74 BULLETIN 621, U. . S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 
of the landowners, especially those in the southern colonies, still 
resorted to the " grain minder " — the negro children in many cases 
being thus employed. At the. same time various mechanical devices 
came to be used to do the tedious work, and experiments, which 
doubtless had their origin in Europe in the use of certain deterrents 
applied to the seed grain, also were tried, thus making the crops in 
question at least partially immune to the attacks of these birds. Sev- 
eral of these deterrents have proved effective and by their use many 
farmers have reduced in large measure their annual losses from 
crows. 
FRIGHTENING DEVICES. 
It is not necessary to describe in detail the many well-known de- 
vices employed as "scarecrows." These include the time-honored 
straw-stuffed human effigy; various unusual objects, as pieces of 
shining tin moving in the wind, glass bottles, windmills which oper- 
ate noise-producing mechanisms, ears of corn and newspapers placed 
on the ground ; twine stretched about and across the fields from poles 
placed at intervals; and bodies of dead crows hung in conspicuous 
places. One or another of these contrivances has brought the desired 
results on occasions, but all have failed at other times. None can be 
considered infallible. 
DETERRENTS. 
Much of the damage to corn and other grains is at sprouting time. 
The difficulty, however, has been met fairly well by the application 
of deterrents upon the seed. Experiments along this line have been 
made for -many years and as early as the beginning of the nineteenth 
centur}^ methods had been perfected. Even at that time several dif- 
ferent substances had been used to coat the seed. The most successful 
involved the use of coal tar. Since these early experiments many 
other methods and formulas embodying the use of tar have been 
devised. These, however, varied but little and aimed merely to secure 
an even and thorough coating of the seed, which was followed by a 
drying process either by spreading the grain or by the application 
of some drying medium, as lime, ashes, or land plaster. 
A few years ago the Kansas State Agricultural College Experiment 
Station conducted a series of experiments to ascertain the usefulness 
of certain deterrents on seed grain against burrowing animals. Inci- 
dentally the effect of these various substances upon the germinating 
powers of the seed was investigated. In a report 1 on this wofk, 
Theo. H. Scheffer stated in part: 
Kerosene, crude petroleum, copperas, crude carbolic acid, fish oil, and spirits 
of camphor, when used in sufficient quantity or strength to impart an odor to 
the corn, seriously injure the germinating powers of the grain. To treat the 
iCirc. 1, Kansas State Agr. Coll. Exp. Sta., p. 3, April 28, 1909. 
