523 
TI-IK RUHA 1 
' \ » “'i L> X V iV I > 
Wonders of Bird Life. 
T HE U.. S. Department of Agriculture 
lias published a most interesting bul¬ 
letin. No. 185, on Bird Migration. This 
tells of the curious passages back and forth 
from one part of the country to another 
which many of our common birds make. 
Some of these voyages have never been 
well understood: in fact even todav no 
,i>«* seems to know what becomes of the 
common chimney swift during the Win¬ 
ter. These birds lodge by night in tall 
chimneys. As Fall goes out great flocks 
of them drift to the South. On the north¬ 
ern coast of the Gulf of Mexico they 
grow to a vast army. Then till of a sud¬ 
den they seem to disappear, and no one 
seems to know what they do with them¬ 
selves during the next five months, but 
promptly in the last week of March back 
they come to the north coast to spread 
over the country once more. They have 
not revealed the secret of their habita¬ 
tion during this vacation. Some of the 
feats of flight performed by our common 
birds are astonishing. Comparison with 
the best flying machines shows up well 
in favor of the bird. The golden plover 
seems to be the champion. This bird can 
fly 2400 miles without making a stop, 
ind the trp is made in not quite 48 
hours. This bird, during this long flight, 
uses only about two ounces of fuel in the 
shape of her body fat. It is stated that 
i 1000-pound aeroplane in a 20-mile 
(light needs a gallon of gasoline. Tf it 
could Ay ns economically as this plover, 
only one pint would be needed. 
The little humming-bird can fly 500 
miles in a single night across the Gulf 
of Mexico. It is said that a vulture or 
crane, after a few wing beats, can set 
its wings and mount in wide circles to a 
great height, and even the most powerful 
telescope directed upon it can detect no 
xertion whatever to induce this motion. 
How do they do it? When man learns a 
part of this secret, and can apply it to 
the aeroplane, we shall think that the 
present wonderful performance of these 
(lying machines was after all but child's 
play. In fact some of the statements 
worked out from actual experiments and 
observation which are given in this Bul¬ 
letin, seem as remarkable as a fairy tale. 
We are apparently just beginning to 
learn the real facts about the habits of 
these birds, and who doubts that such 
study will eventually be reduced to prac¬ 
tical service for humanity? 
he estimates that these sparrows in Iowa 
consume S75 tons of weed seeds in one 
season. He has it all figured out with 
the number of seeds, but that is a littie 
fine, or a little largo for ordinary com¬ 
prehension. At any rate, these Ameri¬ 
can sparrows are weed eaters. They are 
the friends of the farmer, and ought not 
to be shot and killed as is recommended 
for the English nuisance. 
I 
(» 
Improving Cement Floe r; Sparrows. 
On page 217 I see K.’s answer to 
A. C. in reference to cement floor. If 
I were O. A. C. I would mix some clear 
cement in water very thin and pour it on 
cement floor and let it set. I think it 
will help it and help the asphalt to hold 
it better than asphalt alone. 
Sparrows in barn, page 217. If R. H. 
will kill a few of the sparrows and let 
them lie on the plates and in the braces 
and girths of barn I think he will find 
that the sparrows will leave him. They 
bothered me by roosting on a veranda in 
the country and I killed only one and left 
it on top of ti post under veranda and 
they all left. 
New York. j. c. 
Damage to Crops by Wild Game. 
Our experience in North Kingston, 
Washington County, It. I., is as follows: 
Some 10 years ago we planted an apple 
re-hard of 100 trees, and the deer ate the 
hark and tops of every tree, so that all 
'lied but three. We planted rye on fal¬ 
low land over Winter; the deer ate the 
rye. They ate so many vegetables we 
had to rig up a tent and keep a man in 
it all night with a gun in the vegetable 
arden. The buck in Fall is dangerous. 
1 He of them attacked a man on our place, 
(ore his clothing, knocked him down and 
e had a close call until he was able to 
;.et into a tree. The Rhode Island law is 
cry strict about killing deer. w. B. w. 
Native Sparrows. 
''pIIE Department of Agriculture points 
1 out that there are 40 species of spar¬ 
rows in North America, which are 
helpful rather than harmful. While the 
English sparrow is noisy and quarrel- 
cine, the American sparrows seem to 
"‘have themselves, and are not as well 
known as their livelier English cousins. 
The snowbird is a sparrow quite common 
in Winter, and as a rule the American 
varieties resemble the English sparrow 
in general. These American sparrows 
ire mostly seed eaters. The chipping 
qiarrow eats many insects, all the way 
(mm the small weevil tip to good-sized 
grasshoppers. These sparrows have also 
! ”'cn known to eat potato beetles. The 
-‘•’at bulk of their food is made up of 
rass and weed seeds. A few oats have 
'■n found in their stomachs, hut as a 
vale they do not seem to be grain eaters. 
