130 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



and marmots bury themselves in the ground, and the jumping-mouse 

 of Canada and the United States, incloses itself in a ball of clay. At 

 the same time, these singular animals roll themselves together in such 

 a way that the extremities are protected against cold, and the abdom- 

 inal intestines, and even the windpipe, are compressed, so that the 

 circulation of the blood is checked. Many of them, especially the 

 gnawers, as the Hamster and Norway rat, collect previously to their 

 period of sleep, considerable stores of food, on which they probably live 

 until sleep overpowers them. 



DOVE. A wild pigeon, of which there are three sorts, namely, 

 the ring dove, the largest of the pigeon tribe, so wild that it cannot 

 be domesticated ; the stock dove, that is migratory ; and the turtle 

 dove, a shy and retired dove living in the woods. These descriptions 

 apply to the European varieties. In America we have several kinds 

 of pigeons, of which the passenger pigeon is the most remarkable. 

 In the western states these birds assemble in such countless numbers, 

 as to darken the air by their flocks, and desolate the whole country 

 for miles around their breeding places. The turtle dove of America 

 differs in some measure, from the turtle dove of Europe. 



DOWN. In commerce, the fine feathers from the breasts of the 

 several birds, particularly of the duck kind. That of the eider duck 

 is the most valuable. These birds pluck it from their breasts and 

 line their nests with it. We are told that the quantity of down 

 found in one nest more than filled the crown of a hat, yet weighed no 

 more than three-quarters of an ounce. Three pounds of this down 

 may be compressed into a space scarcely bigger than one's fist, yet is 

 afterwards so dilatable as to fill a quilt five feet square. That found 

 in the nest is most valued, and termed live down ; it is infinitely 

 more elastic than that plucked from the dead bird, which is little 

 esteemed. 



DRAINING. Few expenditures in husbandry are calculated to 

 make better returns than those made in draining, a branch of labor 

 which has had in this country but a limited application. Many of 

 our best lands are permitted to remain in a comparative unproductive 

 state, on account of the water, which saturates the surface, or reposes 

 on the subsoil. To render these lands productive, even for arable 

 purposes, it is only necessary, by well conducted and sufficient drains, 

 to collect and carry off the surplus water which falls upon the surface, 

 or rises from the springs below. The philosophy of draining is simply 

 this : Air and heat are essential agents in preparing the food of plants 

 which is deposited in the soil, and they are also necessary for the 

 healthful development of most of the cultivated varieties. These 

 agents are in a measure excluded from the soil by the water. The 

 temperature of a soil, habitually saturated with spring water from 

 beneath the surface, seldom exceeds fifty or sixty degrees at midsum- 

 mer. Hence the grains and grasses, which require a heat of eighty 



