12^ 



'IHK CAsMHAN Mt>KTTrri,T(THr-^'r. 



i:reen for the codliii moth, a quarter 

 of .-i pound of the pure article should 

 ))e well mixed with about forty gallons 

 of water, and kept constantly stirred 

 while Ijeing applied with a syringe or 

 suitable pump. The proper time to 

 make the application is soon after the 

 fruit is formed and while it is still in 

 an upright position, when small drops of 

 the solution tind their way into the culyx 

 or eye of the apple, and drying deposits 

 there a minute quantit}^ of the poison 

 sufficient to destroy the young larva of 

 the codlin moth as soon as it is hatched. 

 As an additional precauuon a second 

 ;tpl)!ication may lie niade a few days 

 Mt' r the first. Where orchards are in 

 grass the use of this poison is attended 

 with danger as a large proportion of 

 tliH mixture will necessarily fall to the 

 ground and lodge on the l)lades of grass 

 and in the little ht'llows about their 

 tjase. and to some extent I'emaining 

 the.ro may seriously injure any cattle fed 

 with it. When Paris green is used, it 

 should be associated with clean culture, 

 or otherwise animals should be kept out 

 of the orchard, and the grass, if cut, be 

 allowed to decay on the ground. 



SPARROWS AND OTHKR BIRDS. 



Dear Sir, —Having read in our 

 " Journal," " TIi.n ('aua'/ian TTnrficul- 

 tiirist," several interesting letters and 

 articles on the above subject, I take the 

 liberty of sending you some extracts 

 from articles in the Leisure Hour, etc., 

 which, though much curtailed, form a 

 rather long letter, yet I am sure they 

 will be of interest to our fellow mem- 

 bers and agriculturists in general. 



k club for the destruction of sparrows 

 and other birds was in formation in one 

 of the counties of PjUgland. At the 

 inaiiginul meeting the following facts 

 were elicited : — 



()ne fiirmer having de.^troyed upwards 

 of 1U,UUU small birds in the season, yet 



his cro]is were not even up to the aver- 

 age of the neighbouring farmers, being 

 eaten up with wire worm and grubs. 



Another farmer having killed five 

 birds that morning opened their crops, 

 and found that a crow or rook which 

 was busy with his beak at the roots of 

 barley, which was just springing from 

 the ground, when shot, contained no- 

 thing in his crop but cockchafer grubs, 

 worms, and some maggots of the cornfly. 

 The truth is that the rook does not, as 

 a rule, attack the he.ilthv blades of coi-n, 

 but sees with the wondei-fi 1 quick sight 

 with which lis Maker las endowed 

 him those whic h are fading and j)erisli- 

 ing, and knows b}^ instintt that thei-e 

 is a worm at the roots of such bhtdes. 

 It is the worm he digs for. not the corn, 

 thougli he will eat that when there is 

 nothing else to get — in the winter, for 

 instance, or dry weather, when the 

 erround is too hard to dig below it. 

 But their natural food is grubs and in- 

 sects ; the wire worm and larvte of the 

 click-beetle they are particulai-ly fond 

 of. They can be seen following close 

 to the heels of the ploughman. Of 

 course, they cannot then be picking up 

 grain as none has V)een sown, but ai-e 

 devouring the grubs and insects which 

 are waiting to devour the crops. \V^e 

 therefere need not grudge them a little 

 of the ripened corn when they are tlriven 

 to it afterwards by hunger, for they 

 have more than earned their share of it. 



Some vears ago an entire district was 

 nearly deprived of its corn harvest in 

 consequence of the rooks having been 

 killed by order ot some of the local 

 a.uthorities, the grulis increased to such 

 an extent that tiiey ate U[)all tlie: oi-ops. 



TIh! sauie thing happened in France 

 before tin; Revolution of I78ii. The 

 Government fouml it necessary to offer 

 rewards for the best method of desti-oy- 

 ing the grubs, and yet the firiners 

 ignorantly went on shooting rooks and 