' 11 inter, even when the thermometer 
- tar hehov zero, these American spar- 
: "' vs keep butter fat largely on weed 
' cils. Some patient man, who had 
plenty of time, figures out that the aver¬ 
age sparrow during the Winter will eat 
one-quarter of an ounce of weed seeds 
!";r day. With 10 birds to the square 
ciile, and 200 days for the Winter range, 
The children 
very interesting 
Exterminating Woodchucks. 
HAVE been much interested in 
Wood’s article on woodchucks and 
how to get rid of them, on page 0 
I once owned a dry sandy farm, and of 
all the pests no other could compare with 
that of woodchucks. Every knoll was 
honeycombed with their burrows. In 
clover fields large areas would be eaten 
as close as though pastured by a flock of 
sheep and in cutting the grass on these 
plots the horses would often break 
through and fall into their burrows un¬ 
til they would become so that it was im¬ 
possible to drive them anywhere near the 
mound of dirt showing. Shooting, trap¬ 
ping and poisoning seemed to make but 
little effect in getting rid of them. For 
every one killed it seemed two would take 
its place. One Spring we happened to 
capture a little one so young as to make 
no effort to get away 
tamed him and he was a 
pet, as playful as a kitten and as wise 
as an owl. he would eat almost every¬ 
thing, hut loved sugar better than any¬ 
thing else. By Fall he was full grown 
and so fat as to be almost round. One 
day he was gone, no one could tell what 
had become of him, and the children 
grew disconsolate. Somebody had killed 
Ghuekie. But along late in February he 
showed up one bright sunny day, and so 
poor that he could not crawl up the 
steps into the house. The children were 
more than pleased and took him in and fed 
him all he would eat, and it seemed strange 
how much such a small animal could get 
away with. The next morning he was 
again missing and failed to show himself 
again for a full month. 
Studying the habits taught me how to 
get rid of woodchucks, a simple easy and 
inexpensive way—no shooting, no dyna¬ 
miting, no digging. I just had a lot of 
molasses cookies made the size of a 
half dollar and baked quite hard. I took 
two of these and lightly 
slice of each with molasses 
it with arsenate and put 
surfaces together. With a 
went over the fields and dropped one into 
each hole, being careful to put it down 
beyond the reach-of dogs or fowls. The 
woodchucks being so fond of sweets 
would find, these and no woodchuck after 
eating one would ever come out of his 
hole, but by dying and decaying in the 
hole it would render it uninhabitable for 
others for some time. By visiting each 
locality about once every two weeks I 
soon rid tlie farm of the pests. Twenty- 
five cents worth of white arsenic will 
keep 100 acres free from woodchucks for 
a year. ,t. s. woodward. 
Destroying Woodchucks. —The easi¬ 
est way to get rid of woodchucks is to 
take about a teacupful of salt and mix 
a tablespoonful of Paris green or arsen¬ 
ate of lead with it and drop a small hand¬ 
ful around the mouth of the woodchuck’s 
hole. Woodchucks like salt and after a 
dose of the above mixture they won't he 
smeared one 
and sprinkled 
the poisoned 
lot of this I 
in shape to trouble any 
Cassadaga, N. Y. *' 
one. 
B. It. F, 
sing 
“The 
Music in the Home. 
W IIAT do the boys and girls 
about the home? The song 
High Cost of Loving,” is finding 
way to the country, and probably is 
there already. This is one of the songs 
Rose Morgan pronounces “vile and sug¬ 
gestive. Happily such songs are not 
songs that live. The books a boy or 
girl reads influence no more so than a 
song they sing. 
“Can you join us in singing Annie 
Laurie?” 
“No, all the hoys and girls don’t know 
this song.” which has been called the 
greatest of all love songs, because of its 
purity and fidelity. Let the boys and 
girls sing, encourage them to sing, sing 
the good old gongs that “never die.” Sing 
them at pjfrties, at family gatherings and 
at community festivities. Mrs. Morgan 
says: “We are all going to sing more. 
The old singing school is coming back.” 
It is coming hack, we hope, t" take the 
place of the kissing party, the neighbor¬ 
hood dance with its rowdyism. This 
plea for more and better music, for the 
old-fashioned home and love songs is be¬ 
ing answered in the East and the West. 
Kansas will crown the May Queen in a 
thousand communities. Prof. Hedge of 
South Dakota is making the plea for not 
only more music in the country church, 
home and school hut for better music. 
