BIRDS AND PASTURAGE 



weeds are not systematically destroyed, the entire- 

 garden will soon be overrun with them, and the useful 

 products choked. So, too, with insects. Kill off 

 their natural enemies, and they multiply and spread 

 with even greater rapidity than weeds, until they cover 

 the entire farm, bringing red ruin to the owner. 



The desirability of careful investigation by trained 

 men into the value or otherwise of birds is brought 

 home by the fact that the Legislature of Pennsylvania, 

 on 23rd June 1885, passed an Act known as the 

 " Scalp Act," for the destruction of hawks, owls, 

 weasels, and minks, providing a bounty of fifty cents 

 each. This Act was passed after a great outcry and 

 much pressure by farmers, and it was fondly hoped 

 that agriculture would benefit wonderfully. 



The law was in operation eighteen months, and 

 in that period of time 90,000 dollars were paid out 

 in bounties. Experts subsequently went thoroughly 

 into the matter and estimated the total annual loss to 

 poultry in the State of Pennsylvania to be about 

 1,250 from the depredations of the birds and animals 

 outlawed. It was calculated that every hawk, owl, 

 and weasel killed about 900 rats and mice annually. 

 The result of the operation of this Act for the one and 

 a half years of its existence was the destruction of 

 128,571 of the most inveterate enemies of rats and 

 mice. The experts put down the total loss to agri- 

 culture for this short period of the reign of stupidity 

 and ignorance at 3,947,130 dollars, or, to put it in 

 another way, the State threw away 2,105 dollars for 

 every dollar saved. This only represented the direct 



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