128 



FARMERS' REGISTER— USEFULNESS OF BIRDS. 



draw up the precedino; narrative, being well aware 

 that it will be received with much incredulity.* 



THE USEFULNESS OF BIRDS TO THE FARMER. 



From the roifsmouth Journal. 



It has been the ravenous practice of man to de- 

 stroy all those beautiful creatures — and the more 

 beautiful, the more furious he is to destroy them, 

 and that too without the least gain. ■ 



Now can wc be candid enough to consider the 

 evil consequences of this practice, as well as the 

 great benefits to be derived in forbea,rance of such 

 a practice? It is my present intention to set forth 

 some of the evils resulting Irom such brutal and- 

 inhuman practices, and to endeavor to bring to 

 view some of the benefits unavoidably resulting 

 from their discontinuance. • 



It is a melancholy iiict in this vicinity, and pro- 

 bably elsev/here, at least as far as the extent of 

 the New England States, that our songsters, who 

 give the most delightful of all melody, are so ex- 

 tinct, that in our usual walks of business or of 

 pleasure it is rare to hear or see a solitary one, 

 especially one of those admired songsters the ma- 

 vis or mock bird that is so distinguished above all 

 others of the bird tribe, — especially to see her so 

 bold as formerly, rise to the top of a high tree, de- 

 termined that every note should be distinctly heard, 

 and there for fifteen minutes in succession, with- 

 out the least intermission, never repeat a single 

 note; as sogn as her song is ended, she is sure to 

 remove to another of the loftiest tops and pitcli 

 another song in as clear and deliberate a manner 

 as any of the human tribe possibly can. — Now the 

 poor songster, if she presumesto show her head, 

 or sing us one of her old hundreds, even in a bush, 

 she is immediately put to death. 



The singing of birds in general, is above all 

 music particularly at the closing of our long frozen 

 winters, after being long shut up and excluded 

 from most of the enlivening exhibitions of nature. 

 The sight of a variety, and of plenty of those 

 birds with their warbling voices around us in our 

 walks, and in our business, would change the pre- 

 sent melancholy scene very much. It is surprising 

 that we notice the very great ditl'erence w;ithin a 

 few years; I could once see a tolerable number of 

 different species in my orchard, and about my 

 farm; but men as they call themselves, and boys, 

 would flock around my dwellings, and in dry sea- 

 sons, when there was much danger of fire being 

 kindled from their guns. Every bird of every 

 description, was shot on it's nest, or oft" no matter, 

 if a bunch of birds could be obtained to carry 

 home for a show. I am not troubled with those 



* It may be right to notice that, in tlie experiments 

 here described, no precaution seems to have been taken 

 to provide against the possible existence of the brome 

 or the fescue seed in the soil in which the smutted 

 wheat was sown. The experiments cannot, therefore, 

 be regarded as conclusive. Farther, when we consider 

 that the brome-grasses have a panicled inflorescence, 

 whUe the wheats are spiked, and that the glume of 

 bromus is many-valve, while that of Triticum is bi- 

 valve only, we ought not readily to admit the^probabil- 

 ity of the one genus passing into the other, even by 

 crossing of pollen, far less by accidental disease. Ne- 

 vertheless we should like to see the statements con- 

 tained in this paper either verified or refuted by accu- 

 rately conducted experiments. — editor jour. agr. 



gunners now; there are no birds on my farm save 

 barn swallows, and a pair of pewee;?, v/ho are sure 

 to come home every season, and breed in an out- 

 buikling undisturbed. We endeavor to protect 

 them from guns and stones.- They are as lame as 

 we wish them; and they lake off a lew of the in- 

 sects that infest our eyes and ears. 



Besides the privation named of the sight and 

 music of those birds, we are sensible of a great in- 

 crease of insects that infest our fruit trees, and 

 that prey upon our grain and corn fiekls. We 

 ma)^ positively assert, that if birJs were increased 

 a thousand to one, hopping over our grounds in 

 search for their food, that there wovild be a great 

 diminution of those insects amounting to nearly to- 

 tal extinction. There are many that feed on the 

 inflects on fruit trees, which if undisturbed, from a 

 common course of nature, Avould free them from 

 these pests which ruin the iruit. The different 

 species of woodpeckers used to be plenty, which 

 are now almost extinct, from their exposed state, 

 in searching out fruit orchards. The cuckoo is a 

 fine but I'are bird; she exposes herself from singing 

 her very melodious songs; also from the circum- 

 stance of her particular manner of living, which 

 I believe is Avholly on caterpillars. I have seen 

 them light at a new nest and clear it coin]>letel\'. 



•There are many species of birds vvdiich I have 

 not mentioned as to their beavity and usefulness, 

 and some few that are mischievous. My design- 

 has been to show that we once were delighted 

 with, and benefited by those birds, and that we 

 are noAv living in this dreary land, without their 

 company, and without their great benefit. And 

 now I will show that if we choose, we can soon 

 enjoy their company again. 



The remedy is practicable, it is only to legislate 

 in their favor. To make tlie thing more perfect, 

 every state should go hand in hand. A heavy 

 fine should be laid against those who destroy any 

 birds, except the most mischievous. 



TO DESTROY MOEES IN GARDENS. 



Collect earthworms, kill them and mix them 

 with the powder of mix vomica. After the mix- 

 ture has remained in a heap for 24 houi-s, take the 

 worms and place one or two here and there in the 

 routes and holes of the moles. The desired effect 

 is said to be the result. — Bulletin Universal. 



TO correspondents. 



The communications headed "Norfolk, its facilities 

 for commerce, &c. — "Beaufort, or Port Royal, in South 

 Carolina, &c." — "Irish Potatoes as food for sheep" — 

 "On the effects of gypsum near salt water" — "On ma- 

 nures" — "Loss and gain" — "On wild onion, &.c." — - 

 "On the discovery of green sand [called marl in New 

 Jersey] in the calcareous deposites of Eastern Virgi- 

 nia" — "Apparatus for analyzing marl, and carbonates 

 in general" — "Desultory observations on buckwheat 

 as a green manure. Sec." were received too late for this 

 No., but will appear in the next. 



The subject of the article on certain laws in South 

 Carolina, is not embraced in the plan of our publica- 

 tion, and therefore we are compelled reluctantly to 

 deny it a place in the Farmers' Register. 



Priiiteil by Robert Riekctts, 



AT THE SHELLBANKS PRESS, 



Prince George County, Va. 

 Where the printing of books, paniplilets, and otlior jobs, can be 

 executed promptly, and iii the best style. 



