410 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



little progress has been made, in doing so._ This 

 brings to mind, what has been done, and is now 

 doin<r, by the Parent Society, always foremost in 

 doinwo-ood. By them we were kindly favored, two 

 years since, with an animal of the Ayrshire blood, 

 which was kept at considerable expense, but which 

 failed to commend himself to the favor of the far- 

 mers of the county, although stationed in Andover, 

 Danvers and Newbury, three of the best farming 

 towns of the county. Reports of like character, 

 I have heard from several other counties; whether 

 true or not, I cannot say. 



Another topic of great interest to farmers, about 

 which there is much yet to be learned, is the best 

 manner of plowing land — whether it shall be done 

 deep or shallow, and whether it shall be done with 

 one pair of cattle or more. Here in Worcester, I 

 perceive, the present year, and by the accounts 

 that have been published for several years past, of 

 your plowing matches, but one pair of cattle is per- 

 mitted to operate in the work. The inference is, 

 that in the opinion of the farmers of Worcester, 

 this is the best way of doing this kind of work. — 

 But is this so 1 Do the farmers of the county, 

 o-enerally break up their land in this manner? 

 And is there power enough in one pair of cattle to 

 plow day after day, as deep as a good farmer will 

 wish his land to be plowed? A word to the wise 

 is sufficient. 



THE SWALLOWS. 



From an observation extending through many 

 years, and from the statements of a gentleman who 

 had observed them through a long life, we have no 

 doubt that the common barn swallow, the Hirundo 

 Americana of Wilson, leaves Massachusetts and 

 New Hampshire usually on the 21th day of July 

 of each year. We have observed occasional devi- 

 ations, but in such cases have noticed prospects 

 of a storm, or the prevalence of a strong, south 

 wind. The second broods and those of weak wing 

 seldom start with the first large migration. They 

 wait and practise their evolutions in the air, but 

 improve the earliest moment to leave. 



Nuttall strangely states that the swallows "re- 

 tire from Massachusetts about the 18th of Sep- 

 tember.' ' Now we will venture to say that there 

 is not a swallow to be found in the State at that 

 time, unless it be one of a very late brood, or una- 

 ble to leave in consequence of sickness or some in- 

 jury which it has received. He also states that 

 they are seen here about the last of March or first 

 of April. On the contrary, they do not appear 

 here until the last of April or the flrst of May, 

 and often extending into the middle of the latter 

 month. 



Other causes entirely unknown to us undoubt- 

 edly operate, not only to detain, but to cause 

 them sometimes to return after they have thus once 

 departed. An English writer states that he "has 

 observed that when a largo number of swallows 

 have congregated in the neighborhood of Liverpool, 

 they have suddenly disappeared, but upon a strong 



!T:>lo of wind arising, they have udd - T 



sembled till the gale was over." This was the 

 case the present season, as will be seen. 



The white-bellied swallow, hirundo virides, comes 

 first in spring and retires the latest in the au- 

 tumn. The climate of England is much milder 

 than ours, and the barn swallows do not appear 

 there until the 13th of April. 



Since the 22d of July the swallows have been 

 gathering in large numbers, and for an hour or 

 two before sunset each evening assembling on the 

 roofs of the barns, settling occasionally upon the 

 tops of the corn, then mounting into the air with 

 cheerful twitterings, and preparing with unwonted 

 zeal for their departure from the fields and gar- 

 dens they have made so pleasant. On the eve- 

 ning of the 27th, their numbers had astonishing- 

 ly increased, and they were in a state of tl.e ut- 

 most activity, swarming upon the roof of a barn, 

 then covering the tup of a large apple tree, and 

 wheeling in clouds from that height to the corn- 

 field and lighting upon the spindles of the corn. 



After performing many evolutions, and having 

 a vast deal of talk and "conferring and expatia- 

 ting their state affairs," they gradually settled 

 away in detached portions for the night, but where 

 we could not ascertain, and remained 



"till morn, 



Waked h» the circling hours, with rosy hand 

 Unbarred the gates of light." 



Early on the morning of the 28th, the barns, 

 the corn leaves, tree tops and reeds by the river 

 side gave up their living hosts. 



"As hees 

 In spring-time, when the sun with Taurus rides, 

 Pour forth their populous youth about the hive 

 In clusters; * * * * 



* * so thick the airy crowd 



Swarmed and were straitened; till the signal given." 



Then, at a quarter before six, they headed south, 

 and on rapid wing were soon lost to the sight. 

 In the course of the morning a few stragglers 

 were seen, who congregated on their favorite spots, 

 and by sunset some fifty to a hundred were col- 

 lected. 



On the morning of the 29th, however, one or 

 two things must have happened; — that those leav- 

 ing on the morning of the 28th returned, or that 

 new accessions were made to the few left behind 

 during the night; for larger numbers than ever were 

 now present, and the excitement, conferences, 

 and departure and return of delegations had in- 

 creased. This lively interchange of views and 

 preparation was kept up for a short time, the num- 

 bers apparently increasing until about six o'clock, 

 on the morning of the 29th, when they departed 

 for the south, leaving only a few behind. 



Mr. White, in his delightful History of Selborne, 

 seems to have entertained the idea through life, 

 that the swallow does not migrate, but remains in 

 its northern haunts in a state of torpidity. But 

 he failed to produce a tenth part of the evidence 



- to sunnort his theory that mavbe adduced against 



