112 
FOREST AND STREAM 
July 27, 1912 
Published Weekly by the 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 
r Charles Otis, President. 
\\ . G. Beecroft, Secretary. S. J. Gibson, Treasurer. 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
CORRESPONDENCE — Forf.st and Stream is the 
recognized medium of entertainment, instruction and in¬ 
formation between American sportsmen. The editors 
invite communications on the subjects to which its pages 
are devoted, but, of course, are not responsible for the 
views of correspondents. Anonymous communications 
cannot be regarded. 
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THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful in¬ 
terest in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate 
a refined taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
VALUE OF BIRDS ON THE FARM. 
The value of birds on the farm lies in the 
service they render in the destruction of weed 
seeds, rodents and insects. 
Someone has said that “a weed is a plant 
out of place,” and if this be true, some plants 
seem to have a well established habit of getting- 
out of their proper sphere and into cultivated 
land. As a single plant of certain garden weeds 
may produce as many as 100,000 seeds in a sea¬ 
son, if unchecked, these would soon become a 
decided menace to crops. 
While the hoe and the cultivator may help 
to keep down the weeds on the farm, they still 
continue to grow in waste lands and along 
roadsides, and from there eventually spread to 
the cultivated lands. It is in just such places 
that birds are often most abundant, and so they 
play an important part in checking this increase. 
In fact, the seed-eating birds are among the most 
effective agents in the warfare against weeds, 
for they attack these pests in the critical seed 
period, and thus help to prevent their further 
spread. While a few seeds are simply scattered 
by birds, in nearly all cases they are destroyed. 
Dr. Judd, of the Biological Survey, says: “No 
less than fifty different bird's act as weed de¬ 
stroyers, and the noxious plants which they help 
to eradicate number more than three score 
species.” 
Among the weeds commonly destroyed by 
birds are tarweed, turkey mullein, alfilaria, pig¬ 
weed, knotweed, thistle and chickweed. Great 
numbers of seeds are often consumed by birds 
even in a single meal. The stomach of one 
sparrow contained 1,000 seeds of pigweed, while 
two other birds had taken 300 and 700 seeds of 
various kinds. Prof. Beal, of the United States 
Department of Agriculture, has estimated that 
the tree sparrows of Iowa will destroy, during 
the year, 875 tons of weed seeds. 
Among the weed destroyers our native spar¬ 
rows are unrivaled, weed seeds forming more 
than half of their food for the year. The value 
of sparrows to the farmer is increased by the 
fact that during the summer, and especially in 
the nesting season, they also eat many injurious 
insects. The young birds are fed almost entirely 
on insect food, including such pests as cater¬ 
pillars, weevils, grasshoppers, cutworms and 
ants. 
The one member of the sparrow family, 
which seems to be alike despised by both birds 
and man, is the imported English sparrow. 
While a few insects and weed seeds are eaten 
by these birds, the little good thus done cannot 
compare with the harm which they do, especially 
in driving out the useful insect and seed-eating 
birds. The English sparrows also destroy fruit 
and grain, and are a decided pest wherever they 
are found. The distinguishing mark of the male 
English sparrow is the large black patch on the 
throat and breast. 
Among the other birds which hold a high 
place as weed destroyers are the goldfinches or 
“wild canaries,” as they are commonly called. 
They often destroy certain weeds not usually 
taken by other birds, being especially fond of 
thistle seeds. For this reason they are some¬ 
times given the name “thistle birds.” 
One of the game birds, the mourning dove, 
is especially worthy of mention as a useful seed¬ 
eating bird. While the dove sometimes takes 
grain, most of this seems to be waste grain taken 
after harvesting is over. These birds are most 
abundant, however, in waste lands where weeds 
abound, turkey mullein forming one of their 
favorite foods, while tumble weed and mustard 
are also eaten extensively. 
