48 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( Jannai; 21, 1875 



ont with " Sparrows are most destruotive." Then proceeding, 

 he says, " I have watched them closely, and have never yet 

 seen them take insect food ; and it would appear almost as 

 natural to see any of the carnivorous animals eating hay as it 

 would to see hard-billed birds, such as sparrows and finches, 

 eating insects." Well may he have " grave doubts," though 

 he has " watched them closely," of sparrows eating insects. 

 But the subject is treated so vaguely ; as, for instance, " a few 

 charges of powder and shot soon rid the garden of their [bull- 

 finches'] presence, but to try and reduce sparrows in this way 

 appears to bring hundreds to the funeral." 



The whole tenor of his remarks exhibits only prejudice and 

 wanton misrepresentation of the sparrow. I have " grave 

 doubts " that his eyes are so blinded by prejudice as " having 

 eyes he sees not" the good sparrows do in a garden; in fact, 

 he shows ignorance of the habits of this useful bird. Anyhow, 

 the sparrow I know and have known since I can remember 

 anything, and in gardens too, is a very different creature to 

 what it is represented. I put this question to a youth of 

 fifteen summers — " What do sparrows feed their young with ?" 

 And his answer was, " Caterpillars." 



If there are any that have " grave doubts " of sparrows de- 

 vouring multitudes of insects, they may in the coming season 

 watch them going to their young with insect food several 

 times an hour, and it is not difficult to ascertain of what this 

 food is derived. It is not to the point to conclude because 

 they are " hard-billed " they do not eat insects, or that car- 

 nivorous animals will not eat hay, for the merest tyro in 

 natural history knows oats are, or may, often be seen eating 

 grass. The blue titmouse, though a ravenous eater of flesh, 

 is equally fond of Green Peas ; and the sparrow, though a 

 seed-eater — a vegetarian if you will, has his food fitted to its 

 requirements. What seeds has the sparrow in early summer 

 wheiewith to satisfy the craving of itself and young ? Seeds ! 

 Is it likely to find these on Bose bushes. Gooseberry, Apple, 

 and Plum trees? Why does it frequent our gardens, be most 

 busy there during the breeding season ? Surely its place is in 

 the farmyard, the barn, at the place where seeds or its vege- 

 tarian diet is to be had. But instinct tells this companion of 

 man in every cUme, whose footsteps it follows, that it is in the 

 garden, on Rose, Gooseberry, Currant, Apple, Plum, and other 

 subjects there cultivated, aphis and caterpillars are to be 

 had, as well as green food, as the top of Peas. From the first 

 dawn of spring to the time its young is strong of wing the 

 sparrow is one of the busiest of gardeners. Early morning 

 sees the creature at work — labours cariied on unceasingly 

 until the sun is low in the west, freeing the trees of which 

 man, his murderer, expects fruit in due time, and as far as 

 the sparrow is concerned he may have unmolested. Not so 

 much can be said of some of the soft-billed birds ; and for at 

 least four months of close attention to the garden, ever vigi- 

 lant, ever searching for, devouring, or taking to its young 

 insect food, this bird is — (because the insect food fails or 

 instinct says is not required, falls upon Green Peas or the 

 tender grain of the fields) — to have levelled against it, not 

 shot, for this brings hundreds to the funeral, but denuncia- 

 tion of its merits, gross misrepresentation of its habits, and 

 npon this find a plea for their destruction as " an unmixed 

 evil." After this what next ? Strew poisoned Wheat for 

 them to eat ! There is no telling what mischief may be done 

 by the dictation of those denouncing in no measured terms a 

 most useful and confiding creature ; and it is with a hope that 

 any of the readers of this Journal having waged hitherto, or 

 determined to wage in future, a war of extermination against 

 these birds, to convince themselves before they do so by ocular 

 proof of til's truth of those evils it is said to effect. 



Either the house-sparrow that I recognise as such is a dif- 

 ferent creature to that of others, or the instinctive creature 

 knows his friends and enemies. It were well if it did, leaving 

 its abusers and destroyers to reap the fruit of their labours in 

 swarms of lice and caterpillars covering the land. 



The sparrow (Passer domesticus) I know is a bold confiding 

 bird. Wherever man fixes his habitation there we find this 

 bird, courageous and even impudent in its familiarity with his 

 dwelling and its surroundings. The whole of its Ufe is devoted 

 to the service of man. In the forest, the wilderness, it has 

 no place. Its house is made beside — often beneath — the same 

 roof as that it seeks to benefit by taking what would often 

 be wasted, helping itself to anything it can find in the shape 

 of seed or grain or made thereof. 



