The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-07-21
(MaIne Letter in New York SUM-

(Malne Letter In New York SUM-
After a quarter of century OF hard
work and sharp competition with western
enterprise end new bugs, the Maine farm
or has learned that he can get his hasty
pudding and Johnny cake cheaper by
buying horse-,ooth corn grown In Egypt
Ill than be can by raising a crop at
home. The result Is that while Maine
grows Wide areas of maize for canneries
nd the silos, the old-fasbioned huskina
tees have ceased to exist, because thers is
no longer any corn TO husk, while the
old-time cornhouses where the green ears
were ripened, have been converted into
hen-pens which furnish early broilers for
Boston and New York. AZ the corn is
now planted late and is rushed fof ward
by the aid OF phosphates. the large army
Of diligent scarecrows, which formerly
found steady employment from May 90 to
July Q, may consider itself lucky indeed
II it gets work for two weeks In the year.
Though the changed conditions. have
demoralized scarecrow labor and driven
most of the images to the cherry orchards
to frighten away the robins. there Is still
a good opening in Maine for q wide
awake scareorow that understands his
business and Is willing to devote all ,of
his time to ciroumventing the arts of the
crows
"a Penosbcot county crow knows nigh
onto as much rs q Maine Frenchman,"
fsid joel Richardson. "a crow oan
count as fur as seven. but he doesn't
know eight from IS. As for the French
man, he can count up to the end of his
fingers and thumbs, after which he is as
much lost as crow. But. nowsomevsr.
I'd burned sight ruther try to skeer a
Frenchman than crow. Eff you creep
behind FrenohmAn and yell 'Mojee' at
him he'll jump outen his boots. Try the
same thing ON a GROW and he will laugh
at you from a tree when you are in the
field, and then come and hist all your
co2n as soon as you go away.
''My idse 10 that rs scarecrow is in :
tended to take the place OF a man, he
should be made TO look like q man. He
should be dressed better and have more
style about him. Jest look at It, Ef you
want to dress up man you take him TO
"a tailor and have him measured and fitted
10 suit With scarecrow 1t is right
tho other way. You take any old suit or
parts OF two or three suits. and then hope
to make 'ein into q man by jamming and
twisting old straw out of shape TO fit the
old clothes ! don't wonder the scare-
crows get discouraged and loaf when the
farmers are away. I'd do 1t myself"
Mr.. Richardson, who has 80 acres of
sweet corn growing for the oannery, says
the Santiago style Of scarecrows, with
rough rider suit and wooden Winchester
rifle. which WAS SO popular last year, is
no longer In fashion, the crows seeming
to demand something more galdy than
brown hemlock garments decorated with
brass buttons. Among the 10 temperate
and industrious individuals who are ON
duty in his field ut present, he thinks O
natty little college student, with high
COLLAR and1orange and black blazer. the
the field in that neighborhood and will
not pull corn anywhere near the student,
sunless sorely pressed by hunger.
While the original creative faculty of
constructing new and terribly Ing forms Of
scarecrows seems TO have departed from
the farmers of Maine for the season OF
1899, the corn-gr0wers have made up for
the loss along the other lines. Many
worthy scarecrows have no doubt been
without employ Inent at a time when
work is generally 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 Tor the crows. The young birds
hatch late In May, and for the next five
weeks the parents are kept busy hunt
ing food for their helpless offspring. Un-
der ordinary conditions crow will not
look Mt corn or any form of vegetable,
m m ma Ehnn 10
and Insects oyer-spry, the hungry birds
are compelled to take anything that
offers. Knowing this fact, the farmers are
beginning TO encompass the ruin OF their
ancient enemies by new end cruel ways.
Judson Hart Of Holden put a barrel Of
meat offai In his cornfield at planting
time. When the corn was ready to come
mp the mass was full of creeping things
and gave forth q smell which Is perfume
to the nostriIs of all crows. Then he
placed q small steel trap in the barrel
and hitched 1t by q long line to Q stake
in the center OF his cornfield. For the
next week sad crow with trap at
tached to one foot circled above his grow
ing crop, uttering pitiful cries. When
the crow died from exhaustion 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 fer sentinel duty he moved the
barrel away and set another trap, which
caught other crows, that were let out to
the neighbors for 10 cents q day. By exer-
cisine little Yankee cunning and
good deal of cruelty, Mr.. Hart made one
barrel Of offal protect his own fields and
rented crows enough to other farmers to
yield an income Of $50. The idea being
too good to keep, he told all about 1t one
day In bangor. 1t was great success.
Before the people Of Bangor would allow
Mi. Hart to 60 home, they took him be-
fore the canrts and compelled him to pay
90 and cost 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
cattle cards The tooth Of cattle card
is like a wire hairpin that Is bent TO one
side In the middle until 1t forms q right
angle. After boiling corn In sweetened
water until Ii was soft, Heagan inserted
one Of these crooked wires in every kerr
mel and then sowed the grain along the
rows in the cultivated fields. The greedy
crows finding the corn soft and palat-
able, made dash for the grain, swallow
ing 1t until the sharp wires stuck In their
outlets. As ono kernel Of corn was
enough to satisfy one crow. and. Ms
Heagan had sowed nearly peck, 1t took
but few days to satiate all the crows in