ILLINOIS HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 281 



great damage; and some persons come to the conclusion that we 

 must wage a continual war of extermination against these foes. I, for 

 my part, do not think so, and have followed a different course. 1 make 

 war only on such birds and insects as do me a positive injury, 

 and only at such time and so long as is necessary to protect myself 

 from loss by their depredations. Most birds do us so little damage 

 that the good they do probably overbalances the harm, and in my 

 experience of over twenty years, I have never made war on but two 

 kinds of birds, the cherry bird or wax-wing and the oriole, both of 

 these I have killed by the thousand, and find that a No. 12 bore 

 breach-loader, with plenty shell, loaded with No. 10 shot in the hands 

 of a boy ten years old, is about the best means to do it with. But 

 as indicated above, I do not kill birds of any kind, except when I 

 can, by so doing, protect my crops. There is, however, one exception 

 to this rule, and that is the English sparrow. I kill them wherever I 

 can find them on my place, as I prefer the native birds, which the 

 sparrow will drive off if allowed to do so. 



There are some birds that never do us any harm, and should be 

 encouraged to breed on our premises. Foremost among these I con- 

 sider the wren and bluebird. These can be encouraged to do so by 

 putting up boxes for them to nest in, where they will be secure from 

 their foes, especially the cat. Crows and hawks should also be pro- 

 tected, which to some may seem strange, as by many these birds are 

 considered great nuisances. The crow, I think, never does us any 

 harm, except when he pulls some late planted corn, which can be 

 easily prevented by planting the corn so deep that the grain will not 

 pull up with the young plant, or by tarring the seed before planting. 

 The crow is a knowing bird, and, like myself, is not so fond of work 

 as to do it when it don't pay; so if he finds the corn is tarred and 

 unfit to eat, or if the young shoots break off and leave the grain in 

 the ground, he will leave your field in disgust and try some other. 

 But, no doubt, you will ask, " Why not kill the hawks? Don't they 

 kill chickens?" I answer, Yes, sometimes: and when they do, I kill 

 that hawk. But hawks live largely on field mice, and should, on 

 that account, be let alone, except when one gets a taste of chicken 

 meat and goes to raiding the barnyard. • 



I want to speak a good word for the skunk. This little animal, 

 despised and killed by nearly every one, is one of our best friends, 

 living, as it does, almost exclusively on insects; and, unlike most in- 

 sect-eating creatures, the insects which it eats are largely injurious. 



And I want to say, don't kill the snakes, except the rattler, 

 which is the only one in our part of the country that is rea]ly poi- 

 sonous. Snakes are great destroyers of field mice, and do us no harm 

 whatever. 



As to insects, T hold about the same views: kill them when they 

 are doing, or likely to do harm; otherwise let them alone. Nature 

 usually keeps up a proper balance in these matters. Some insects 



