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GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



veals a lingering" spotted sandpiper tlying" low over the 

 water. Green-winged teal are frolicking to the right of 

 the island their privacy broken b\' the intrusion of an 

 inquisitive grebe. The musical waters reflect the incom- 

 parable October sunshine in ripples of gold and azure of 

 the CJctober sky. .Snatches of song from the meadowlark 

 and the sweet call notes of the bluebird alxive break the 

 stillness of the hour. 



A song sparrow, reminiscing in the wonderful balm of 

 the day belies the lateness of the season, as does a solitary 

 robin in the topmost branches of a giant sycamore. An 

 early flock of brant, headed southward sharply contradicts 

 the eftorts of the song sparrow. We also hear the saucy 

 scolding of a belated house wren. Here we find a brown 

 creeper, not seen in many months. Briskly it climbs a 

 trunk in its characteristic fashion exacting its toll of larvse 

 as it ascends. A flock of j uncos take alarm and we note 

 with pleasure the alert and business-like methods of the 

 red-breasted nuthatch, reversing its order of taking toll 

 from that of the brown creeper by working its wa}' from 

 the top downward. The chicadee too lifts its cheery voice 

 from a distance. Red-headed woodpeckers made reckless 

 to the flight of the season with abundant crops of acorn 

 are bitterly quarreling with their competitors, the blue 

 jays. And such exceeding'ly useful allies, the downy and 

 hairy woodpeckers gladden our sight. A pair of mourn- 

 ing doves, which fortunately escaped the eye of the himter, 

 draw us to the open. A nasal call note, in imitation of 

 the goldfinch comes from a flock of pinsiskins busily 

 eating the seeds of the dandelion and we further note a 

 flock of long--spurs quietly stalking the stubble field. 



The appended list discloses such birds as may be found 

 arriving and departing in Northern Illinois during this 

 month. 



Oct. 



15 Chipping Sparrow 



16 Field Sparrow 



17 Blue- winged Teal 

 Caroline Wren 

 Short-billed Marsh Wren 

 Wood Pewee 



18 Catbird 

 Redstart 

 Blue-headed Vireo 



20 Magnolia Warbler 



22 Black and Green Warbler 



2i Water Thrush 



Henslow Sparrow 



24 Scaup Duck 

 Hermit Thrusli 



25 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 



27 Tree Swallow 

 Oven Bird 



28 Meadowlark 

 30 Broad-winged Hawk 



Dep,\rtures 

 Oct. 



1 Maryland Yellow-throat 

 Grinell Water Thrush 



2 Golden Plover 



3 Clay-colored Sparrow 



5 Red-eyed \'ireo 

 Night Hawk 



6 Pectoral Sandpiper 

 Greater Yellow-legs 



7 Solitary Sandpiper 

 Yellow-headed Blackbird 

 Lincoln Sparrow 

 Bay-breasted Warbler 



8 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 

 Baltimore Oriole 

 Grasshopper Sparrow 

 Woodcock 



10 Baldpate 



11 Chimney Swift 

 Osprey 

 Black and Wliite Warbler 



12 Green Heron 



13 Scarlet Tanager 

 Ring-billed Gull 

 House Wren 



14 Bittern 

 Bobolink 

 Palm Warbler 



.-Xrriv.m.s 



4 .American Grossbill 



15 Smith's Longspur 



17 Northern Shrike 



20 Brant 



24 Pipit 



31 Lapland Longspur. 



COMBATING THE SIGN BOARD ALONG THE 

 HIGHWAYS 



{Continued from page 728) 



been accomplished during the past year. Taxing sign 

 boards as proposed by the Governor of Pennsylvania 

 seems to me an excellent move in the right direction, 

 grading the tax according' to measurement and making 

 it particularly heavy for the large boards, with the provi- 

 sion, of course, that a man may advertise a business that 

 is conducted on the property where he wishes to erect 

 a sign, \\ithnut paying any tax. Even under those cir- 



cumstances he should be limited to a sign not larger than 

 6x4 or 24 square feet. 



The American Civic Association has issued a very in- 

 teresting booklet on this Billboard Nuisance and I would 

 like to quote a few paragraphs from it : 



"It is plain conmion sense that if vou are going to 

 build a house, you won't want to buy a lot that has a 

 billboard facing it. That billboard may stay there for 

 }ears. When one owner of a vacant corner lets a bill- 

 board be erected on it, he prevents a ready sale of the 

 other three corners, whether they are built upon or not. 



"So long as the billboard stands, so long will it deter 

 buyers ; it will postpone sales, which means monetary loss 

 from holding the property a long time, paying taxes and 

 losing interest. 



"But it is not only bis neighbors' land that the lessor 

 to the billboard company depreciates. It is his own. If 

 land in the neighborhood won't sell, neither will his. 



"When billboards reduce the value of property, there is 

 a corresponding reduction in the assessments of those 

 properties for taxation purposes. There is also a cor- 

 responding reduction in the borrowing capacity of the 

 city or town, because that capacity is based on a fixed 

 percentage of the total real estate assessment." 



It has been suggested that there is such a thing as 

 reaction from advertising, that there is advertising that 

 induces us not to />;(_v. Tet us also throw all our patron- 

 age to the people who do not offend the public in this way. 

 I have owned and driven motor cars for twenty years 

 and have used many makes of tires and all brands of 

 gasoline. I forget the make of tires I had on my first 

 car in 1901 but I remember in 1904 Diamond Tires 

 seemed to be the best. In 1907 I used the French Alichelin 

 Tires but in the last ten years such improvements have 

 been made that now I could name eight or ten first-class 

 makes any one of which, if I was assured the makers were 

 opposed to sign board advertising, I would be glad to use. 

 \Vhy don't enterprising firms whose competitors are 

 spending much money on big sign boards, advertise in 

 ne\vspa]iers and magazines that they are opposed to sign 

 board advertising and do not use it? I believe their sales 

 would increase tremendously if their product was first 

 class. 



In conclusion, I wish to say that I thoroughly agree 

 with Mr. Clinton Rogers Woodruff. A'ice-President of 

 the American Civic Association and Secretary of the 

 National Municipal League, who writes in The Crafts- 

 man as follows : 



"I must confess to a liking for the boycott remedy. 

 It has a very practical advantage — there are no provoking 

 or perplexing delays, no court proceedings, no injunctions, 

 lu) appeals. It is neat, clean, unmistakable to the one who 

 knows best, and efTective. Not that I underestimate the 

 value of the prohibitive ordinance and act of assembly, 

 or the great influence of the taxing power — because I 

 believe in using everv legitimate weapon in attacking an 

 enemy — Init the boycott is always at hand, and can be 

 applied without delay and without any thought as to its 

 legality. .All that is necessary is to make up your mind 

 that this one thing I v.-ill not do — I will not deal with any. 

 one or use any article that resorts to objectionable adver- 

 tising." 



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