384 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May 28 
is absolutely no proof that any one of these species 
would have gained a foothold had it been allowed to 
come in. Probably no one has more experience in 
matters of this kind than this same California inspec¬ 
tor, yet 1 have no doubt that Mr. Craw, with all his 
acknowledged skill and thoroughness, has allowed 
many a species to slip in unobserved, and without any 
harm resulting. 
Dr. L. O. Howard has shown very interestingly that 
insects may be introduced time and again without 
gaining a foothold, and that from some altogether 
unexpected source, we may get some species which 
becomes a first-class pest. I quote from Dr. Howard, 
as follows : “ It appears from what we have shown, 
that very many species are constantly being imported 
which do not become acclimatized. Many of the Euro¬ 
pean species which we should most expect to take 
hold in this country, have not done so, while with 
others it is the unexpected which has happened.” 
This paper by Dr. Howard should be carefully studied 
by all who speak for inspection to prevent the impor¬ 
tation of injurious insects. JOHN is. smith. 
YELLOW FEVER IN CUBA. 
ABE OUR SOLDIERS IN DANGER FROM IT? 
Congress has passed what is known as the Immune 
Volunteer Bill. This bill authorizes the special en¬ 
listment of soldiers who are immune to yellow fever ; 
in other words, persons who have gone through this 
disease and are, therefore, not likely to contract it 
again. 
We recently talked with the medical director of one 
of our large life insurance companies regarding this 
matter. This man has had a large hospital practice, 
has been in every part of Cuba, and has also recovered 
from yellow fever. He may, therefore, be expected 
to know something about it. 
“ Doctor, how can you tell when a man is immune?” 
“ We cannot tell; we can only take his word for it.” 
“ There is no test you can give, then, to determine 
whether a man lias really had the disease or not ? ” 
“ No, we can only take his statement, which may or 
may not be correct.” 
“ Can you tell when a man has suffered from 
typhoid fever ? ” 
“ Not accurately, unless we can make a post-mortem 
examination, neither can we tell whether a man has 
had small-pox unless some of the characteristic scars 
are left.” 
“ Are our soldiers likely to suffer from yellow fever, 
in Cuba ? ” 
“ Without doubt, there would be heavy mortality 
among them. That is one reason why the army 
surgeons are rejecting all but the very strongest and 
most vigorous.” 
“ Will our doctors and surgeons be likely to handle 
the disease skillfully ? ” 
“ After they become used to it, but not until they 
have acquired experience. In a disease of this kind, 
experience will be absolutely necessary.” 
“Are all parts of Cuba equally unhealthful ? ” 
“ No, back among the hills and mountains in that 
country, the climate is reasonably healthful. The 
greatest danger lies around the larger towns and 
cities. This comes from the awful sanitary condition, 
for which the Spaniards are largely responsible. 
Practically no efforts are made to keep the cities clean 
and free from disease. I have been in Havana during 
the small-pox epidemics, and frequently saw patients 
afflicted with the disease in doorways or on sidewalks, 
mingling freely with passersby. The poorer people 
were generally ignorant, and would not even submit 
to vaccination or ordinary sanitary precautions unless 
ordered to do so by the government.” 
“Do you consider that the Cubans are capable of 
governing themselves ? ” 
“ Unquestionably, T do. They are superior in this 
respect to the people of most of the South American 
republics. In every college or technical school in this 
country, j'ou will be sure to find several Cubans. In 
fact, most of the young Cubans come to this country 
to acquire their education, and in doing so, can hardly 
help picking up more or less of the spirit of American¬ 
ism. You will find that this will be the class of 
Cubans that will come to the front when Cuba is left 
to govern herself.” 
Varieties of Asparagus.—E. G., Tennessee.—The varieties of 
asparagus most desired in the New York market are Colossal 
and Palmetto. The bunches range from 2% to 3 pounds in weight. 
Make two assortments, and class as primes .and culls. White 
grass is cut from beds where roots are planted 18 to 20 inches 
deep, and is, of course, cut just as the tips are coming through 
the surface. Green grass is cut from roots that are planted 
shallow, where it cannot be cut deep enough underground to have 
the stalks of sufficient length. The white grass is said to stand 
transportation better than the green. For shipments from as far 
south as from Tennessee to New York, commission men advise 
packing standing on damp moss. An article on asparagus cul¬ 
ture, giving two illustrations of asparagus boxes, and a buncher, 
was given in Thk R. N.-Y. of March 26. 
The Farmers’ Club 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address of 
the writer to insure attention. Before asking a question please 
see whether it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask 
only a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate 
piece of paper.] 
THE FARM VALUE OF THE CROft. 
