BIRDS AS WEED SEED DESTROYERS. 25 



the blades of the grain may be somewhat blackened but no detrimental 

 effects can be noticed, either to the crop or grasses seeded with it, two 

 weeks after spraying. 



Daisies, cocklebur, bindweed, ragweed, chicory, sheep sorrel, yellow 

 dock, wild lettuce and many other weeds were partially or wholly eradi- 

 cated from the fields where tests were made for the extermination of 

 mustard." 



In Ohio Selby has found the common salt solution best for 

 dandelions, Canada thistle, poison ivy and horse nettle, and either 

 the iron sulphate or salt solution effective on timothy meadow 

 weeds such as wild mustard, white-top, yarrow, etc. The copper 

 sulphate solution is poisonous to stock and should therefore not be 

 used in pastures. The use of sprays for weed killing has not yet 

 passed the experimental stage, but enough has been done to prove 

 its effectiveness on the worst weeds of meadows, pastures and road- 



The application of salt, coal-oil or some acid to the roots of 

 perennial weeds immediately after they have been cut close with 

 scythe or hoe has proven effective in many instances. In pastures, 

 where salt alone should be used, the stock often aid materially in 

 keeping down the weeds, by attempting to secure the salt from 

 about the roots. 



12. Protect the seed-eating birds. — Were it not for the aid 

 given him by seed-eating birds the subjugation of many of our 

 worst weeds would be for man a hopeless task. Each fall and 

 winter they flock by thousands to the farms and gardens and live 

 upon the ripened seeds of weeds. The birds which are most bene- 

 ficial as seed eaters are the sparrows and finches of the family 

 Fringillida;, 38 of which are known to occur in Indiana, 17 of them 

 being found here in winter. The chief character which distinguishes 

 this family is a. thick, cone-shaped bill which is shorter than the 

 head and abruptly angulated or drawn down at the corners of the 

 mouth. With this they can crack the hard outer shell of most of 

 the smaller seeds and feed upon the rich nutritious kernels within. 



Two of the most common and most beneficial of the sparrows 

 which winter with us are the tree sparrow and the junco or snow- 

 bird. These two nest far up in . British America but arrive in 

 numbers from the north about mid-October and remain till April 

 1st or later. They live almost wholly upon the seeds of such 

 annual weeds as foxtail, ragweed, smartweed, bindweed, crab- 

 grass and pigweed. Prof. F. L. Beal of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture examined the stomachs of many tree sparrows, finding 