Even in the hymnal of the country 
church Professor Hedge says there are 
objectionable songs, trashy, so far as till¬ 
ing their mission is concerned. 
Mother (at the breakfast table) : 
“You always ought to use your napkin. 
Georgie.” Georgia: “I am usin’ it. 
mother; I’ve got the dog tied to the leg 
of the table with it.”—Christian Register. 
\ How Many Hides 
y : Has A Cow? 
HO “should worry”? 
You, if you expect to 
buy an automobile, or if 
the one you own is up¬ 
holstered in coated ’’split 
leather” that is rotting- 
and splitting, and giving 
your car a generally dis¬ 
reputable appearance. 
A real cow only grows 
one hide,—too thick for 
upholstery,—suitable only for 
shoe soles, belting, etc. 
To produce genuine grain leath- 
er upholstery, 2 A to •’-* of this thickness is split away, 
io save the by-product, sonic manufacturers split it into two 
or more thin sheets, coat and emboss it to make it look like 
grain leather. 
lienee % to H of all leather upholsterv is coate- splits. 
MOTOR QUALITY 
For Automobiles 
CRAFTSMAN QUALITY 
For Furniture 
Is Guaranteed Superior to Coated Splits 
It is coated and embossed the same way, but with much more co; 
m.q, and the backing is a fabric twice as strong as the average split 
America s largest autoinobilc niantifacturcrs haw used it on hundre 
of thousands of cars with entire satisfaction and better service th 
they formerly got from splits. 
Jn selecting a car, choose one of the many now using it. 
Small Sample Craftsman Quality Free 
or a Piece 18"x25 n , Postpaid, 50c. 
i* J 8 » n n. a !?,. by Wamiuiaker. Philadelphia : M-Creery & Co.. Pittsburgh; 
J. & H. thillfps Pittsburgh; John Shiltito Co.. Cincinnati; Stix Baer-Fuller Co 
St. Louis; 1 lie Palms ltoynl. Washington, I>. C.; Bedell A Co., Washington, id 
. i\ e 'Y, lrt A- I 0 '-’, M,i -: 1 • Eh ton A Co.. Ltd., Toronto and Winni 
peg. 1)11 PenM'ahnknid to., Dll West St.. New York: Davison Paxon Stokes Co.. 
Atlanta (.a., I). N. & h. Walter & Co., San Francisco, l.os Angeles Seattle 
and lortland; Henry 15. Day Co., Los Angeles, and upholstery dealers generally. 
X DU PONT 
AJBRIKOI^ 
*10 U S pat orr 
It- 
ds 
an 
DU 
PONT FABRIKOID CO., Wilmington, 
Canadian Branch: Toronto, Ontario 
Del. 
J 
rt ARRISES? 
Costs half—does better work. Automatic—i.w , 
Clrcu- ___ levers or clutches. Starts cream sep-; 
lars J| .Trator slowly, increases speed gradually, off¬ 
sets jerk of engine. Prolongs life of 
separator. Pays for itself in a season. 
Warranted for life. If not at dealer's, 
send $5.90 for complete pulley. 
AFFILIATED MFRS. CO. 
405 Caro 11 Bldg. Milwaukee, Wls. 
“Waterproof and Watertight’’ 
Waterproofing for silos, cellars, and all kinds 
of foundation work. Cellars and storehouses 
made dry. Inexpensive and simple. Let us 
help you with your problems. 
WAVERLY PRODUCTS CO., 
Everyone Wants A Car 
Every farmer wants one—would get one too, if 
he knew just what to buy-knew how little some cars 
cost to buy* and to keep up—less than horses if you consider* the 
market value of feed. 
cA car pays big dividends in pleasure, health and restfulness for all 
the family. It keeps you in touch with town and markets—it goes 
and comes so quickly*. You’ve worked hard —toiled and moiled to 
accumulate—and ycu need and deserve relaxation—something that 
will make you start tomorrow’s work with a new zest. 
A MOTOR CAR WILL DO i T and the Three Regals give you values away** 
above the ordinary. For example, the Light Four is a real five passenger car— 
D art "~ act9 the part—has electric starter* and lighting—all for* SIX 
r IFTY, Here s the whole line. 
A Light “Four**.$ 650 
A Standard “Four” . . 1085 
A New “Eight” ..... 1250 
tAll are amply powered—very* moderately* priced and completely- equipped. 
There s plenty of leg room both front and rear—the bodies are all full stream 
line—and the fenders the latest crown type. They are beautlfol—sturdy*— 
reliable cars that last a life time. 
Regal Motor Car Company 
844 Piquette Av.nue 
DETROIT. MICH. 
ft 1 
