A NATURALIST. 109 



the crows are thus injurious, to avert their ravages; 

 and the method I shall now relate I have seen tried 

 with the most gratifying success. In a large tub a 

 portion of tar and grease were mixed, so as to render 

 the tar sufficiently thin and soft, and to this was 

 added a portion of slacked lime in powder, and the 

 whole stirred until thoroughly incorporated. The 

 seed-corn was then thrown in, and stirred with the 

 mixture until each grain received a uniform coating. 

 The corn was then dropped in the hills, and covered 

 as usual. This treatment was found to retard the 

 germination about three days, as the mixture greatly 

 excludes moisture from the grain. But the crows did 

 no injury to the field : they pulled up a small quan- 

 tity in different parts of the planting, to satisfy them- 

 selves it was all alike ; upon becoming convinced of 

 which, they quietly left it for some less carefully 

 managed grounds, where pains had not been taken 

 to make all the corn so nauseous and bitter. 



JOHN. 



10 



