A few more:

From Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, Volume 11, 1874, page 299:

The number of kernels in a hill may be designated thus:

One for the blackbird, one for the crow,
One for the cut-worm, and one to grow.

Monthly Packet of Evening Readings, Volume 19, (London: Mozley and Smith, 1875), page 213:

—and the rule for sowing is,

'One for the mouse, one for the crow,
One to rot, and one to grow'

Annual Report of the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture ..., Volume 19 (Lansing: State of Michigan, 1880), page 148:

I do not believe in the old rhyme—

"One for the black bird,
One for the crow,
One to get mouldy
And one to grow."

Work and Leisure: The Englishwoman's Advertiser, Reporter and Gazette, Vol. 7 (London: Hatchards, 1882), page 211:

The old farming adage—

'One for the mouse, one for the crow,
One to rot, and one to grow,'

is true of fruits as well as of seeds.


Gardeners' Chronicle, Vol. 8 (London: Haymarket Pub., 1890), page 686

There is an old country saying—

"Sow four beans as you make your row,
One to rot, and one to grow,
One for the pigeon, and one for the crow."