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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



am sorry to say that I cannot offer much for your consideration in this 

 line. As regards the sparrow I should like to see a national society for 

 his suppression, but am afraid our individual powers are very limited. 

 The trap, in form of a lobster-pot, which is much advertised, is effective 

 where pheasant or poultry feeding brings flocks together, but is almost 

 useless otherwise ; poison is unlawful and dangerous, and the indiscriminate 

 use of the gun has the disadvantage that it scares away our friends while 

 reducing the number of our enemies. Scaring devices for driving birds 

 away become familiar so soon as scarcely to repay the trouble of erection ; 

 witness the old tale of the nest up the scarecrow's sleeve. I think the 

 best plan is to protect the choicer fruits, and if possible grow enough of 

 the common ones to spare a share to the birds without too much regret. 

 I may mention under the heading of protectors that a small card with a 

 slit in it may be fixed over a Pear in a second by simply opening the slit 

 and pushing it on to the stalk, and that this is an efficient guard against 

 tits. Also with regard to Strawberries, one of our foremen evolved one 

 of the best guards last summer which I have seen out of some lengths 

 of old wire netting. This was three feet wide, and by bending it down 

 the centre he formed an arch wide enough to cover a row, with the great 

 advantage that the birds could not weigh it down by sitting on it and 

 peck the fruit through the meshes, as they do with herring-netting ; it 

 was also much easier to remove and replace. I might add a word of 

 approval for the " Gooseberry garden," a small quarter planted with the 

 best flavoured varieties and protected by a house, so to speak, of wire 

 netting high enough to walk under. This is highly recommended to 

 those who prefer to eat their own fruit from the bushes instead of after 

 it has been spoilt by gathering and keeping. 



As a rule seed and fruit protection is vastly to be preferred to whole- 

 sale destruction of birds ; it is almost as cheap in the long run ; while 

 every lover of nature will admit that though bird ravages are trying at 

 times to temper and pocket, a garden without its natural and proper 

 feathered population would lose more than half its charm. 



