120 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Wliere these birds are numerous in tiie fall, winter and 

 early spring, the}^ destroy nearly all the weed seeds to be 

 found. This is well shown by Dr. Judd, in his admirable 

 report on the relation of sparrows to agriculture. On a 

 Marjdand farm in 1S96 he found sparroAvs swarming during 

 the month of December. In a tangle of smartAveed the 

 ground was literally black with seeds which had been cracked 

 open by the birds and the meat removed. In a rectangular 

 space eighteen inches square were found 1,L')0 such remains 

 of seeds and only 2 whole seeds. Th(» birds fed in the 

 locality well into May, and no Kmartireed grew the enmiing 

 year where the birds had caused this extensive destruction.* 



Prof. F. E. L. Beal, who has perhaps made as extensiv^e 

 studies of the food of birds as any one now living, estimates 

 that the tree sparrows in the State of Iowa eat 875 tons of 

 weed seed each Avinter, and he allows onh' 10 birds to the 

 square mile.f 



Good farmers are supposed to grow no Aveeds ; but any 

 one travelling through Massachusetts in August or Septem- 

 ber may be surprised, perhaps, to see that most farmers 

 groAV them abundantly. Most of the fields Avhere corn, 

 potatoes and other crops have been groAvn are so covered 

 Avith Aveeds at that season that in manj' places it is difficult 

 to see the crop from a distance. No doubt these rank 

 growths are a compliment to the soil, but they are no com- 

 pliment to the cultivation. The fields of Massachusetts are 

 not alone in this condition. In truth, there are more weed 

 seeds for the birds than l)irds to take care of them. Where 

 the hay fields and meadoAA^s are closely and often cropped, 

 fcAver weeds have a chance to mature their seed ; but even 

 there some loAV-growing plants are left, which survive the 

 cutting, and weeds come in. Where weeds are alloAved to 

 groAV all tlu'ough the iall months, birds cannot be expected 

 to destroy them all. 



In oiu' garden Ave haw attempted to keep the weeds in 

 subjection. This in 1900 Avas almost an impossibilit3^ In 



* Bulletin No. 15, Division Biological Survey, United States Department of 

 Agriculture, p. 28. 



t Fanners' Bulletin No. 54, United States Department of Agriculture, p. 28 

 (18'.i7) . 



