The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-07-06

about their work after a seasonable
wait Again the crows performed an
operation in simple satisfaction, TAX
ing two from three, and Stunned the
corn lot.
In this way the captain kept on in
| creasing his men from day to day I'M
til eight men went to camp one morn
ing and seven departed later on. No
| sooner had they quit than every crow
| in sight was among his corn rows pull
| ing the grain and giving the man on
| watch a chance to shoot three OF them.
| Having demonstrated that a crow
| could count as far as seven, but was
| incapable of comprehending the mean
| ing of eight, Cap'n Odom tested their
| abilities upon women. In a similar
manner he learned that three women
could be compressed within the COM
| pass of a crows brain, but the fourth
was uncountable Since then scores
of experiments along these lines have
been made, and the results have never
varied a unit.
! For nearly half a century cap
Odoms discovery has been known, but
until John Hughes of this village be-
gan to construct scarecrows in female
garments last week, nobody has been
sensible enough to take advantage of
a scientific fact. Mr.. Hughes is
practical farmer who hopes to die r1ch
| if he lives long enough. This lie
of an average scarecrow in Maine
cornfield is three years, though a Few
survive for four or five years if they
are housed as soon as the corn is TOO
| big for the crows to pull.
In looking over his stock late in May
| Mr. Hughes learned that in order TO
protect his fields properly he must Sc
| cure the services of six able-bodled
scarecrows, of which number he had
only two on hand. The price OF hem-
lock overall stuff of which scarecrow
garments are made, has advanced 40
per cent within year, and when Mr..
| Hughes contemplated the purchasing
! of four full suits of clothing at one
time he felt as if the outlay would
make a big hole in his prospective pro1-
| it's from growing corn. Then ne re-
membered the original Investigations
| into the subject made by capt OdoIn
and made up his mind to take the rlsk.
Unbleached cotton cloth is still cheap
at the country stores. OF course, no
man of sense would consent to nave
! a member of his own family go out 10
the open fields by the highway and ex-
. pose herself in no warmer garments
! than cotton sheeting. The June morn
ings are cool, and the fabric is not OF
| a kind that a woman of good taste
/ would select. But money was not pien-
| tiful and so long as he could scare
the crows away as cheaply as posi-
BILE, Mr. Hughes was willing to risk
the scandal which would be created
by strangers mistaking his female
scarecrows for members of his house
hold.
BY the middle of June he had fixed
up two very Amazonian females and
placed them on guard. After that a
heavy rain compelled him to spend
a week in his meadows ditching low
lands By the time he was at leis-
ure to visit his cornheld he was afraid
the crows had discovered how badly
his crop was protected, and had lift
ed most of the spears which were above
ground. His surprise and joy were
/ unbounded when, on visiting the place
he found that the crop was untouched
Not only had two female scarecrow'
performed the duties of six males. Du
, they had labored so well that whe1
the crows were compelled to cross hi
farm they made wide detour, ever
when they were flying so high as to b.
above gunshot.
Having assured himself that every
thing was safe, Mr.. Hughes rushed Z
the house and told his wife that h
had discovered a new occupation 70
the new woman. When she asked hin
to explain he shouted
"Scarecrows!"