Practical Considerations. 



133 



HARROWING IX FALL. 



So satisfied have I been for some time that systematic 

 harrowing of the eggs, or their exposure by other means, 

 in the fall, is the best work that can be done, that I have 

 earnestly urged its enforcement by law whenever the soil 

 in any township is known to be well charged with eggs. 

 A revolving harrow or cultivator will do excellent work, 

 not only in the field, but in the road-ways and other un- 

 cultivated places, where the eggs may be laid. The more 

 the soil is pulverized, after being broken up, the better. 



COLLECTING THE EGGS. 



The eggs are sometimes placed where neither harrowing 

 nor plowing can be employed. In such cases, they should 

 be collected and destroyed by the inhabitants, and the 

 State should offer some inducement in the way of bounty 

 for such collection and destruction. Every bushel of eggs 

 destroyed is equivalent to a hundred acres of corn saved, 

 and when we consider the amount of destruction caused 

 by the young, and that the ground is often known to be 

 filled with eggs ; that, in other words, the earth is sown 

 with the seeds of future destruction, it is surprising that 

 such bounty laws have not been more generally enacted. 

 A few thousand dollars taken out of the State treasury 

 for this purpose would be well spent, and be distributed 

 among the very people most in need of assistance. 



PLOWING. 



Plowing the eggs under deeply, destroys them either en- 

 tirely or in great part, and if some survive, the young hatch 

 so late the next season, that their power for harm is much 

 lessened. Care should be taken not to bring the eggs 

 turned under in autumn to the surface again, by plowing 



