
above his growing crop, uttering pitiful
| cries. When the crow died from eXhaus-
! ticn another one was caught and guarded
the fields from invasion until the corn was
/ too big to be pulled. After Mr.. Hart had
| caught one crow for sentinel duty he
moved the barrel away and set another
/ trap, which caught other crows that we're
! let out to the neighbors for 10 cents day.
| By exercising a little Yankee cunning and
a good deal Of cruelty Mr.. Hart made one
/ barrel of offal protect his own fields aud
rented crows enough to the farmers 10
yield an income OF $500. The idea being
too good to keep, he told all about it one
day In Bangor II was a great success
Before the people of Bangor would allow
Mr.. Hart to go home they took him before
the courts and compelled him to pay $50
and costs for cruelty to animals
James Heagan, of Frankfort, has sought
safety for his crops and death to crows by
utilizing the copper teeth of wornout cat.
tie cards. The tooth of cattle card I:
like wire hairpin that is bent TO one side
in the middle until it forms a right angie
After boiling corn in sweetened water tnti
1t was soft, Heagan inserted one of these
crooked wires in every kernel and ther
sowed the grain along the rows in thC
cultivated fields. TIE greedy crows find
ing the corn soft and palatable, made
dash for the grain, swallowing It until TIT
sharp wires stuck in their gullets. AS Cnt
kernel of corn was enough to satisfy on,
crow, and, as Heagan had sowed nearly
peck 1t took but few days to satiate al
the crows IN town. The deceived and SUI!
fering birds few about the fields for two
or three weeks before they died. In case
where the wire had penetrated the yoca
organs the crows uttered strange whistles
and reed organ sounds that led bird stu
dents to believe new species of the gonu