AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 349 



JAPAN, 



The American Institute, at its meeting on the 7th of April inst., elected 

 Dr. Simmons, a surgeon in the missionary service, who will reside in Ja- 

 pan, a corresponding member. He will give all desired knowledge of the 

 agriculture, mechanic arts, &c., of that remarkable country. 



THE BIRDS AGAIN. 



The Prnirie Farvier, of Chicago, Illinois, of the 7th of April, 1859, 

 says: " Wil.-on, the ornithologist, computes that each red-winged blackbird 

 destroys, on an average, fifty grubs a day in summer. The robin, wood- 

 thrush, bluebird, catbird, sparrow, oriole, woodpecker, and many other 

 birds, are equally useful. While hoeing my garden the other day, I saw a 

 little bird alight near a row of cabbages. He commenced at one end of the 

 row, and making the entire circuit of every plant, and examining carefully 

 the under surface of every leaf, went through to the other end. His search 

 was not unsuccessful, for he found and devoured worms and insects from 

 almost every plant. Now, no gold could buy the service which the scores 

 of these winged gardeners labor so diligently and effectually to render, 

 without money and without price, and besides that, giving me sweet songs 

 without number in addition. Reader, encourage the birds." 



DEEP PREJUDICE. 



During the severe panic in Ireland, a few years ago, when a U. S. ship 

 of war was loaded with provisions and sent there, free of charge, we en- 

 deavored to teach them the value of our noble native Indian corn. Our 

 late associate, Joseph Cowdin, Consul at Glasgow, exerted himself to bring 

 it into fashion, by all our styles of cooking it. He treated rich and poor 

 at his own expense for a long time. He succeeded more extensively than 

 it had ever been done before. Still the deep prejudice remains. They 

 cannot find out yet, as our Indians had done, that while wheat bread alone 

 will not siislain man, Indian corn will, for the flinty part contains oil, and 

 the rest flour, which, together, sustains life. 



This prejudice reminds us of the deep prejudice against potatoes. More 

 than two hundred years elapsed from its introduction by Raleigh, before it 

 was understood. Even within the last fifty years, the well known English- 

 man, Cobbet, published to the world that potatoes were not fit for men — 

 that they should be left in the ground for the hogs to root them out with 

 their snouts ! Now the most desirable article on any table, well named 

 by the French " Pomme de Terre''' — Apple of the Earth — and it is far supe- 

 rior in value to the Gold apple of the Romans ; their " Atira/dia" — our 

 Orange. 



LAWTON BLACKBERRY. 



A London publication speaks of the Lawton blackberry in high terms, 

 and says that it is about to be introduced widely into England. It is spoken 

 of as a distinct variety of this kind of fruit, heretofore unknown. The 

 plants are sold in London at 2s. Gd. sterling — 62 cents each, and seem 

 likely to be as popular there as here. 



