Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1878 — Birds the Farmer’s Best Friends. [ARTICLE]

Birds the Farmer’s Best Friends.

With the first cold blast and svmptoms of approaching winter the dwellers in every country home will miss their summer visitors, the birds. All through the spring and summer months they made the heuge-rows and grass cheerful with their lively songs, while they kept up a constant warfare on the myriads of insects which prey upon friiit and forest trees and grain fields. Those who are so fortunate as to have groves of trees which have attained "considerable size, have had the larger birds, such as the blackbird, the jay, oriole and thrushes as allies in protecting their crops from the myriads <sflnsect life whicn breed so prolific in the clear, dry atmosphere of Kansas. The most wise and beneficial law of the State, which makes it a misdemeanor to kill any upland, insectivorous bird, shotfid be the law Of every State in the Union. Then the thousands of boys and idle men who stroll out from the towns and cities and slay for the indulgence of wanton sport those best friends of the farmer, Would have their murderous work stopped by the stern mandate of the law". While birds of passage which swarm up from the borders of the tropics when spring returns to find breeding grounds m the cooler shady regions or a more temperate clime are protected from molestation by the laws of the .State they will not stop with us and build their nests unless we provide suitable homes for them during their sojourn. They require comfortable shade and safe places among the sheltering boughs ’Of tall trees. The wren, the blue bird, the martin, the robin and swallow select a place to rear their young near to ‘he habitation of man, and should be provided with boxes, shrubbery and such accommodations as they prefer, while the larger and shyer birds will not tarry with the prairie farmers unless invited bv tall trees and sheltering

S roves. The season is now near at and when the planting of trees should btS done, and one of the most important duties of the dwellers on the prairie is planting trees. The, timber will be of value m the future, and the trees, as soon as they are large enough to cast a shadow, begin to be useful—useful as a protection from sun and wind,Useful as a beautiiier of the monotonous landscape. And not less useful and important as a summer home for the feathered visitors, which will be sure to be drawn to them in their flight in search-of breeding grounds . Remember thaUeverytEße.jvhich.isplanted and grove that is formed bn the prairies not only ante an impoatant part in the meteorological phenomena of the treeless plains, but they become a base of operations from which countless thousands of birds in a few years will sally forth to make war on and devour the insect life which destroys the or- <• hards and the grain fields of the farm. Plant trees; every leaf presents its point to attract the electric current and draw the summer cloud, as well as to entice the feathered denizens of the air. Every element Jn Nature stands ready to minister to man’s happiness sis heWill but stretch out bis hand and receive the rich gifts. — Kansas Farmer. Sealskin will be much worn this winter; il ls soniewhat scarcer and correspondingly high irt - price this yeaF. ; — N. f. Evening Post. > Any and all farmers .have time to read and study. ' Many lack the will.