187(5.] 



AND EOETIGULTURIST. 



69 



eral testimony is that horned cattle pick out and 

 prefer Bent to other grasses in tlie same field. 

 A farmer assures me emphatically that Bent is 

 the best grass for cows. This, as well as its readi- 

 ness to start after close cropping, b§ars on its 

 value as a pasture grass. 



Another farmer, whose testimony is reliable, 

 tells me he has extirpated Couch grass by plow- 

 ing, manuring, and sowing with Bent. He gives 

 it as his opinion, that Bent, on a soil sufficiently 

 rich, will, at any time, crowd out Couch grass. 



One bushel of Ehode Island Bent seed, well 

 sown, is sufficient to plant an acre. For Lawns 

 twice that amount should be used. The market 

 price of Bent in Rhode Island is from $2.50 to 

 $3.00 per bushel, according to weight and quality. 

 Genuine seed can always be obtained of Wm. E. 

 Barrett & Co., Providence, or of Thomas G. Pot- 

 ter, East Providence, both well-known seedsmen. 



To sum up, in Rhode Island Bent we have a 

 Lawn Grass, perfectly hardy, forming a close sod, 

 fully occupying the ground and holding its own 

 against coarser grasses, fine in texture, and beau- 

 tiful in all its stages, starting as soon as cut, and 

 withstanding drought. 



^~As a pasture grass it is sweet and perpetual. 

 For hay, deficiency of crop, if any, is mad« up 

 by luxuriant after-feed. 



[Dr. Channing deserves the thanks of all horti- 

 culturists for his investigations in this important 

 matter. The poor specimens sent for Rhode Island 

 Bentgrass,appeartobewhatis known msome parts 

 of the country as "Hair Grass," Agrostis scabra, a 

 very different species from "Red-top" or A. vul- 

 garis. Its fineness should make it a much more 

 desirable grass than "Red-top." Besides, in our 

 experience, we find the latter chiefly in heavy 

 land, and the " Hair grass " in high and dryer 

 places, which will give it an advantage for lawns, 

 which are generally on dry land. — Ed. G. M.] 



THE ENGLISH SPARROW, 



BY GENERAL W. H. NOBLE, PROVIDENCE, R. I. 



In some respects this little foreigner deserves 

 our welcome. But his distant origin and his 

 cheery, home-loving ways, blind us to his betters 

 at our doors. Before him we had native birds, 

 greedy for worms, more pretty of plumage, and 

 sweeter of song. We feed and pet this immi- 

 grant, but our own birds we shot and stoned, till 

 they found neither pluck or numbers to fight 

 the worm. Then the crawling pests so stripped 



to wintry barrenness the garb of "glorious sum- 

 mer," that in pure despair we took on trust this 

 sparrow's boasted appetite for worms, to war 

 against our petty foes. 



He breeds so fast that if each one only ate a 

 few, their numbers would make havoc among 

 the creeping tribes. A little colony of eight set- 

 tled here four years, have filled the town. But 

 as "early birds" after the worms, they don't eat 

 a cent's worth. Enough sparrows have squatted 

 on my two acres to eat all the worms off" an hun- 

 dred, and cry for more, yet the tormenting pests 

 still strip my currant bushes right under their 

 noses. Nor does the sparrow hunt other worms 

 any better. In fact, as help against our foes on 

 leaf and fruit, I set down the English sparrow as 

 a failure and a fraud. But worse than this, I 

 fear we may find him as big a pest as the worms 

 he promised to eat. 



Sad stories come to me of his picking out the 

 fruit buds in the winter, and of his raids on the 

 opening bloom of spring. Last year, near New 

 Haven, a flock swept off" in a day the promised 

 crop of a whole orchard. Last winter the squatters 

 on my ground stripped my currant bushes of 

 half their buds. They served a large strawberry 

 bed in the same style. Hunger could not be plead 

 for such vandalism. They shared with my fowls 

 plenty of small grains, and garbage always within 

 reach. These sorry habits, in such swarms of 

 them as must soon fill the land, will by and by 

 demand a premium for their scalps. 



These sparrows, too, are mighty exclusive in 

 their ways. Fellowship for other species is not 

 one of their virtues. They are a plucky and 

 fighting crowd, and more than a match for any 

 small bird, except the little bully wren. I find 

 the sparrow drives away many of his kind, more 

 pleasing in plumage and in song, who formerly 

 spent their summers at our door. The blue bird 

 no longer tarries with us after his Southern win- 

 ter tour. The Northern mocking bird has de- 

 serted the pear tree top, whence for years at 

 early dawn he filled the morning air with apt 

 and gleeful mimicry of song. Not half so many 

 kinds of birds spend their summers with us 

 now, as before the coming of these sparrows. 



But perhaps this visitor does better elsewhere, 

 and will mend his ways. It would be hard to 

 condemn him on so short a trial. He is a hardy, 

 cheery, home-loving little fellow. He sticks 

 close to the crannies and nooks and little resting 

 spots around the house. In the gloom and 

 storm of winter, when pretty much all his kind 



