90 THE COMMON CROW. 



Naturalist,' published in 1833. Dr. Godman's account of the Crows' 

 attacks on the newly planted corn and the method of preventing 

 serious damage is so interesting that it is given almost entire. He 

 says : " Woe betide the cornfield which is not closely watched, when the 

 young grain begins to shoot above the soil ! If not well guarded, a host 

 of these marauders will settle upon it at the first light of the dawn, 

 and before the sun has risen far above the horizon, will have plundered 

 every shoot of the germinating seed, by first drawing it skillfully from 

 the moist earth by the young stalk, and then swallowing the grain. 

 The negligent or careless planter, who does not visit his field before 

 breakfast, finds, on his arrival, that he must either replant his corn or 

 relinquish hopes of a crop; and without the exertion of due vigilance 

 he may be obliged to repeat this process twice or thrice the same season. 

 Where the Crows go to rob a field in this way they place one or more 

 sentinels, according to circumstances, in convenient places, and these 

 are exceedingly vigilant, uttering a single warning call, which puts the 

 whole to night, the instant there is the least appearance of danger or 

 interruption. Having fixed their sentinels, they begin regularly at one 

 part of the field, pursuing the rows along, pulling up each shoot in 

 succession, and biting off the corn at the root. * # ■ * 



u Numerous experiments have been made, where the crows are thus 

 injurious, to avert their ravages; and the method I shall now relate I 

 have seen tried with the most gratifying success. In a large tub a 

 portion of tar and grease were mixed, so as to render the tar suffi- 

 ciently thin and soft, and to this was added a portion of slaked lime in 

 powder, and the whole stirred until thoroughly incorporated. The 

 seed corn was then thrown in, and stirred with the mixture until each 

 grain received a uniform coating. The corn was then dropped in the 

 hills, and covered as usual. This treatment was found to retard the 

 germination about three days, as the mixture greatly excludes mois- 

 ture from the grain. But the Crows did no injury to the field ; they 

 pulled up a small quantity in different parts of the planting, to satisfy 

 themselves it was all alike ; upon becoming convinced of which, they 

 quietly left it for some less carefully managed grounds, where pains 

 had not been taken to make all the corn so nauseous and bitter." 



Dr. Godman saw this method used in Anne Arundel County, Md., 

 probably about the year 1800, and essentially the same plan is still in 

 use in the same vicinity. In neighboring States tar in some form — coal 

 tar, gas tar, or wood tar — is used with equally good effect. 



Mr. Marcus S. Crane, of Caldwell, Essex County, N. J., describes the 

 method practiced in his vicinity as follows: "Most farmers in this 

 section have adopted the coal-tar method, viz : Before planting, a half 

 bushel or more of corn is put in a vessel, slightly moistened with warm 

 water, and enough coal or gas tar dropped in to give each kernel a thin 

 coating when stirred; after this, plaster of paris is stirred in until the 

 corn is nearly white. When this plan is used, Crows will not injure 

 corn after they pull a little and find what is on it." 



