IX. Complete the following sentences with the words from text 11C. 1. Nowadays pigeons are not regarded to be...

2. In the past they provided fresh meat and eggs to...

3. Massive stone dove-towers were the monopoly of the manor in...

4. Complete the old rural proverb o f four grains sown in a row: One

for the pigeon, one for the crow, one to rot and one...

5. Later the importance of pigeons...

Text 11C . The Dovecote
Nowadays we do not regard pigeons as a form of farm stock. But in
the past their agricultural importance was considerable. They provided
fresh meat and eggs to vary the limited diet of the times and they left
valuable residues for the dunghill. In feudal times, however, these
benefits were the monopoly of the lord of the manor. Only he could
build the massive stone dove-towers of the early Normans or the lighter,
more ornamental structures of their successors from which fluttered the
winged flocks whose ceaseless depredations on neighbouring crops are
remembered in the old rural proverb of the four grains sown in a row,
One for the pigeon, one for the crow, One to rot and one to grow. The
order is significant.
As farming developed, the importance of pigeons decreased and men
began to emphasise the harm they did to crops rather than the value of
their meat and manure. The tradition died slowly. Some early
nineteenth century farmers built lofts for doves in their barns or over
their cartsheds and as late as the 1880s pigeons played a quite
appreciable part in the economy of most farms in Northamptonshire.
But it is now a long time since domesticated pigeons have contributed
more than pleasure and interest to the farm.

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