Norwich bulletin., 1915-04-17
WHERE THE FARMER MAY BE PENNY WISE
AND "A POUND FOOLISH ~

ne potato ou9y LOT example, Will
lay eggs on the under side Of grass
leaves or weed leaves. But when the
soft shells" hatch out they don't
waste any time in getting on to a
potato stalk No grass OF weeds for
them, thank you. II potatoes aren't
plants, but they'll starve before they'll
help the farmer by so much as taking
a single bite out OF q pigweed or a
pusley.
Now, snakes arc not nice, and slzunks
are not agreeable companions. and
toads are by no means pretty pets.
But skunl1s are particularly fond Of
grubs, and snakes and toads live most
ly On insects. The farmer or farmers
boy who kills any one of these three
is killing a real friend and servicea-
BILE helper. OF course, the skunk isn't
a help to the chicken-grower. The
poultry man can't be expected to view
skunk raids on his colony houses with
equanimity. But he can generally
fence the black and white chicken
lovers out. and then they'll take up
their more natural function Of grub
hunting. and help some netghbor. If
they don't help him.
The birds, however, are the farmers
most useful and untiring allies in his
fight with bugdom- Generally speak
worms and beetles and flying insects.
While their appetites are not so vo-
racious as those of the bugs. they still
manage to get away with good many
in the course Of a summers day. Els
pecfa1ly when the home nest is full Of
young ones and they have to feed not
only themselves but a half dozen in
satiable open bills in the nest It's not
only that they destroy SO many adult
bugs, but every pair they destroy
means a. reduction Of ten to sixty
millions in the seasons census of bug
progeny.
Those who have made lifelong
study Of entomology and who are in
position to speak with some authority
declare that, if the insect kingdom
were left unchecked to it's own vo-
racious tendencies it would very
the world as brave as a billiard ball.
and wipe out all animal existence. in
Guiding. Of course. all human life.
Some years ago. a lot of farmers in
Pennsylvania thought that hawks and
owls were doing them a lot of harm.
So they got a law passed paying boun-
ties for killing these birds. The act
accomplished its purpose in several
counties. The hawks and owls were
practically exterrninated. The state
paid out 10000 in bounties to accom-
plish this.
And the very next year mice and
other rodents which the big birds had
kept down. previously, did $4,000,O 900
damage to the very farmers who had
earned that $4,000 in bounties by
killing them. Never was a better IL
lustration Of the policy known as
penny wise and pound foolish
Even the black crow, whose raids on
newly planted corn fields make many
farmers regard him as an uncon-
promising enemy. lives eleven months
Of the year on bugs and does. it may
be reasonably assumed. about eleven
times as much good as harm. Also, he
can be kept away from the sproutfng
corn by various tricks, and thus pre-
vented from doing any damage at all,
while encouraged in his natural bug
hunting proclivities.
don't know what there is In COM
mon grocerS twine strung around a
corn patch and crisis crossed across it
which scares a crow. But do know
that in over 125 years of corn growing
by this particular Farmer family. no
case is on record where a single hill