How to Make a Scarecrow that Works

Here's how to chase crows from your family's vegetable garden. This design was contributed, in 1876, by a reader of the popular farm journal, The American Agriculturist.

Farm Journal Scarecrow

The best scare is one in which there is a constant change of motion, which confuses the memory, and bewilders the intelligence of the crow. The illustration shows such a scare, which consists of a frame mounted upon a post and attached to a small wind-mill, by which it is kept rotating. The frame has four bars, from one to another of which wires are strung, and to the wires are fastened many pieces of bright tin, glass, both plain and colored, broken crockery, and colored feathers or rags. The rotating frame is mounted in a stationary one, and as it revolves, the bright pieces flutter and change positions at every moment, reflecting flashes of light when the sun shines, and jangling continually when the wind blows. The effectiveness of this scare-crow may be increased by hanging a few small bells upon the top bar of the outer frame, so that the clappers may be moved by the edges of the inner rotating frame as they revolve. One such scare-crow in a ten-acre field, will keep the crows at a respectful distance for the whole season, and the ingenious builder will never be humiliated by finding a sentinel crow, perching contemptuously upon the top of it, as is sometimes seen upon the outstretched arm, or the simulated' gun, of the usual dummy in the corn-field, while the rest of the flock are busily engaged at their mischief in its vicinity.

This is part of an article from the book The Kitchen Garden Guide