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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 BIRDS— WILD GOOSEBERRY. 



Friend Brown : — I am a constant reader of your 

 paper, and always have been. I would that I 

 could find time to write in it occasionally. 



I recollect reading your article on swallows, in 

 which you mentioned their disappearance in the 

 early part of August. That article induced me to 

 observe more carefully the habits of the swallow 

 tribe. On the 17th of August I made a pedestri- 

 an trip to Kearsarge Mountain, and remarked sev- 

 eral times that the barn swallows, (Hirunda rus- 

 tica) were still performing their gyrating flight 

 around the farm houses along the road. I think 

 they did not disappear from this region until the 

 last of the month. And now let me ask some of 

 your ornithologists the difference between the barn 

 and chimney swallow. I find there is a notion 

 pretty general that there is a difference, but I 

 doubt it. (a.) 



The Sandbank swallow, (H. verbica,) which is 

 really of the Martin tribe, and is called "Sand 

 Martin," by the English, did not leave us till sev- 

 eral days after the barn swallow. I observed 

 them as late as the first of September, flying round 

 over the intervale of the Merrimac, on the bank of 

 which, nearly opposite, they every year breed in 

 great numbers. They are not "swallow-tailed," 

 and are easily distinguished from real swallows by 

 their markings. Foster says they leave England 

 about the first of October, which season, owing 

 to the difference of climate, corresponds exactly to 

 the first of our September. 



I hope your correspondents, in different parts 

 of New England, will observe the habits of this in- 

 teresting class of birds the coming year. I shall 

 certainly do my part towards bringing their hab- 

 its into true knowledge, as I have a pretty good 

 opportunity, (b.) 



I spoke of going up to Kearsarge Mountain, last 

 August. Permit me to mention that I there dis- 

 covered a fruit which I think might be cultivated 

 in our gardens. It is a species of the gooseberry — 

 the leaves being the same, the bushes smaller, 

 the last fact owing, probably ,to the height at which 

 they grow on the mountain. The fruit is like the 

 gooseberry in size, though entirely thornless, and 

 is of a bright, currant-colored hue. Now, please 

 tell me, whether this fruit is known to you, or 

 whether it has ever been domesticated in our New 

 England gardens, (c.) 



Yours truly, C. L. Wheler. 



Concord, Sept. 25, 1852. 



Remarks. — (a.) Nuttal gives the specific charac- 

 ter of the barn swallow as follows : — Above, and on 

 the breast, steel-blue ; front and beneath chestnut 

 brown, paler on the bolly ; tail forked, with a 

 white spot on the lateral feathers, the outer ones 

 narrow and long. And the specific character of 

 the chimney swallow, as sooty-brown ; chin and 

 line over the eye dull whitish ; wings extending 

 far beyond the tail. 



The barn swallow is 7 inches long and 13 across 

 the wings, while the chimney swallow is only 4£ 

 long and 12 across the wings. The tail of the barn 

 swallow is forked and extends considerably beyond 

 the closed wings, while the wings of the chimney 



swallow extend 1£ inches beyond the tail, which 

 is rounded. The barn swallow flies with extreme 

 agility and ease, skimming along the around or 

 the surface of the stream with inconceivable veloc- 

 ity, while the chimney swallow flies comparative- 

 ly heavily, with a kind of jerk, the body being cant- 

 ed up on one side. There are also other distin- 

 guishing marks. 



(b.) It is not our intention to make "a hobby" 

 of any particular subject in these columns ; but so 

 far as birds, insects and animals are concerned, 

 they all belong to the farm — they people the home- 

 stead ; and always will, and are worthy of careful 

 observation. Though lfting in their midst, and 

 calling upon them for their aid, or opposing their 

 destructive habits, Ave are strangers to them in 

 many particulars still. To the young, this study 

 will have an important influence upon the charac- 

 ter through life. 



(c.) There is a gooseberry growing wild in the 

 woods, common, we think, all over New England, 

 but it has thorns, and we have never known it 

 transplanted in gardens. Domesticate it. It may 

 prove a hardy and valuable variety. 



We are not sure that the Avriter intended his 

 letter for publication ; but wishing to place his ob- 

 servations on record, we have taken the liberty to 

 print. 



SCYTHES. 



While at Lebanon last week, we looked in at the 

 Scythe Factory of Messrs. Perkins, Messer, Col- 

 by, & Co., and saw the whole process of making, 

 from the rough bar of iron and steel to the beauti- 

 fully polished implement. Each scythe passes 

 through the hands of some ten or fifteen persons 

 before it gets the finishing touch. Nearly every 

 part of the work is done by machinery ; the forg- 

 ing by trip hammers, the plain bar at first being 

 passed through differently shaped dies until the 

 groove is made along the back and the scythe re- 

 ceives its peculiar form. The heel is also turned 

 by machinery at a single turn of the segment of a 

 wheel. When finished they arc bound up in doz- 

 ens in ropes of straw — the making of the ropes 

 and winding them around the scythes being also 

 done by machinery. 



One of the firm of this enterprising company we 

 have known for years as a man of energy and 

 progress. Their scythes stand well in the market, 

 and we wish them large sales* and handsome 

 profits. 



Sparkling Catawba. — Through the politeness 

 of Mr. Samuel S. Pierce, grocer, corner of Court 

 and Tremont Streets, we have received a bottle of 

 Longworth's Sparkling Catawba wine, manufac- 

 tured at his vineyard, near Cincinnati. It is a 

 white wine, considerably flavored with the fruit 

 taste, and slightly stimulating. It must bean ex- 

 cellent article in sickness where a light stimulant 



