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the ground to mark the kind of seeds sown in that 

 particular spot. 



There is a certain old Colonel, whom I will not 

 name, for he is not one to court fame, who stoutly 

 declares that the crows, outof pure mischief, change 

 the positions of these papers. He affirms that upon 

 one occasion, when he put slips of paper to mark 

 the position of some portulaccas and some phloxes, 

 the crows actually had the effrontery to transpose 

 those slips during the night. In justice to the crow 

 and for the enlightenment of the reader I may say 

 that the offenders belonged to the anthropoid species. 

 Crows will steal these pieces of paper as they will 

 steal and hide everything portable, but there is no 

 credible evidence to show that they transpose the 

 gardener's labels. 



The crows always keep an eye on the ripening 

 crops. They are expert farmers. They know to an 

 hour when each crop is sufficiently ripe for them to 

 eat it. They turn their knowledge to account, for 

 the moment the crop is ready they betake themselves 

 to the field and each bird selects a promising stalk 

 and half hops, half flies on to the head, grasps it 



