THE ROBINS DEFENDED. 



and few, if any, complaints have been made 

 against it on the score of eating apples, 

 peaches, pears, grapes or even the late 

 cherries. By the time these are ripe the 

 woods and hedges are teeming with wild 

 fruits which the bird evidently finds more 

 to its taste. Cherries and strawberries, un- 

 fortiniately, ripen so early that they are al- 

 most the only fruit accessible at a time 

 when the bird's appetite has been sharpened 

 by a long continued diet of insects, earth 

 worms and dried berries, and it is no won- 

 der that at first the rich juicy morsels are 

 greedily eaten." 



THE CASE PRESENTED. 



The case, therefore, stands in this way : 

 It is admitted that during a part of June and 

 July (say for about 30 days) the robin con- 

 sumes a certain amount of small fruit. To 

 this extent the fruit growler is a loser. The 

 farmers and market gardeners, however, 

 lose nothing 'by these birds, but on the con- 

 trary have to depend on them principally to 

 keep in check the underground insects which 

 are so injurious to their crops. Except 

 during the period stated the fruit grower 

 also benefits greatly by the robin's work. 

 Limit the question then to the fruit grower 

 alone and how does it stand ? Suppose each 

 robin ate two ounces of cultivated fruit 

 each day for 30 days, which would be a re- 

 markably liberal allowance. This would 

 give three pounds 12 ounces for each bird, 

 worth in money about, for strawberries 15 

 to 20 cents, and for cherries of the best class 

 30 to 40 cents. xA-s against that every cut 

 worm previously eaten by the bird would 

 have done damage to probably as large an 

 amount if it had been allowed to fulfil its 

 destinv, and then there are tne mvriads of 



other insects which the bird has eaten to be 

 taken into consideration. 



Speaking generally, therefore, it must be 

 considered that the rofcin ranks as one of the 

 most potent factors in preventing the rava- 

 ges of insect pests. 



It may sometimes happen, however, that 

 an individual fruit grower may find that the 

 quantity of fruit taken by the birds is more 

 than he can well bear, although he realizes 

 that generally the robins are beneficial to 

 himself and to the country. When this 

 happens it usually arises from the fact that 

 a great number of birds are concentrated 

 on too small an area, in which case they 

 draw too heavily on the small resources 

 open to them. 



A SIMPLE REMEDY. 



Is it possible then to save the birds and at 

 the same time reduce the loss of fruit so 

 that it shall not be a matter for serious con- 

 sideration ? This problem has been solved 

 by the easy method of providing the birds 

 with fruits which are useless to us, but 

 which they prefer to those we consider the 

 choicest. Probably the two best trees for 

 this purpose are the common red cherry and 

 the Russian mulberry. These are both 

 vigorous growers and profuse bearers, 

 ripening their fruit early, and the birds pre- 

 fer their berries to any of the cultivated 

 sorts. The mulberry is particularly at- 

 tractive to them, flavorless though it seems 

 to be. 



By being a little liberal in planting these 

 trees about the country we can save the 

 small fruits and at the same time have about 

 us robins enough to keep in check the most 

 dangerous enemies of our staple crops of 

 farm and earden. 



An advantage of clover growing in an 

 orchard in autumn is that much of the plant 

 food in the soil which has been liberated and 

 made more easily available by the constant 

 cultivation during the early part of the sum- 



mer, is prevented from leaching by being 

 used by the growing plants, the clover thus 

 becoming a " catch crop " as well as a cover 

 crop. — (W. T. Macoun, Central Experi- 

 mental Farm, Ottawa. 



