I02 



starved crops. As among cattle it is the poor, thin beasts 

 that get lousy, so in a field of potatoes, the small, stunted 

 plants are the ones that are found with the most bugs up- 

 on them. So the rich field, dressed with ten or more 

 cords of manure per acre and planted to squashes will laugh 

 at the bugs, while squashes sown in a field of deficient 

 fertility generally succumb to insects in spite of the most 

 careful attention. 



ENCOURAGE THE BIRDS. 



There is a balance in nature, which, if disturbed, works 

 injury. One class of animals prevents another class from 

 assuming undue proportions. Birds hold insects in check, 

 as the latter form a large part of the food of the former. 

 The less birds the more insects and vice versa. Every 

 person who tills a piece of ground should do all in his 

 power to protect the birds and encourage them to 

 make their nests upon his premises. While there is a side 

 of sentiment to the question, the songs of the birds being 

 sweet and their companionship dear, yet the idea of utility 

 becomes the paramount issue, and, in this connection, it 

 should always be remembered that the birds are co-labor- 

 ers with man in his efforts to wrest a living from the soil. 



It is certainly a cause of lamentation that the numbers 

 of insect-eating birds appear to be gradually dwindling 

 away. They have their remorseless persecutors. They 

 are caught by cats ; preyed upon by small boys ; shot in 

 fun (?) by men, who are not boys, just for the sake of 

 shooting something; and killed that their beautiful bodies 

 mav be secured for the adornment of ladies' bonnets. 

 Even the farmer himself has been known to make this 

 mistake when he has fancied himself imposed upon. But 

 we can afiford to allow the crow a few hills of corn and 

 the robin some cherries, since a large part of the food of 

 both these birds consists of injurious insects. 



