132 WHAT I KNOW OF FARMING. 



thousand years ago, whose forefathers had BO long 

 endured and so unskillfully resisted invasion and 

 spoliation by the Northmen that they had come to 

 be regarded as the sea-kings' natural prey. For 

 generations, it has been customary hereabout to 

 slaughter without remorse the birds, and let cater- 

 pillars, worms, grasshoppers, etc., multiply and ravage 

 unresisted. We must pay for past errors by present 

 loss and years of extra effort. And, precisely because 

 the task is so arduous, we ought to lose no time in ad- 

 dressing ourselves to its execution. 



The first step to be taken is very simple. Let every 

 farmer who realizes the importance and beneficence 

 of Birds teach his own children and hirelings that, 

 except the Hawk, they are to be spared, protected, 

 kindly treated, and (when necessary) fed. " They are 

 to be valued and cherished as the voluntary police of 

 our fields and gardens, constantly employed in fight- 

 ing our battles against our ruthless foes. The boy 

 who robs a bird's nest is robbing the farmer of a 

 part of his crops. He who traverses a farm shooting 

 and mangling its feathered sentinels diminishes its 

 future product of Grain and nearly destroys that of 

 Fruit. The farmer might as well consent that any 

 strolling ruflSan should shoot his Horses or Cattle as 

 his Birds. Begin at home to make this truth felt 

 and respected, and it will be the easier to impress it 

 also on your neighbors. 



Next, there should be neighborhood or township 

 associations for the protection of insect-eating bir Is. 



