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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1362, 29 September 1883, Page 2

Frequent an'd numerous complaints have reached us of late about the ravages which the small birds and sparrows are making with tire seeds which have been and are being sown] this spring. One gentleman came and informed us, no lai er than yesterday, that his spring labors had been utterly thrown away by the sparrows and small birds having picked up the whole of the seed which he had planted. He has . been compelled to have recourse to covering hit , seed beds with win: netting, but even thi s does not prove thoroughly efficacious, as th e smallest of the bird s get through the meshr ;S There is undoubtedly a great necessity ! .or some concerted act >lOll in this matter. 11 oat is the best reme< ly for mitigating this evil we are unable t'j suggest. Poisoned corn seems to be theo nly simple practical met hod; but there are ma’ay dangerous objections to its use, and unless ht is applied in some ingenious and safe mannijr, so as to preclude the possibilit y of end angering the lives of other necessary and useful members of the f ea< thered tribr >, we think it best to refrain from .its use alto, gether, otherwise the remedy mif'ht piove worse than tue disease. But the dlinger of this remedy lies not alone to the mor e domes ticaied feathered tribe, but also 'to animal bipi ids. No matter what ingeniouu method be devised whereby the sparrows alone can g.iii 1 access to the poisoned w’heat, still the ria rem aius the fact that they may, and would undoubtedly, carry the grain ou to the tops of the buildings where they might either drop them or, after eating, might deposit their* excrement there, which would contai n a large per centage of the poison which had not been entirely absorbed by the system. Ahi this, together with the dead poisoned bodies of the birds, would be washed down by the rains into the water tanks. It is eanily to bo seen that the poisoned grain rei nedy presents such insuperable difficulties to its adopt ion as to point us to some more feasible and less dange ous preventative. If sufferers an d those interested in this matter will favor U.S with any suggestion having for its object thii mitigation of this pest we will give it ever)' publicity, and would further suggest that gardeners confer with each other as to th e best means of meeting this growing evil,, and, if thought necessary, to call a meeting with a view of forming a combination or society to deal with such a serious drawback to cal tivation.