No. 199.] 527 



» protecting the birds wliich protect us from the ravages of intsect ; and 

 the club entertains the hope that all our States may follou*. And that 

 the secretary communicate a copy of this resolution, to the Legislature 

 of that State. 



Unanimously adopted. 



Dr. Underbill. — I wish that the crow had been included in the ad- 

 mirable law we have just read. The moral courage required is not 

 less than the wisdom, to pass such a law. If all men were aware of 

 the incalculable benefits which we obtain from the^birds, no one would 

 touch an egg, or harm the useful creature. The crow does more good 

 when he follows the farmers plough, and swallows immense numbers 

 of the grey, the black and the white grubs, which do a hundred times 

 more harm to the crops, than the crows do to the seed. Besides it is 

 so easy to prevent this useful bird from picking up your seed corn. 

 Carry a white cotton line around the field, supported on poles about 

 ten or twelve feet high, and crows will not go inside for a long time j 

 but if he should, you may hang here and there bits of bright tin to the 

 line, these turning about and casting reflections, make crows 

 utterly avoid the interior. The good done by destruction of these 

 grubs which are the larva of insects, is double, for both as larva and 

 insects they are enemies of our crops. Further we should soak the 

 seeds over night in a solution of salt petre, made by dissolving one 

 ounce of it in one quart of hot water, when you can bear your hand 

 in it, then put in the grain and stir it well. Next day pour off the 

 water and roll it in plaster of Paris, or wood ashes, so that every grain 

 gets a coat. Soak the Indian corn in the same way, and next day 

 stir it in a solution of a wine glass full of tar in a quart of hot water j 

 when the water is cooled so that you can bear a hand in it. This we 

 call glazing the corn ; then roll it in plaster or ashes as above. 



Dr. Elliot. — Unless this glazing be very thin there may be diffi- 

 culty in the growth of the corn. 



Dr. Underbill. — Some of the small birds, one of the woodpecker 

 can even scrape off from the haves of the trees with their bills, the 

 aphis of eggs of insects deposited with a glutinous mass to make them 

 stick. The Southern States protect the turkey buzzard by a fine of 



