Fighting Against the Crow 
Experience from Many Farmers 
A DIVERSITY OF I’LANS.—Some weeks ago we 
asked onr readers to tell as how they kept 
crows away from the corn. These black rascals have 
hecome a great pest in many parts of the country, and 
this year they are genuine friends of the Kaiser, 
and ought to he fought hack. We have had 58 let¬ 
ters from farmers on this subject; 20 of them used 
coal tar smeared on the kernels. Five say they u.se 
I'yrox in about the same way in which the others 
use tar: six poison the grain with either strychnine 
or arsenate of lead: six depend on killing a few 
crows and hanging them up on jwles 
in various parts of the field. Eight 
farmers say they fed the croAvs by 
scattering a few qtiarts of corn 
through the fields from time to time 
until the corn is too large to be 
pulled, whilh five are following the 
old plan of driving stakes around 
the field and tying white strings or 
twine Avith pieces of cloth or tin 
tied to the string. Then a dozen or 
more suggestions are made all the 
Avay from shooting the crows to ]mt- 
ting up a number of small toy Avind- 
mills AA'hich flash in the sunlight or 
make a clai)ping noise in the dark. 
No one seems to think the old- 
fashioned scarcecroAV is of value 
any more, although thousands of 
them seem to he put up more from 
habit than anything else. 
r^INE TAR.—In using the tar 
the general plan is to put the coi-n 
in a metal biicket and put on the 
stove until it is quite AA'arm. then 
I»our the tar on top of the corn. 
Take big iron spoon and stir. 
Keep on stirring until the right 
hand is tired, and then tire out the 
left hand in like manner. After that 
get the hired man to repeat the per¬ 
formance. The corn must be stin-ed 
until every kernel is smeared Avith 
the tar. !Many farmers then dry 
the taiTed seed by sifting Avood 
ashes over the corn and shaking it 
up together. This tarred seed does 
not Avork Avell in a planter, and is 
usually idanted by hand. We haA e 
folloAved this plan for 15 years. At 
first it i)roved A'ery effective. The 
ci-oAvs Avould ])ull a few spears of the 
corn and then leaA’e the lield. In 
late years the tar has not lu-oved effective, as Ave 
have had considerable trouble even Avhen the tar 
A'as thoroughly used, and it does not .seem to keep 
away the chipmunks. 
CROW I’OISONS.—A good many farmers seem to 
be using the commercial preparation known as Pyrox, 
Avith very good results. This is a sub.stitute for 
I'-ordeaux mixture, and contains poison and sulphate 
of copper. It couM's in the form of a paste, and is' 
smeared on the seed very much the .same as the 
tar. Our correspondents do not claim that it kills the 
croAV, but they seem to feel that it is a poi.son. and 
they let the corn alone aft('r sampling a few ker¬ 
nels. Two AA'ays of 
handling ix)ison are 
suggested. One is 
to dissolve the ar¬ 
senate of lead or 
strychnine in AA'ater 
and-, soak the seed 
in this poisoned 
luiuid; then this 
doctored .seed is 
scattered over the 
ground Avhere the 
crows can find it, 
and it kills them 
(piickly. In some 
cases our readers 
figure on the fact 
that the crow is 
very fond of eggs, 
and so they puncii 
a hole in one end 
<.>f the egg and put 
in a quantity of 
arsenate or strych¬ 
nine. Then they 
leave these eggs in 
the field Avhere the 
c r o Av s Avill find 
them. 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
TRAPPING AND SHOOTING.—Some of our read¬ 
ers jiractice the old plan of catching or shooting a 
croAv and hanging him up Avith a string attached to 
his leg. One man speaks of killing the croAA^ and 
chopping their bodies into several parts, scattering 
the pieces around the field. This .seems to get rtd 
of them, as those Avho try it claim the croAV is such 
a suspicious bird that when he sees his dead brothers 
he gets aAvay. Some farmers put a steel trap at 
the top of a pole, baiting it with a dead chicken. 
In that way they often catch a live crow, and by 
fastening him AA'here he can flutter about and cry, 
the story seems to be told to the rest of the family. 