HE DOES MORE GOOD THAN HARM. 
C. E., Waterloo , N. H .—Will you give the best way to poison 
crows, and the best way to protect young growing corn from 
them? In your formula for poisoning them please bear in mind 
the safety of the lives of farm animals that may chance to feed 
on the grass where the poisoned bodies of the crows may fall and 
decay. 
ANSWERED BY M. V. 8LINGERLAND. 
The common crow is a much-abused bird. Hut few 
farmers realize that the crow should be classed among 
our beneficial birds. However, this fact was scien¬ 
tifically demonstrated several years ago by our Govern¬ 
ment employees, but it will be a long time before scare¬ 
crows cease to be a familiar sight in American corn 
fields. The charges against the crow are that it pulls 
sprouting corn ; that it injures corn in the milk ; that 
it destroys cultivated fruit, and that it feeds on the 
eggs and young of poultry and wild birds. The 
stomachs of over 900 crows have been carefully ex¬ 
amined by experts ; these crows were shot at various 
seasons of the year, and in different parts of the 
country. All of the above charges were sustained by 
the stomach examinations, so far as the simple fact 
that crows feed upon the substances named. But the 
extent of the injury is a very different matter. The 
total quantity of corn eaten during the entire year 
amounts to 25 per cent of the food of adult crows, and 
only about nine per cent of the food of young crows. 
Leaving the youner out of consideration, it may be 
said that, in agricultural districts, about one-quarter 
of the food of crows consists of corn. But less than 
14 per cent of this corn, and only three per cent of the 
total food of the crow, consists of sprouting corn and com 
in the milk ; the remaining 86 per cent of the corn is 
chiefly waste grain picked up here and there, mainly 
in Winter, and of no economic value. 
In the case of cultivated fruits, the loss is trivial. 
The same is true of the eggs and young of poultry and 
wild birds, the total for the year amounting to only 
one per cent of the food. 
As an offset to his bad habits, the crow is to be 
credited with the good done in destroying noxious in¬ 
sects and other injurious animals. Insects form 26 
per cent of the entire food, and the great majority of 
these are grasshoppers, May beetles, cutworms and 
other injurious kinds. In May and June, during the 
May-beetle season, these beetles form the principal 
insect food of the crow. Only a few stomachs do not 
contain them, and stomachs are often filled with 
them. The fact that the May-beetle season coincides 
with the breeding season of the crow is of special im¬ 
portance, the principal insect food of nestling crows 
consisting of these beetles. Grasshoppers occur in the 
stomachs throughout the year ; in August and through¬ 
out the Fall, they constitute by far the greater part 
of the insect food, often occurring in astonishing num¬ 
bers, and forming the only insect food. To the same 
side of this scale must be added the destruction of 
mice, rabbits, and other injurious rodents, by the 
crow. 
Thus, in summing up the benefits and losses result¬ 
ing from the food habits of this bird, it is clear that 
the good exceeds the bad, and that the crow is a friend 
rather than an enemy of the farmer; he gets only 
three per cent of his food from your corn field, and in 
return, eats nine times as much of your injurious in¬ 
sects during the year. We must, also, not forget the 
good work the crow does as a scavenger. 
Some intelligent farmers who realize the money 
value of the services of the crows, either feed them 
old corn during the time when the growing corn is in 
the milk, or else tar the corn before planting, in both 
cases protecting themselves from the injury the birds 
may do, and at the same time, insuring their help in 
destroying the pests that will surely menace the 
maturing crop. One man states that it costs him but 
one-half bushel of corn and the time required to 
scatter a little around his 10-acre corn field, to protect 
this field from the crows; the crows are very numer¬ 
ous, but no corn is pulled. 
Therefore, I would advise C. E. not to attempt to kill 
the crows, but rather to encourage them to frequent 
his farm. So far as I know, no neat and cheap 
method of wholesale slaughter of these friends of the 
farmer has been devised. Except the birds be trapped 
or shot and their bodies carefully disposed of, I can 
conceive of no method by which they may be destroyed 
without their dead bodies becoming a menace to other 
animals which might eat them. It is an easy matter 
to poison crows. Corn which has been soaked in some 
poison solution, and scattered about, will soon have 
its deadly effect; or the carcasses of other animals 
may be injected or otherwise treated with poison and 
left for the crows to eat. But one should remember 
that, by any poison method yet devised, only a few 
crows are killed. The general disappearance which 
so often follows the use of strychnine must be at¬ 
tributed mainly to the crows’ intelligence; the 
mysterious death of a few serves as a warning to the 
many survivors, who promptly quit the locality. 
