Evening star., 1932-07-07
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

| uncertain quality: there is never any
/ telling whether she actually means to
/ bring rain or not.
| Hence the ardent gardener, after he
waits for a certain number OF days,
adopts a rain or shinev policy-that is,
/ he intends to sprinkle, whether 1t rains
/ tomorrow or not
! Perhaps this is the best way. after all,
/ for no water put in the soil is lost. in
any sense, even If it is followed by a
I veritable deluge shortly thereafter.
/ Preliminary sprinkling tends to pul
( the earth in a condition which makes
it easy for subsequent rains to pene-
, trate deeper and carry down farther.
I Any action which helps secure the
/ penetration of real rainfall is helpful
Preliminary watering with a hose
/ even il followed the next morning by 8
/ regular rain from the heavens, viii
: have done it's good work.
/ 1t will have broken up the baked sur
! face condition and rendered the sol
/ plant, shall we say.
1 But this is not all.
! such sprinkling is worth It, II for nc
other reason than that it brings the
/ birds.
! This is one of those apparent but
/ easily overlooked facts which help tc
make ordinary daily life delightful
/ Bird baths are all right, but they are
| not enough.
Birds want food more than they want
baths.
They crave angleworms.
Lawn SpTinkling brings EN- to the
surface, where the keen sense of robins
fiickers, blaekbirds, thrushes and other
birds spots them,
Surface soil dries out very quickly, II
land is properly drained.
AS it dries, the fishin' worms burrow
down to the lower moisture levels.
Only fresh falling water will lure
them aloft.
Something there is about fresh water
right smack dab out Of the sky, which
has a mighty appeal to the humble
worm.
No sooner does a rain begin, than the
tuned ear Of this lowly creature reccg-
nizes it.
Up it begins to come.
/ If it happens to be a continuing rain
/ the worm is comparatively safe, when
he gets near the top, because moSt
| birds will not walk around hunting
| them in a downpour
Robins will. and few others. but
mostly the birds wait until the worst
! of the rain is over.
! It is right here that the home owner
/ can give them a treat, by sprinkling in
/ the afternoon and early evening, ther
/ leaving the yard to the birds.
/ They will desert the dry yards of ar
/ entire neighborhood to enjoy the wet
ness the sprinkling gardner has pro-
/ Yided for them.
! All human beings. dogs and cats must
/ be kept out, of course, during this happy
/ evening hour devoted to the welfare OF
| the feathered creatures.
| A scrampering squirrel or two will dc
no harm.
! In Jones garden a couple of squir-
/ rels made wild dash toward a young
/ robin.
| Whether they were just chasing each
other. or really trying to catch the robin
no observer could say positively but the
! bird merely hoped nigh into the air
| let the rodents rush beneath, and then
/ settled down again to the feast.
| Many birds, especially those named
/ above, like to feed on the ground al
| dusk
! This preliminary use of the hose, if il
/ does no other good, at least sets the
/ table for the songsters, and affords the
/ householder an hour or so Of enjoyable
| bird observation.
1t is delight to him to see his yard
! singled out, from an entire neighbor-
/ hood. as feasting ground; these beau
/ tiful fellows come by twos and threes
to hop and walk around in the wei
/ greenery.
What if real rain blows up the next
day?
Let no gardener feel that his sprin-
king has been wasted, in such case
In sprinkling the yard he has fed the
birds, and feeding living creatures is
] the first duty of man.