9$ THE FARMER AT HOME. 



color is swarthy.; in Syria and Chaldea, the oLve color prevails; in 

 Arabia and Egypt, they are of a tawny or copper color ; and Tudela % 

 a Jew, relates that his countrymen in Abyssinia had acquired the 

 dark complexion of the original natives. 



COMPOSTS. Animal manures, both solid and liquid, combined 

 with earths and decaying vegetables, and indeed almost every sub- 

 stance of refuse from the domestic apartments of the farm, are called 

 composts ; and when the preparation of them is well managed, if 

 there is in reality no increase of fertilizing agents, a far better quality 

 of manures is obtained. Where the dung of the stables or the barn- 

 yard, is allowed to ferment before it is placed in the field, or in situa- 

 tions, where it is uncovered or unmixed with some substance to 

 absorb and retain the gases generated, a great loss to the farmer of 

 nutritive matter certainly ensues. To avoid this, and provide for a 

 supply of fine manure, indispensable in gardening, and. some other 

 farm operations, it is found an excellent plan to mix the vegetable 

 matters of swamps, the muck of drains, wash of roads, loam from the 

 margin of fields, peat, and seemingly every thing of the kind in 

 heaps with unfermented animal substances; and, in this way the 

 insoluble part of the vegetable matter used, is prepared to become 

 the food of plants, while they at the same time serve to prevent the 

 escape of matter from the fermenting mass. The business of prepar- 

 ing composts is one of the most important in modern farming. The 

 success of farming depends in no small measure upon it. No one 

 till he has made a trial can be aware how much excellent manure a 

 farmer can annually prepare by collecting in this way substances 

 which are usually lost. The materials that may be used, and the 

 processes for combining them is an important study. For assistance 

 in this study and labor, every farmer should own some book on the 

 subject. We think Browne's American Muck Book is the best. 



CONDOR. The Condor possesses all the formidable qualities of 

 the eagle, yet in a much higher degree ; for it is not only an enemy 

 to the bird and brute creation, but, when violently pressed with hun- 

 ger, will make its attack upon mankind. Fortunately the species of 

 this rapacious invader is scarce, or its depredations would be terrible 

 indeed ; for the Indians assert that it will carry off a deer or calf in 

 its talons, with as much ease as an eagle will a lamb. When their 

 wings are extended, they are said to measure eighteen feet across ; 

 though one, which was shot by a gentleman in Peru, which he meas- 

 ured with the greatest exactitude, was only twelve ; the great feathers 

 upon the wings were a beautiful shining black, measuring two feet 

 four inches in length ; those upon the breast and neck were of a light 

 brown, and those upon the back were rather of a darker shade ; a 

 short down of the same color covered the head ; the eyes were black, 

 and surrounded with a circle of reddish brown ; the beak was about 

 four inches in length, hooked downwards, and the extremity white ; 