The immense numbers of weed seeds de¬ 
stroyed by these birds is shown in the fact that 
the stomach of one dove contained 9200 seeds 
of different weeds, while the stomachs of two 
other doves contained 6,400 and 7,500 respec¬ 
tively. If three doves at one meal can destroy 
23,100 weed seeds and thus prevent the spread 
of that many noxious weeds, how much good 
could be accomplished by the doves on one farm 
in one county or throughout the State. 
In the United States alone the annual loss 
from weeds has been estimated at $400,000000. 
In the face of these startling figures we can 
well realize the importance of protecting the use¬ 
ful seed-eating birds, one of nature’s best means 
of checking just such losses. 
WHITE PINE BLISTER RUST. 
That the State of Massachusetts appreciates 
the seriousness of the damage that may be done 
is evidenced in the fact that stringent precau¬ 
tionary action against the white pine blister rust 
has been taken by the State Board of Agricul¬ 
ture when in an official order, signed by H. T. 
Fernald, State Nursery Inspector, the importa¬ 
tion of pines of all kinds having the leaves in 
groups of five from any part of Europe into 
Massachusetts after June 1 is prohibited. 
This action was taken because of the preva¬ 
lence upon white pine trees and their four varie¬ 
ties of a very dangerous disease known as the 
white pine blister rust. This disease has practi¬ 
cally ruined the growth of the white pine in 
Germany and France. Once established here, it 
would kill all young pines of the five-leafed 
group, and ruin the larger pines. 
Three places in Massachusetts are known to 
be infected with the white pine blister rust dis¬ 
ease, but until the inspection by the nursery in¬ 
spectors is completed late in this month, the 
exact amount of damage will not be definitely 
known. 
This year there have been approximately 
only ten shipments of young trees made into 
Massachusetts. Of these two were discovered 
by Deputy Nursery Inspector W. S. Regan to be 
infected and were promptly condemned. 
GOOD RESOLUTIONS. 
In last week's issue appeared resolutions 
passed at a recent meeting of Iowa State Sports¬ 
men’s Association. They deserve a careful read¬ 
ing by every sportsman, and if he is a member 
of any sportsmen’s organization, he should use 
his efforts toward having that -body adopt iden¬ 
tical resolutions. If he is not a member of an 
organization, the sooner he joins the better for 
the sport and the sportsman. If each State body 
of hunters and fishermen would get their or¬ 
ganization working on members of State Legis¬ 
latures, using as a slogan the following para¬ 
graph, taken from the Iowa sportsmen’s plat¬ 
form, there soon would be a lot of action among 
State legislators toward the desired end: 
“That this protest may be more emphatic, 
we agree, as sportsmen, regardless of political 
belief or affiliations not to support or favor any 
member of the Senate or House of Representa¬ 
tives who shall vote to divert the funds col¬ 
lected from the State hunting license into chan¬ 
nels other than the protection and propagation 
of game.” 
FISH AND GAME DISTRICTS. 
Several important improvements have been 
inaugurated in the division of fish and game by 
Commissioner James W. Fleming, but it is be¬ 
lieved the most practical and satisfactory re¬ 
sults in the protection of fish and game will 
accrue from the redistricting of the State and a 
more perfect systematization of the work of the 
protectors. Commissioner Fleming has divided 
New York State into twelve districts, each of 
which is in charge of a division chief protector. 
Each division chief has been advised of the names 
of the counties comprising his division, and the 
names of the protectors “who come under your 
supervision and control and who have been' noti¬ 
fied to make all reports to you.” While each 
protector of a given district must give an ac¬ 
count of his work to the division chief and look 
to him for orders, the entire force of division 
chiefs and protectors are under the direct man¬ 
agement of Chief Protector Legge and Deputy 
Chief Protector Sauter. 
COMMISSIONER WALLACE. 
John H. Wallace, Jr., game and fish com¬ 
missioner of Alabama, deserves the support of 
every sportsman. He is relentlessly prosecuting 
violators of the game and fish laws in his own 
State, as well as giving his services to Florida 
and Louisiana. He is strongly opposed to mar¬ 
ket hunting, and believes with other worthy au¬ 
thorities that the surest method of propagation 
and preservation of game birds is the absolute 
prohibition of their sale. 
