3l8 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



But do not the sparrows build in your house gutters or cornices, 

 does some one say? Not at all. They did try it when we first oc- 

 cupied the house five years ago ; and the next year they tried it a 

 little, then they quit. All we did was to brush their sticks and straws 

 away. Since then every sparrow in town seems to know as soon 

 as hatched that our dwelling cannot be used as a breeding place ; 

 and I think it is only from their breeding places, or near by, that they 

 drive other birds. Keep them off our houses and outbuildings ; 

 they will find other places along the business streets where they get 

 the most of their food ; and they do not seem to go very far from 

 (hciT ni^rt? to get their food or interfere with other birds. 



A lad >• tells me she thinks the gradual abatement of the house 

 fly nuisance in Minneapolis is due to the services of the sparrows in 

 leveling and scattering the unsightly and malodorous heaps in the 

 streets that were so often seen before the advent of the sparrow, and 

 always in summer covered with flies depositing their eggs. 



The rate of possible increase of the sparrow is great ; the actual 

 rate is alarming in this climate. Nature has provided limitations. 

 The cod-fish lays eggs by the million. When the cod-fish get so 

 thick in the Atlantic that flying machines become indispensable in 

 going from New York to Liverpool, then we may fear the sparrow 

 flocks will desolate northern fields, but not before. 



Now who of us advocates the shooting of the blue-jay? Yet he 

 will keep awake nights thinking of the thirst for blood he will gratify 

 in the morning robbing other birds' nests and killing motherless 

 incubater chickens. His beauty and his ability to pass remarks in 

 four hundred languages protect him from general slaughter. Let 

 the bravery and optimism of the English sparrow shield him from 

 the gun. He is a good example for horticulturists in that. 



If we are to kill all the birds that do mischief occasionally, we 

 shall have few songs birds left. I know gardeners and fruit growers 

 who kill robins, the brown thrushes, the catbirds, etc., and even the 

 orioles, because they think they have to protect their crops. 



As to services rendered, there is abundant evidence that they 

 bring up their nestlings mostly on insect-food and that the adults 

 of the species, while eating many noxious insects, get the most of 

 their seed food as scavengers in town and citv streets. 



Treating Currant and Gooseberry Rust.— This disease attacks all 

 varieties of currants, and the foliage of gooseberries as well. It generally 

 appears a little before midsummer. The first indication of the disease is the 

 appearance of small brown spots upon the foliage. If the plants are properly 

 sprayed with Bordeaux the injury can be checked. It is safe to spray once 

 just after the plants are well filled with leaves, and a second time about two 

 weeks before the spots or rust may be expected. 



