Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-08-18

session of the State Agricultural Society
was the address of Mr.. ]. ]. Doughty, the
we'll known cotton man of Augusta
The address in full follows:
Mr. President. Ladies and Gentlemen-I
accented the invitation extended to me by
your excellent president to speak word
or two on this occasion with delight, and
at the same time with serious apprehen-
sion that in doing so / would commit an
error; with delight, because the subject
assigned me is very near my heart; with
apprehension, because l would hesitate to
come into the presence Of this assembly
Of agriculturists with the avowed purpose
of seeking to arouse them to action in
field so familiar to everyone within the
sound OF my voice. II the farmers be not
in favor of the protection OF birds Of the
helpful class, Of wild game and
that behalf7 To what advantage will 9TH
ers. however deeply interested. however
enthusiastic, attempt to speak or to act?
believe that 1 shall find myself in hap
py accord with all the members of the
Georgia State Agricultural society on this
important subject. This. you will please
observe, places you gentlemen as an adj
vance guard In the battle we shall make
for the protection and preservation OF the
insectiverous birds, the game fish and the
wild game of our state.
need not advise you that the wanton
destruction Of the best of the feathered
and scaly tribes has progressed so far al
ready that Il Is only a question of a COM
paratively short time when forest and
stream Will be depopulated.
In order to appreciate the truthfulness
and the force of the declaration just made,
Il is necessary only that you recall your
Individual observation and recollection In
this connection. Thirty-odd years ago
wood and stream in Georgia, and in the
- a.,
birds and wild game, and in fish of quite
every variety.
This was true because the pot-hunter
was practically unknown and men hunt
ed or angled because they found in it very
much of genuine sport. AS in night, all
was changed, and the depredations of the
pot-hunter and the hog-hsherman, the evil
hand Of the dynamiter and the pestiferous
hands of the seiner and the vagrant who
muddies the streams and kills the fish,
little and big, valuable and invaluable,
have increased until the attention of the
masses must be directed to the threaten
ing character OF existing conditions and
appeal be made to the strong arm of the
law. Nothing short of these two great
agencies can save to the state the birds,
game and fish that have survived till this
date and guarantee to the people their
own.
It was this alarming condition of affairs
that called into being the League of AM
erican Sportsmen. The object Of the league
will commend itself to the good graces of
every agriculturist and gardener, for the
league seeks to protect insectiverous
birds, and to discourage hunting and fish
ing except in season, and almost exclus-
lively for sport. Game, of course, will be
killed and fish caught.
Turning aside for a moment from the
work contemplated by the League Of Am
erican Sportsmen, I want to direct your
attention to the birds-our friends.
We are ofttimes in error when we
charge depredations on our crops to the
birds. Oftener than otherwise, they are
assailing the insects which are destroying
vegetables and grain and fruit alike.
Now, put you on notice that I am not
affecting originality in this paper, for I
have gone with my mind as a piece of
blank paper, taking information wherever
I could find it-through ear and eye.
A word or two as to orchards. One Of
our best friends is the woodpecker. True
he may rise with the lark" sometimes
earlier, and disturb our morning hour,
tapping vigorously and loudly on tree or
great post in the yard overlooking from
the bed chamber; he is nevertheless our
friend.
You have heard Of that pretty little con-
ception of the celebrated French writer
that the ant is little black milk-maid,
who pastures her green cows in the mead
ow of a rose leaf" Plants generally, fruit
trees, ornamental shrubs, etc, are sub
Ject to attack by those voracious little
pests. Scientists tell us that the ants
protect these plant lice, and, when one
pasture is exhausted, carry them to pas
lures new and green Inc woodpecker
attacks and destroys both ants and lice.
He wars against wood-boring larvae, cat
erpillars and scale insects.
The chickadee does effective work in
the orchard. During one months reign
Of the canker worm in a given locality, a
chickadee will consume one hundred and
thirty thousand eggs OF this insect.
The Baltimore oriole, the common spar
row, the bluebird, the meadowlark, the
sparrowhawk, are all unrelenting enc
mics to caterpillars, grasshoppers, bee
ties and other harmful insects. Many of
the birds which the farmer classes as
injurious destroy the seed of noxious
weeds, thereby greatly reducing the crop.
In some cases, but for the work of the
Industrious birds the weeds would take
possession of fields in their entirety.
We need to take the helpful birds under
our protecting aegis. They, as we'll as
the wild game proper, must have the full
est protection-the insectivorous birds the
wear round; the game birds during the
closed seasons.
LII OIuSI 10 dppICCldlc TIC VI
this suggestion you have only, as here
tofore suggested, to let your thoughts
run back three or four decades. You will
recall a time when the pot-hunter could
not be abroad, and you will remember
how field and wood were literally alive
with game of the most desirable kind.
So, too, as to the fishes. What is the
existing condition? Depopulated woods
and depleted streams. The "hog fisher
man" and the "pot-hunter" are in evil
dence daily. They have grown holder by
degree. so that upon being threatened
with the law they threaten with their
guns.
The statutes of force, that is to say,
in the books, have been so tirnidly and so
seldom called into requisition that the
bold trespassers have become impudent,
defying the law and the lawmakers. So
far as the farmers and the owners Of
woodland and streams generally are con-
cerned, they are mot in it, in the es-
timation of the 'pot-hunters" and hog
fishermen" the muddier of streams, and
the more intelligent, but none the less
culpable and reprehensible. dynamiter.
In the name of the Georgia division Of
the League Of American Sportsmen. put
the whole state on notice that we shah
make an earnest and persistent effort to
secure the passage Of bill by the In
coming legislature that will provide pro-
lection for birds and fish, and the owners
of the lands and streams as well.
Does the necessity exist for additional,
and, If you please, more radical legisla-
ton in this common interest?