134 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



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stated, for about 10 cents apiece, the number 

 cf bi'-f\- iiust have been considerably over 

 3000, and the total destruction was probably 

 at least one-half greater. The same man has 

 sent, during this season, from the early spring 

 until the present time, an average of 300 

 birds a day to a William street taxidermist, 

 200 a day to a Bleecker street man, and from 

 100 to 150 per day to a dealer in Kevv Jersey, 

 or an average of between 600 and 7(0 birds 

 daily for a period of four mouths, making a 

 total of not far from 70,000 birds in all. This, 

 be it remembered, is from one single village 

 on Long Island. It should be added that, be- 

 sides these birds sent to the dealers, this same 

 individual sends in a vast quantity of snipe to 

 the New York markets. 



Of all the cases which have come under our 

 notice since we first set on foot inquiries in 

 regard to this subject this is the most appal- 

 ling, but there are others that are only less 

 so. A father and two sons shot for three 

 weeks near Kockaway, and made over 2000 

 skins; there is a man at Sag Harbor, and an- 

 other at Shelter Island, who are preparing 

 skins; a man near Bath does the same. In 

 fact, there seems to be a great opportunity for 

 Game Protector G. W. Whittaker, whose 

 jurisdiction extends over the counties of 

 Kings, Queens and Suffolk, to do a lot of mis- 

 sionary work in enforcing the statute for the 

 protection of insectivorous birds. 



The evil to which we are calling attention 

 is not, however, confined to any one section 

 of the country. The water birds, perhaps be- 

 cause they are larger than our insectiverous 

 birds, seem to be quite as eagerly sought afier 

 as the land birds, and are shot literally by 

 myriads. The dealers complain that there are 

 "no sea swallows now." Strange, is it not, 

 that there shouldn't be none ? The following 

 extract from the Baltimore Sun may suggest 

 an explanation of the mystery. Read it : 



'' During a recent trip with the Orpheus 

 Sailing Club, of Baltimore, to the well-known 

 Cobb's Island, the following fiicts were ascer- 

 tained and created a very unpleasant impres- 

 sion : An enterprising woman from New York 

 has contracted with a Paris millinery firm to 

 deliver during this summer 40,000 or more 

 skins of birds at 40 cents apiece. With sev- 

 eral taxidermists she was carrying out the 

 contract, having engaged young and old to 

 kill birds of different kinds, and paying them 

 10 cents for each specimen not too much 

 mutilated for millinery purposes. The plumage 

 of most of the birds to be obtained at this 

 island is plain, but with the assistance of a 

 little dye it is soon transformed into that of 

 the gayly-colored tropical birds. The birds 

 comprised in this wholesale slaugliter are 

 mainly the different species of gulls and terns, 

 or sea swallows, of which many species in 

 large numbers could formerly be found upon 

 this island. But now only a few of ihese 

 graceful birds remain upon Cobb's Island 

 itself, and the pot-hunters, or rathur the skin- 

 hunters, have to go some distance to cany 

 out their cruel scheme. If we consider that 

 with each old bird killed— and only old birds 

 have a suitable plumage— also many of the 

 young birds, still unable to take care of them- 

 selves, are doomed to starvation, this whole- 

 sale slaughter becomes still more infamous 

 and criminal." 



We happen to know that the above is no 

 exaggeration, but is strictly true. Is this not 

 a rather alarming state of affairs ? On the 

 whole, it is about as bad as what is taking 

 place on Long Island. 



Now what is the public, and especially the 

 great army of bird lovers in the United States, 

 going to do about this ? What do the farmers 

 and fishermen think of the destruction of 

 their friends and allies, the birds ? 



It is an easy matter to sit still and do 

 nothing. It will be some trouble to call the 

 attention of one's friends and neighbors to 

 the subject, and to urge each one of them to 

 do what he can to stop this butchery ; some 

 trouble to warn off from one's premises every 

 man who carries a gun ; some trouble to go a 

 little out of your way to speak to the local 

 game protector, or to write him a lelter.— 

 Forest and Stream. 



VITALITY OF WEED SEEDS. 



How is the vitality of the seeds of our most 

 common weeds, such as dock, sorrel, chick- 

 weed, shepherd's purse, white daisy, etc., 

 aftected by the action of the digestive organs 

 of animals ? This inquiry was addressed to 

 Professor Maynard. He answers in a bulle- 

 tin published by the Massachusetts Experi- 

 ment Station : Seeds were fed to a horse, and 

 the refuse collected. Upon examination, it 

 was found that unless the seeds were crushed 

 they remained uninjured and germinated 

 readily. The experiment was repeated sev- 

 eral times with the same result. 



