122 GARDEN STEPS 



plants. The worm much prefers the sweetened bran, 

 but one meal is always enough. Apparently, birds, 

 dogs, and cats know that this is poison, for there is 

 no record at hand to show any danger from its use 

 in this way. 



Com Worm. — There is also a corn worm, a lively 

 fellow, with brilliant yellow stripes down his black 

 back, who eats the silk from the young ears. These 

 worms do not often appear in such numbers as to 

 do great harm before they are detected and picked 

 off. A spray of arsenate of lead will check them if 

 they become too numerous. 



Crows and Blackbirds. — Some gardeners have 

 been driven almost to despair by the crows, which 

 perch on near-by trees waiting impatiently for them 

 to go into the house. The crow has almost super- 

 natural skill in locating the kernels of corn where 

 they have been dropped and sometimes cleans up 

 a whole patch before it has sprouted. 



The Yale University Department of Agriculture 

 made careful investigation on this point and reported 

 that if the patch were cross harrowed, after the corn 

 was planted, the crows would be able to find very 

 few seeds. Apparently the crow recognizes the spot 

 which has been stirred to put in the kernels, but if 

 all the earth has been stirred, he is at fault. The 

 corn itself will not be moved at all by the spike, or 

 hackney harrow, as has been amply proved. 



Washing the seed corn in a weak sulpho-naphthol 



