Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1935-06-13
The ScarecroW
By James J. Montague

who believed that the farmer is
ignorant Of his job, and that II
he ever learned to adopt modern seen
tific methods there wouldn't sDe any
farm problem. Touring through the
countryside from time to time l had
observed farm machinery left out in
the fields and going to rust, instead
Of being carefully housed against the
weather in neat sheds. I had seen
great fields Of garden truck allowed
to waste in the field, while at every
cross road, gasoline station trucks
bearing the names Of city markets were
unloading tomatoes and potatoes and
squashes and beans to be sold to pass
ing motorists as fresh vegetables. It
occurred to me that with good man.
agement and a reasonable amount of
labor the farmer, upon whom practi-
cally everybody depends for their sus-
tenance, should be rich and happy, and
beyond the need Of sending members
Of grangers to Washington to plead his
cause. That was before ran, or at
tempted to run, farm myself.
The farm which rented was small
one. 1 had no experience in farming,
but figured that I could CLEAN from
books ten times the knowledge Of ag-
riculture that the husbandman gains in
a lifetime on the soil, and probably
revolutionize the business of supply
ing food to the teeming millions who
have never learned to get along with
out eating. The winter before I took
over my little farm l spent in reading
all the books on blowing, reaping, kill
ing insect pests and marketing crops
that could find on the library shelves.
I began, as all good farmers should
do, at seed time. Having, with the aid
Of two muscular and unwearying Ital-
ians, plowed and narrowed the soil, I
sprinkled seeds of various kinds on it
and waited for results. The first re-
suit was the arrival Of crow, and a
few friends Of his who evidently had
been sitting about somewhere on a
hilltop and congratulating each other
on the prospect Of fat year. I dis
covered them one morning deployed
about the lot on which corn had been
planted, taking their breakfast. Other
crows, apparently having had enough
to eat, occupied positions on high trees,
and cawed a warning when any human
creature was observed approaching. I
fastened to the center of the field,
amid a beating of black wings, and the
sound of innumerable angry caws and
examined the hills in each Of which I
had dropped fifteen or twenty kernels.
One or two of them still contained
these kernels; the remainder had been
stripped clean.
The next day l hired a nelghbor to
build me a scarecrow. 1t was a very
formidable scarecrow when it was COM
pleted and set out, an effigy with a
sinister visage, and huge rake held
in one fiabby cotton stuffed hand. The
artist was sitting on nearby fence,
viewing it with pride, and I felt that
he was justified, for not crow was
In sight. But that afternoon, when ]
returned to the field the destroyers
were again gathered together, and feed
ing fat on what l had hoped to be the
foundation of my career as an agricul-
turist. Having no gun, / merely rushed
forward, brandishing a hoe had
brought along with me. The crows
looked up, observed that all was not
well, and lazily tapped to a grove of
pines, where they perched and made
comments, evidently about me to one
another.
In bed that night thought this busi'
ness over and made up my mind that
what the average farmer lacks Is the
intelligence to adopt modern methods
So I designed and built a new kind OF
scarecrow. It had the outward SEM
blance of ferocious beast, something
like a tiger and something like d.
nosaur, and buried under Its bosom
was a radio receiving set which roared
forth the loudest programs that could
be provided by high-powered ampli'
fer. When 1t was installed and ready
I turned on the current, and with the
aid of a spy glass, observed Its effect.
AS soon as It got warmed up and
went to work in earnest on duet be
tween a tenor and mezzo soprano,
felt like Columbus must have felt when
he first discovered land on which nc
white man had, up to that time, ever
trod The crows who had perched OIL
its head and arms rose in a body emit
ting caws of terror, and did not pause
in their flight till they were far dowr
nm the horizon. I do not, and never