Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-10-01
The Farmers Best Friend.
By ENOS A. MILLS

lion dollars, while the animals and in
sects also caused another billion dol
lors' worth Of damage. AS birds neve
cease their food getting war upon thes'
injurious weeds, insects and animals
and as day and night they dive int
the water, scratch into the earth
search among grass and leaves, peel
into trees, look through the treetops
fly through the air, and everywher'
catch and devour the insects that plum
der forest and garden and waste tn,
efforts of mankind-it is plain that to-
day bird in the bush is worth severa
in the hand. AS the annual damagt
from pests still is enormous, it is also
plain that more birds are needed t.
reduce this damage by holding the
pests in check.
Farming is an everlasting war upor
smothering weeds, an incessant f1gh
with voracious insects, and an endles.
struggle with mice and other rodents
The farmers boy who robs nests anG
kills birds may cheat himself out Of
swimming and fishing excursions by
being compelled to stay at home to hoe
the thousands of weeds the seeds Of
which would cheerfully have been eat.
en- by the birds he destroyed. Birds art
the most important factor in holding
these destroying hordes in check. Weed
seeds, insects and rodents supply al
most all the daily food requirements
of the numerous bird world. A major.
ity of mated birds raise two broods an.
nually Of five each. The young birds
together with the old ones, each eat
one hundred Insects a day. Then, too
many species of birds live almost en-
tirely upon weed seed, and these birds
require a few trainloads Of food annu-
ally. There are upward Of fifty spe-
cies of birds whose principal daily food
consists of rats, mice and rabbits. The
yearly tonnage Of injurious animals
consumed by these birds is beyond be-
lief
Of the eight hundred-odd kinds OF
North American birds, a dozen kinds
or less are harmful. Among these are
the English sparrow, the sapsucker
the goshawk, the great horned owl
Cooper's hawk and our emblematic
eagle. The other kinds are profitable
Their presence means that we save
wealth through their devouring pests
which are destroying wealth; and
though the overwhelming percentage
more than ninety-nine per cent of all
birds-is beneficial, the harmful kinds
are beneficial at times. Occasionally
almost every bird eats something Of
value. He must eat or starve, and we
should be thankful that he does not al
low himself to starve. He is too useful
a citizen to be allowed to perish.
Birds benefit us indirectly in many
ways, and they probably are beneficial
in ways that we have not yet discov-
cred. Information concerning the
chestnut tree blight Is suggestive In
this connection. Apparently this blight
is caused by spores of the blight reach
ing the vitals of the tree or it's tissues
through holes ir the bark that ware
made chiefly by borers or beetles-in-
sects upon which the birds feed, and
which, If there were sufficient birds
would be held in subsection.
There are many birds that are rated
high economically. At the head Of this
distinguished list probably Is the
downy wood -pecker. A number Of orni-
biologists have placed his earnings
or perhaps these might be called his
savings-at fifty dollars year. Among
the other well-known useful birds are
the quail, the grosbeak and the mea-
dow lark. Several members of the ow
family and also of the hawk family
are rated almost as high in economic
ornithology as the downy woodpecker
Most members of the woodpecker fam
lily have a high economic rating. These
are peculiarly equipped birds. Theil
special qualification, that Of being ablt
to operate on trees-their ability tc
cut holes into hard wood and bark ant
extract the deadly insect-laying ene'
mics therein, and thus relieve and pro-
t'ect our fruit and forest trees from
deadly insects-gives the woodpeckel
family a high and distinguished use.
Each species of 70 est or fruit tree Is
infested with from one hundred to ont
thousand kinds of insects. These at
tack the tree at every point, from the
topmost leaf to the lowest rootlet
These insects suck the juices and de-
YOUR the tissues of the tree. 1t mat
ters not at what point the insect OF
insects may attack the treat thai
very point there are one or more kinds
of birds attacking and preying upor
these insects.
The rosebreasted grosbeak is an al
most ideal bird. 1t is both useful anc
beautiful is a sweet singer, and is
member of one of the noblest families
in the bird world. 1t is closely related
to the cardinal, and has striking char
acteristics. The story Of this bird dur
ing the last generation is of almost ro'
mantle interest; this shows the rela'
ton Of birds to the balance of Nature
their economic usefulness to man, ant
gives interesting glimpses of th'
changing ways of Nature, the cause:
of these changes and the changes these
in turn produce
Pity the Potato Bug
During the eighteen seventies tn
rose breasted grosbeak developed
liking for the Colorado potato beetle
and in a short time was eating thes'
beetles in such numbers that it came
to be called the potato-bug bird. A
that time this beetle was waging wha
appears to be his first war of conquest
The original home of the COLORADO
potato beetle was in the Rocky Noun
tains of the United States and il
Mexico. In the good old times he live'
almost exclusively upon the sandbur
The introduction Of potatoes into tn
old beetle haunts supplied him with
new food that was greatly to his lik
ing. With this food he multiplied
rapidly, and early set forth to find ant
20 feast in ali the potato fields of tn