This point settled, it becomes important to 

 know how the same seeds are affected by the 

 action of the compost heap, for while the 

 farmer should not allow weed seeds to mature 

 on his farm, such seeds do ripen, and it is 

 necessary to provide means for their destruc- 

 tion. For this purpose a series of experi- 

 ments were carried out, the result of which is 

 that seeds are destroyed if exposed to a tem- 

 perature of from 90° to 110° F. for from five 

 to seven days in a moist compost heap. In a 

 dry compost heap, where the temperature 

 runs as high as the above, the seeds were 

 found but little injured. The efliciency of 

 this mode of destruction depends upon the 

 maintenance of a continued high temperature 

 and moisture, which will cause the seeds to 

 eitlier germinate and then decay, or to decay 

 before germinating. The amount of moisture 

 can be easily regulated, and by properly work- 

 ing over any pile of compost containing a 

 large amount of organic matter the required 

 amount of heat may be obtained. From the 

 above experiments it would seem doubtful if 

 the practice of keeping swine upon manure 

 piles to cause slow decomposition is the best 

 for manure containing weed seeds. It is also 

 doubtful if the seeds of weeds, often put into 

 the pens where pigs are kept, will be de- 

 stroyed by the action of the little heat there 

 generated. It would probably be safer in 

 both of the above cases to compost the ma- 

 nure in large piles before using it upon the 

 land. 



The,white daisy has become so abundant in 

 many of our meadows that it is important to 

 know at what stage of its blooming the seeds 

 become ripe enough to germinate. In other 

 words, if this weed is cut with the grass, are 

 its seeds mature and dangerous ? On this 



point Professor Maynard reports : After a 

 series of careful examination it has been de- 

 cided that when the floWer first reaches its 

 lull expansion few or no seeds are mature 

 enough to germinate, but that it requires 

 only a few days for these seeds to mature to 

 full ripeness. In view of these facts it would 

 not seem safe for the farmer to depend 

 wholly upon the early stage of cutting, but to 

 afterwards compost all manures made from 

 fodder containing weeds of any kind. — Phila. 

 Press. 



THE GOOD WELL. 



It is doubtful if pools and ponds ever fur- 

 nish fit water for stock ; it is certain that they 

 do not at this season. Streams fed and kept 

 continually running by rocky springs furnish 

 pure water, but over a greater part of this 

 country the streams are fed only by surface- 

 washings. Such streams are made swollen 

 torrents by rains, carrying in their waters 

 much filthy sediment ; in the dry intervals 

 they degenerate into chains of slimy pools. 

 Wells only can be depended on in such regions, 

 and not all wells, for many of them yield 

 water unfit for human consumption, and what 

 is not good enough for the farmer is not good 

 enough for his stock. 



Much ef the disease among farm stock is 

 due to the impurity of the water they drink. 

 Dr. Detmers, in his investigations of the 

 swine plague, found that the haceilli were so 

 well preserved in water containing an admix- 

 ture of organic matter and so often conveyed 

 by filthy streams that he pronounced these 

 streams the most fruitful agents in the spread- 

 ing of this disease. The danger, of course, 

 is greatest during hot weather. 



The good well is dug in a dry time. Wet 

 weather wells cannot be depended upon. They 

 fail just when they are most needed. Often 

 they are fed from "seaps," and the water is 

 unwholesome. A dry weather well is fed by 

 an underground stream, uncontaminated, cool 

 and constant. 



A good well is not less than twenty feet 

 deep. The deeper the vein of water is struck 

 the better it is. The shallower the well the 

 warmer its water will be and the more defiled 

 from the decaying matter in and ou the soil. 



The good well has a tiglit wall — so tight 

 that the earth cannot crumble through, and 

 tight enough to keep out rats, mice, toads, 

 snakes, etc. Brick, hard-burned, make the 

 best wall. They will last as long as tlie well 

 will. Stone walls are rarely made close 

 enough. Even in soil where there is no 

 danger of the walls caving in, they should be 

 be tight. 



The wall of the good well is built up for at 

 least a foot above the surface and a broad 

 firm bank of clay made around it. The harder 

 this clay is stamped the better. It will keep 

 out rats, mice, etc., for it will soon get so 

 hard that they cannot tunnel through it ; even 

 the mole will give it up in disgust. As clay 

 thus firmed is impervious to water, the bank 

 will keep out surface water, a very important 

 consideration. 



Upon the top of this wall and this bank the 

 good well has a tight enough fitting for the 

 pump to sit upon. It is well to make a shal- 

 low bed of soft cement and lay the platform 

 down on that. Around the platform and over 



