1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



13 



more attention than it has ever yet received. For 

 want of a better explanation, we usually say there is 

 an instinct that enables animals to find their food. 

 Many c;o from great distances directly to it. 



In disputinn; about the com])arative value of the 

 senses of sight and smell in birds, authors notice a 

 much more curious fact, — tlie great power birds 

 possess of altering the focal length of their eyes. 

 To see equally well an olyect at a distance of many 

 miles, and a minute seed or insect an inch from the 

 bill, may well amaze us. Observe the first person 

 of your acquaintance you meet, who happens to 

 wear spectacles. If he looks at an object ncai him, 

 he looks through his glasses ; if at a more distant 

 one, over them. Go to a practical optician and de- 

 sire him to construct an instrument that will enable 

 you to do what birds are constantly doing in this, 

 and he will, most lilvely, tell you the thing is im- 

 possible. 



Man probably surpasses birds in extent of vision, 

 as much as birds surpass man in sharpness. Ross, 

 in his voyage to Baffin's Bay, proved that a man, 

 under favorable circumstances, could see over the 

 surface of the sea, 150 miles. It is not probable 

 that any animal can equal this for extent. In 

 sharpness of sight, on the other hand, birds greatly 

 excel us. The eagle, soaring at such a height that 

 he seems a mere speck, sees the grouse walking in 

 the heather, which it so closely resembles in color 

 as readily to escape the sportsman's eye. Schmidt 

 threw to a considerable distance from a thrush a 

 number of beetles, of a pale grey color, which the 

 unassisted human eye failed to detect, yet the bird 

 observed them immediately. Many birds readily 

 perceive insects on branches where the sharpest 

 sighted person can detect nothing. 



The eyes of birds are remarkable for their great 

 comparative size, the great convexity of the cornea, 

 and for having the sclerotic coat formed anteriorly 

 to a circle of bony ])lates. The optic nerves are 

 very large, and unite so intimately as to appear 

 perfectly incorporated. The iris is exceedingly 

 contractile — as all may have observed who have 

 watched a liird dving. Birds do not expire with 



GEORGIC ABOUT TREES. 



Extract from a "Georgic about Trees," read before the Young 

 Men's Association at Elmira, N. Y., by Prof. Edwaed Noeth, 

 of Hamilton College : 



Trees furnish us with timber, fuel, fruit ; 

 Yet not for this alone, I bless their suit. 

 They have their language, sympathies and voice ; 

 With hearts that leap for joy they can rejoice, 

 And mourn with mourning hearts ; it happy thought, 

 Or hope, or love returned, or good deeds wrought 

 With softest sunshine fill your soul and eye, 

 To all this sunshine woods give glad reply. 

 These joys, for which tongue hath no utterance, 

 Are voiced in music by the streamlet's dance ; 

 Feeling that struggle at your lip for words, 

 From smiling trees are syllabled by birds ; 

 Or should bereavement, pain, ingratitude, 

 People your breast with sorrow's sullen brood 

 Of wretched thoughts, and human accents rasp 

 Your wounded spirit, and the proffered grasp 

 Of friendship's hand peems icy cold and hard, — 

 With no such rudeness will your peace be marred. 

 When to the hushed and twilight grove you wend, 

 For friendship's self without the selfish friend. 

 From whispering leaves, and insect's hum, and grass 

 Fragrant beneath your footsteps there shall pass 

 Such soothing influence to your breast, that ere 

 Your griefs are told they turn to holiest cheer. 



For the New England Farmer. 



HONEY PONDS. 



THE DAY OF HUMBUG STILL COXTINUES. 



Mr. Editor : — Not long since,seeing an advertise- 

 tisement in the Traveller, to the effect, that if any per- 

 son would address a letter to Messrs. H. T. J. & Co., 

 New York, box so-and-so, inclosing four postage 

 stamps, by return of mail,Messrs. & Co. would inform 

 the person, of a way l)y which they could make five or 

 ten dollars per day, with scarcely any trouble, and 

 without leavino^ home, &c., &c. To me the adver- 

 tisement contamed upon the very face of it all the 



elements of a perfect humbug. However, a young 



friend of mine, being out of liealth and wishing to 



find some method to occupy his mind, and if possi- 



eyes open, as is the case with man and the lower j hie replenish his pocket, followed the directions of 



animals, and when they are expiring, you may read- 

 ily observe the great power they possess of dilating 

 and contracting the pupil. The muscles, as in man, 

 are six in number — four straight and two oblique. 

 in many birds the eye-lxall possesses very little mo- 

 1)ility, and in some of the owls it is so closely fitted 

 into the orbit as to be immovable. 



IIow the eye adapts itself to near and distant ob 



the advertisement ; and, my dear ecUtor, what was 

 the result, think ye ? You begin to laugh, I know 

 you do; well, here it is, for the especial benefit 

 of all young men out of health, and the would-be- 

 humbugged pul)lic in particular. A circular was re- 

 turned, in whicli the young man was informed that 

 if he would again address Messrs. H. T. J., (K: Co., 

 inclosing five dollars, thev would inform him of a 



jy. Three explanations have been ottered. 1. 

 brinefiny: forward the crystaline lens nearer to 



jects is one of the most abstruse questions in pliysi-j method to make honey ! ! as good, if not better, 



than any bee in tlie United States or anywliere else 

 could do ; indeed, bees could be dispensed with al- 

 together, and their manufactory was attended with 

 considerable trouble, and the bees themselves a 

 nuisance about one's premises. A short extract 

 from the circular : — 



"One himdrcd and fifty per cent, can be made 

 ui)on the sale of the articles, and that, too, when 

 sold at a less cost than the honey made by bees. It 

 c:ui be made in small quantities for 6 cts. per lb. 

 Upon the receipt of 25 cts., I will send you a small 

 pot containing a sample of the honey made from 

 this recipe, Sec, Sec. \ man can make one liundred 

 pounds m twenty minutes, with Imt very little 

 troul)le. The honey, as manufactured by the new 

 process, has, also, the great advantage of being al- 

 ways fresh and in season — a thing utterly impossi- 



olo 

 By 



the cornea, without altering the form of the whole 

 eye or the crystalline itself. 2. By changing the 

 figure of the globe of tiie eye, so as to increase the 

 distance between the cornea and retina, as you pull 

 out the joints of a common spy-glass ; and, 3. With- 

 out altering the general form of the eye, l)y increas- 

 ing the spliericity of the crystalline, and thus in- 

 creasing its refractive ])ower. The first was the 

 opinion of Ilaller and the earlier physiologists. The 

 second, was ado])ted by Blumcnbach and many al)le 

 men. The third was the opinion of ],eweMhoek, 

 Descartes, and Dr. Young, and is, perliaps, tlie true 

 explanation. Sir iM'erad Home and Mr. Ramsden 

 performed many experiments to elucidate the ques- 

 tion, but they proved nothing. 



