Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 128, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1913 — Have to Watch Crops. [ARTICLE]

Have to Watch Crops.

Unwelcome visits* of predatory bands during the harvest season In China have led to professional "crop watchers” being hired to guard against the larcenists eager to ply their trade in orchard or Held. In some districts societies exist whose business it is to furnish watchers whenever required. Almost every field has its watch tower, and these frail tenements are never deserted, night or day, until the crop is gathered. Towers are necessary, as giant millet grows to a height of ten feet, usually, and often reaches fifteen feet Armed with sharp knives, the thieves enter the fields and cut off the large millet beads.