3C8 ' STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 



the barns and stables it makes a formidable domestic animal of the greatest 

 utility. It seems to be poison-proof. Experiments have shown that the bites- 

 of poisonous snakes do not affect it, and with impunity can it make a stout 

 meal of Spanish flies, which are detested by any other insectivorous animal. 



THE CHICKEN-HAWK AND THE OWL. 



Among tlie birds I will only select the chicken-hawk and the owl, which are 

 yet persecuted. That our singing birds are to be protected against Sunday 

 hunters and boys who destroy their nests, has been acknowledged at least 

 by the present generation, and our law-makers have tried to prevent their 

 destruction. But the chicken-hawk and the owl, particularly tlie little barn owl, 

 suffer yet from the envy of man, because tl^ey catch in time of need a young 

 rabbit or partridge, perhaps a pet chicken of the worthy housewife. Oh, do 

 not become excited about such a misdeed! Hunger is a fearful disease, and 

 makes man forget all thelaws of civilization. Greater, athousaud times greater 

 is the benefit man derives from the buzzard and owl by their catching of mice, 

 rats and larger insects. Yea, the turkey buzzard is a better scavenger and 

 health officer than the most of these highly paid officers in our southern cities. 

 Last summer one of them was carried to Monroe, probably by the scent of our 

 dirty alleys, and I am sorry to say that he fell a victim before the guns of our 

 hunting fraternity, who took him for a turkey, and " smelled the rat" only 

 after taking him up. 



THE OWL. 



The owl is hated by most of our population, because it flies at night, screams- 

 ill iiii abominable key, and has always been considered as a bird of bad omen 

 by the ancients. It is believed to be a messenger of death, because it frequently 

 calls at a lighted window, and the night-lamp burns only in the country in the 

 sick-room. 



It is very probable that sometimes a person has died at whose window an 

 owl screeched the night before, and superstitions brought death and owl in 

 connection. But it is one of our benefactors. It catches the great night-fly- 

 ing beetles and sphinxes; and one pair of owls brought in one night eleven 

 mice to the nest for their young. Blessed, therefore, is the region where the 

 owls are many, because they are cats on wings, bent on destruction of the en- 

 emies of our grain and our victuals; but at present the cat is loved, is allowed 

 to sleep upon the softest rugs, and sometimes in the bed of its mistress, — and 

 the cat on wings is killed whenever it shows its round face in daytime ! 



THE SPIDER, 



At last let me speak a few words for one of the ugliest members of the animal 

 kingdom, the spider. In relation to character a Avorse individual could hardly 

 be pointed out. Our fiercest " women-righters" do not hate the oppressing sex 

 to such a degree that they would eat up their lovers, for the largest portion are 

 "women-righters" because they did not find lovers to make them forget their 

 rights. But the female spider, a spiteful creature, often eats up its lover for 

 "various reasons. But, nevertheless, man and woman ought to spare the spider, 

 because it diminishes by net and hunting the pest of our homes during the 

 summer, the fly and the mosquito. House-cleaning means, above all, the de- 

 struction of the waving nets Avhich this teacher of our weavers appends for the 

 careless fly, but half a day is sufficient to replace the fine fabric to the grief of 

 our cleanly ladies. Do not detest the spider too much ! Its mission is to hold 