There would be little, if any, danger of feeding 
farm animals upon grass growing upon the grave of, 
or even through the body of a crow which had died 
from poison. None of the poison would ever get into 
the plants. Harm could come only where an animal 
ate the poisoned dead body of the crow. Better let 
the crows have three per cent of their food from your 
sprouting corn, for they will take in return nine times 
as much in the form of injurious insects, and you will 
not suffer any stings of conscience at having poisoned 
a few friendly, beneficial and useful birds. 
PLOWING VS. SURFACE CULTIVATION. 
IS PLOWING ALWAYS DESIRABLE ? 
./. A., Ames, la. —In answer to an inquiry about seeding lowland 
for pasture, in Tub R. N.-Y. of April 10, Prof. Roberts recommends 
the use of the Summer fallow. In the treatment of the fallow, he 
advises plowing the land three times during the season. I w r ould 
like to know the extent of the conditions to which this mode of 
treatment is adapted. Most of the land here is a black loam, and 
the principal object in preparing the soil for a Winter crop is to 
make it compact, at the same time to conserve the moisture. We 
prefer to cultivate the surface many times during the season. 
This can be done with the same labor that would be required to 
plow the land three times, and by so doing, we are of the opinion 
that we not only firm the soil, but that we conserve more moisture 
than could be done by using the plow during the dry Summer 
season. I would like to know whether or not our principle is 
correct. 
Ans.—T he point made by J. A. is well taken. The 
directions given in the issue referred to apply not 
only to lowlands, but neglected lands, in the East, 
which have become, in almost every case, overrun 
with undesirable weeds and plants, many of which are 
very tenacious of life ; nothing but heroic treatment 
will serve to fit such lands for the growth of the valu¬ 
able tame grasses. Here in the East, many fields have 
been badly farmed, or not farmed at all, because they 
would not pay the expense of tillage, and there is a 
widely expressed desire for advice as to the best use 
to be made of these neglected areas, and the instruc¬ 
tions given applied to such cases. 
On the friable western prairies, the conditions are 
quite different, and on these light soils, the suggestion 
made by J. A. is a most excellent one, for on such 
lands not infested with Quack grass, Canada thistle, 
daisies and docks, the true principle would be to plow 
once, and then give continuous surface tillage, by 
which means moisture would be conserved, the sub¬ 
surface soil solidified, and far better results would be 
expected than from frequent plowings. Our country 
is so wide, and conditions so varied, that it is impos¬ 
sible to give instructions which will apply to all locali¬ 
ties. It may be said that there are rare cases in which 
it would be preferable not to plow at all. Our re¬ 
claimed boggy lands which have been cultivated long 
enough to eradicate all of the wild plants, are usually 
so light in texture that it is difficult to get the grasses 
to start and maintain themselves when young. Here, 
a little scarifying of the surface and frequent use of 
the roller would be far preferable to any deep or fre¬ 
quent tillage._ i. p. Roberts. 
Clearing Land in Virginia ; Hedge on River. 
./. IF. li., White Hall, Va. —I have about 80 or 100 acres which I 
wish to clear. It is covered with a growth of pine, oak, etc., and 
is too far from market for firewood to be of any value. There 
is considerable undergrowth. How could I best dispose of it? 
Some is on creek bottom laud. The wood is sycamore, some 
cottonwood; is the wood of any value as lumber? Would an 
Osage orange hedge be likely to be effective on a creek bank run¬ 
ning parallel with a creek subject to overflow ? Owing to neg¬ 
lect in cutting timber on the opposite bank, the creek has cut a 
channel 30 feet wide in the bottom, which overflow's on a rise in 
the creek. I thought of digging a ditch across it, setting wil¬ 
low posts, and planking against them with the hope of their 
growing, and cutting the timber on the opposite bank. 
ANSWERED BY .1. C. SENGElt. 
J. W. B. is so situated that it is next to impossible 
to convert much, if any, of his timber into cash at a 
profit. The only question to be considered is how to 
dispose of it to the best advantage. If much of the 
timber is good “ mill stuff,” provided a sawmill is con¬ 
venient, it would pay him to have many thousand 
feet cut into lumber, particularly the pine, into one- 
inch boards ; 2x4, 3x4 and 4x4 for studding, etc.; 
2x6 for rafters and tub silos ; also heavier dimensions 
for joists, corner posts, sills, etc. Most sawyers 
gladly do such work on shares, which method is to be 
preferred when timber is of less consideration than 
cash. J. W. B. may have no immediate use for the 
lumber, but sooner or later, such a time will come. 
Properly stacked, it will keep almost indefinitely, and 
some of his neighbors may yet be glad to pay him a 
