Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1915-07-01
callers in this vicinity on business.
PELICAN FARMERS CLUB.

PELICAN FARMERS CLUB.
The program opened with the call
to order by the president, followed
by the reading of the minutes OF the
last meeting and music by Benthh
and Klatt.
stop Killing Birds" was discussed
by Mrs. Klatt. There are really only
a very few birds that deserve to be
placed on our black list, said Mrs.
KIatt. Although the blue jays n
blackhirds have a hard name as mis-
chief makers, careful experiments
have proven hat they do vastly more
good than harm.
Another useful little friend is the
toad. Ninety-eight per cent OF the
| toad's food is said to consist or
worms. spiders and such injurious
| insects. Each toad's services as a
bug destroyer are estimated at $50
per wear They certainly should be
! protected in every way possible. Inc
little earth worm or angle worm
though the humblest OF all creatures
is a very useful friend. 1t works
down through the soil n tends TO
keep il light and mellow and also
brings up to the surface c~onslderapie
Quantities of the lower or subsoll. II
does no harm in any way.
Is it worth while to try to save our
forests, our shade tree + our frhl
tree? If so. we must stop killiE2
the in~sect-eating birds. Careful OK
p~erimenters tell us that if all insec'-
eating birds were destroyed, the
whole continent would within three
years become absolutely uninhab!led
by reason of the myriads of insects
| tina, would spring up and devour an
living things. The gypsy moth, lhe
brown tail moth, the leopard moth,
the elm tree beetle and the tent cat
e~rpillar have killed millions of trees
in he past few years, and today my
are imperiling every tree on the con
I~tinent. The only way to check these
insects is to stop the killing OF in
sect eating birds. Ninety per cent or
the normal bird life of this country
has already beer destroyed and the
other ten per cent will go in a few
years unless drastic measures are
employed to stop the slaughter.
Prominent naturalists agree that cats
destroy more birds than any other
animal except man.
Parents send their boys to Sunday
school where they learn the beautiful
/ Bible stories, but they allow them 10
come home and take their air rifles
and shoot the robins that have young
birds in the nests. To hold the in
sects in check we need to have our
gardens, fields, pastures and road
sides literally alive with these use
full birds.
Shall we protect the birds? II We
do. we must make a closed season
of several years for certain kinds OF
game. We must prohibit u~nnatural'
lied foreigners hunting at any time.
We must provide federal protection
for migratory birds and finally we
must stop absolutely the killing OF
all insect-eating birds.
The recitation by Cora Scherer
was one of the best We have had and
she was roundly applauded.
A number of especial interest was
a talk by Supt. a. w. Palm. His
broad experience gave him many
thoughts which were greeted by hi:
| audience as welcome suggestions
The would not have beer
|Ia" ,- 80
complete as a general community al
fair without this final touch from MI
Palm.
The program closed with a song b.
the club and music by Benthin ant
! Klatt.
On July 10 the following program
will be given.
Song, Mrs. Lebert.
Talk, H. Evenson.
Recitation, Harold Thiede.
Bachelor Life" John O'Neil.
Make Houses for the Birds,
Mrs. Kiatt. {
Reading, Paul Scherer.
Talk, Herman Fromke,
Music, John ogNeil and Fred Bel
thin.
Recitation, Aug. Zamow.
Current Events, Miss Loesch.
Song-Blue Bells of Scotland
III fyl. EskG#F.tFH stHa. --eEElH T#EeAa