Some of these Ingenious methods of handling the 
the Orchanl. FUj. 25’2 
crow will be printed in full, but this is a summary 
of Avhat Ave have received. A large number of 
farmers say that they rather like the croAv, and 
believe that aside from their corn-pulling, they are 
of great as.sistance in killing insects. We knoAV of 
one farmer Avho says he is sure that the crows and 
the English sparroAvs come and eat the cabbage 
Avorms late in the season, and that they destroy 
many Avhite grubs and AvireAvorms. These men soak 
a quantity of corn in Avarm Avater until it begins to 
.SAvell, and just before the corn breaks through the 
ground they scatter the soaked grain around the 
outside of the field. The.v claim that this small 
579 
amount of .seed satisfies the crows until the coi-ii is 
.so large that the birds cannot pull it up. 
“STRINGING” THE CROWS.—We are surprised 
to see hoAA' many people still depend on the old plan 
of running strin.gs ai’ound the field. This is common 
to most farmers. They drive tall stakes around the 
field and strin.g Avhite tAvine betAveen them. This is 
on the theory that the croAV AA'ill not come inside 
of an enclosure, but this plan does not Avork on our 
OAvn farm AA'here the coimfields ai'e close to the 
Avoods. 
SOME INGENIOUS PLANS.—Among the plans 
suggested is one of .soaking the seed corn in kerosene 
oil. This might Avork, but Ave should be afraid it 
AA'ould injure the vitality of tlie 
se(Hl. One man from Pennsylvania 
said he soaked tAVO quarts of corn 
in fish brine for several days, then 
this salted corn is scattered over the 
field. Oau* friend claims that the 
croAVs eat this salted feed and then 
fly to Avater AA'here they “drink tmtil 
they die.” One man tells how he 
frightened the croAvs aAvay from 
the field by firing an explo.siA’e bul¬ 
let. The cornfield aa'us about one- 
third of a mile from the house in 
full vicAV. He AA'aited until the 
croAvs Avere Avell bunched and then 
fired Avith his rifle right at the 
croAvd. The explo.sive bAillet tore a 
little hole in the ground and threAv 
up a little cloud of dirt, and after 
a fcAv trials of this the croAVS either 
got Avise or got frightened and kept 
aAA-ay. Another reader in NeAv York 
says he gets around the croAv.s by 
nailing the corn plants fast to the 
ground. This is done by running a 
hor.se planter so deep that Avhen the 
croAA’s ti*y to pull the young corn 
they cannot get the kenud out of 
the grouiKl. This man Avorks on 
light, sandy soil, and can put the 
seed in deep, and he says this Avorks 
Avell. Several people tell us that 
they take half a pint or more of 
corn, punch a hole in each kernel 
and tie hoi'.se hairs taken from a 
horse’s tail so they stand out a foot 
or more from the kernel, then this 
corn is scattered over the feed. The 
croAV sAvalloAvs horsehair and all, 
and loses his appetite for a corn 
diet. Several other reader.s- go fur¬ 
ther than this. They punch holes in 
the kernel and attach a small fi.sh- 
hook AA'ith a fine string tied to it. then they drive 
pegs securely into the ground and fasten these fish 
lines to the pegs. The croAvs .swalloAA' the corn and 
are caught on the hook, and they flutter and cry in 
a Avay to drive every other croAV out of the field. 
These are part of the schemes SAiggested by our read¬ 
ers. We shall give .some of them in full a little 
later, so as to present the Avhole subject fully. 
A Shortage of Bees 
*-Di Cltain of Fork. Fuj. ASM. See ixiyc oVG 
W HAT you say in your article on bee-keeping, 
page 405, is excellent, but the price Avhich 
you set for bees is much too Ioav this year. Any¬ 
body Avho buys a 
colony of bees for 
$2 the coming 
Spring Avill be ex¬ 
ceedingly fortunate, 
especially if they 
are Italians. Not 
only Avill the de¬ 
mand be greater 
than eA'er before in 
the history of the 
country, because of 
the high prices at 
which honey has 
been selling, but 
there Avill be a 
marked shortage of 
bees. Losses the 
past Winter have 
been greater than 
for many years. It 
is estimated that at 
least 50 per cent of 
the colonies in Noav 
England haA'e died. 
At a recent bee¬ 
keepers’ meeting in 
Boston losses as 
high as 00 per cent 