This bird bmlda its nest beneath roofs of houses or build- 

 ings, and in trees, especially evergreens, if there are any near 



human habitations, and rears two or more broods of young in 

 a season. Its young are reared upon insect food, in the nest 

 mainly if not exclusively, and when taking to wing is led to 

 seek for itself its food upon subjects that have the " seed within 

 itself," or subjects which at no time yield in their fruit the 

 creature its food. As the bird becomes older it takes to Peas, 

 then to grain, in both cases soft, and ultimately to hard seeds 

 or grain, varying its diet with soft or cooked food. 



In a garden the sparrow does some harm. What does not ? 

 It will take the tender tops of Peas, but a dusting of Ume will 

 prevent its doing so ; but it will still visit them, and woe betide 

 any weevU or grub that may show itself. It will keep company 

 with the Peas all along, never so happy as when they are in 

 flower. And what does it want then ? Why, that the old take 

 to their young, and the young consume on the spot. It eats 

 the young Peas, but is easily scared by an old hat suspended 

 between two stakes, or a net will make all safe. Crocus 

 flowers are pulled in pieces ; a black thread suspended over 

 them will mostly keep the birds at a respectful distance. 

 Fruit buds I have never known the sparrows touch. They are 

 not prevented in any way from doing so, and yet they have 

 never eaten any. For full thirty years this is my experience — 

 daily experience, of sparrows in gardens. I know the sparrows 

 are blamed by almost everyone for taking fruit buds, especially 

 of the Gooseberry, but the linnet is never dreamt of, but a more 

 rapacious bud-destroyer, nor more sly and shy bird at it, does 

 not exist. Early morn is the time to see the linnets at work, 

 and away they are with a twitter. Sparrows, because seen on 

 the bushes in broad daylight, are the rogues. I of course do 

 not know what the sparrow may do in other gardens than those 

 of which I have happened to have charge, and these have been 

 gardens in agricultural vUiages — farm-steadings abundant — 

 away from even those, and in towns where there is no feathered 

 note so famiUar in a natural state as that of the sparrow, and 

 in no instance has this bird taken a single fruit bud. To see 

 buds taken, and because the sparrow is seen where or near 

 whence they were removed, is not enough. Proof positive 

 and conclusive is needed, and until this is forthcoming let me 

 ask your readers to stay execution until proof is forthcoming 

 in personal observation and practical experience. — G. Abbet. 



NOTES FROM MY GAEDEN IN 1874. 



The favour with which the few notes I gave on my garden 

 in 1873 were received, and the conviction that experience such 

 as we are all capable of telling does much in aiding others, 

 induce me again to put on record a few simple notes which 

 may be helpful to those situated like myself. Mr. Luckhurst 

 writes from a different standpoint. He has to do with a large 

 place ; I, on the contrary, have only a small one, which I have 

 already described, and in which it is my endeavour to do as 

 much in various departments of gardening as I possibly can, 

 laying claim to no superior method of culture — blending, it 

 may be, a good deal — having to tell of many losses and failures, 

 but on the whole getting as much enjoyment out of my little 

 plot as I have any reasonable right to expect. 



A few alterations have been made during the past year, and 

 I may perhaps regard them as the last I shall make. I have 

 been enabled to build a wall some 230 feet with a good south 

 and south-western aspect ; and this has necessitated the cut- 

 ting-down of a number of useless Filbert trees, which the soil 

 did not suit, and from which in six years I had not gathered 

 a bushel of nuts. I have also made a rock border, on which I 

 have placed some choice alpines. With these exceptions my 

 garden remains the same as when I made my last year's notes. 

 As in most places it was a trying season, the mild winter, the 

 late spring frosts, and the lengthened drought combined to 

 tax one's capacities ; but I do not think we suffered in our 

 neighbourhood nearly as much as in some others from the two 

 last causes. We had rain when we heard not a drop bad 

 fallen in other parts, and we heard of losses by the frost which 

 we know nothing of. I think that perhaps I suffered most in 

 the early Peas, some of which seemed regularly scorched by it. 

 And as I have mentioned them I had perhaps better make 

 these first notes to bear on vegetables. And here let me say, 

 that in speaking of sorts I do not by any means wish to dis- 

 parage others which I have not mentioned ; but some are sent 

 to me to try, and as my garden is small I am constantly obliged 

 to refuse persons who wish me to try new varieties, as it would 

 be simply impossible to try all, except to one's own great dis- 

 comfort and loss. Take for example new Peas : their name is 

 Legion, and still the cry is. They come ! It would be impos- 



