1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



543 



squatter would say, and were victorious. The mar- 

 tins regularly visited the box on the middle of May 

 for eight successive years, but always found it in 

 possession of the blue-birds. That beautiful bird 

 is, however, furnished with lodgings not very dis- 

 tant from my bed head. Their notes seem discor- 

 dant, but to me they are pleasing. The industri- 

 ous farmers and mechanics would do Avell to have 

 boxes fixed near the apartments of their drowsy 

 laborers. Just at the approach of dawn the mar- 

 tins begin to sing, and then rest a little until twi- 

 light is broken. An animated and incessant clat- 

 tering now ensues, sufficient to arouse the most 

 sleepy persons. Chanticleer is not their superior 

 in this beneficial qualification, and far inferior in 

 annoying birds of prey. 



The martin differs from his kindred in the kind 

 of insects selected for food. Wasps, bees, large 

 beetles, seem his favorite game, says Wilson. They 

 appear from the 20th of April to the 1st of May. 

 They leave for the South about the 20th of Aug- 

 ust, says Audubon, confirmed by observation. Their 

 habits in preparation for this are so similar to those 

 of the barn and cliff swallows that they need not 

 be here repeated. But if they hibernate — if these 

 half domesticated birds descend to the bottom of 

 lakes and ponds and mud-holes, and there remain 

 in a state of torpidity, those about Hudson Bay, 

 where they do not appear until May, and leave or 

 disappear about the 1st of August, must have a 

 long nap — say some eight or nine months, in those 

 frozen regions. How do the advocates of this ab- 

 surd doctrine account for the fact, that the martins, 

 like others of the swallow family, are observed and 

 traced, both north and south, on their migratory 

 journeys ? 



For the New England Farmer. 



'•IRISH" POTATOES. 



Why is the term "Irish" applied to the potato, 

 which is notoriously a "native American ?" I don't 

 recollect ever to have seen the question answered, 

 but it is probably owing to the manner of its in- 

 troduction into this part of America. To get at 

 the whole story we must go back some two or three 

 hundred years, and turn to the history of England. 



Ireland was subjugated to the English throne by 

 Elizabeth, but the more difficult task of elevating 

 the inhabitants from the degradation of semi-bar- 

 barism and reconciling them to the restraints of 

 law and habits of industr}^ devolved upon the 

 "Virgin Queen's" successor, James the first. Though 

 this Scotch successor compared rather poorly as a 

 sovereign, with Elizabeth, still his jiolicy toward 

 Ireland was wise and successful. Immense por- 

 tions of the north of Ireland had become forfeited 

 to the crown, and in order to introduce the arts of 

 civilization and jjrosperity, a company was formed 

 in London for llie purpose of ))lanting colonies on 

 the crown lands of Ireland. Among the colonies 

 sent out, was one of Scotch presbyterians, who were 

 regarded with esppcial favor by James. They set- 

 tled near the town of Londonderry, and by their fru- 

 gality, industry and enterprise, they soon surround- 

 ed themselves with all the blessings and com orts 

 of prosperity and thrift. But under Charles the 

 First, and afterward under James the Second, Ca- 

 tholicism gained the ascendancy, and Protestant 

 prosperity was at an end. Anarchy and rapine were 

 abroad, and it was with the utmost difficulty that 



protestantism held a foothold in Ireland. The 

 siege of Londonderry has hardly a parallel in his- 

 tory. After the overthrow of the Catholic power 

 by William of Orange, the descendants of the 

 Scotch colonists almost unanimously determined 

 not to remain where they had suffered so much, 

 and abandoning Ireland, they set sail in five ships 

 for America. On the 14th of October, 1718, one 

 hundred families of them landed in Boston. Sev- 

 enty other families landed at Casco, on the coast of 

 Maine. Though a township was granted to the 

 emigrants by the General Court of Massachusetts, 

 by whom the character of the emigrants was prob- 

 ably understood, still the colonists generally knew 

 no difference between these and others from Ire- 

 land, and called them all "Irish," an epithet which 

 was particularly odious to these emigrants. They 

 finally selected as the location of their grant, a 

 township above Haverhill, now within the limits of 

 New Hampshire, then known as Nutfield, but which 

 the emigrants changed to Londonderry, after the 

 name of the i)lace where many of them had lived 

 in Ireland, and where some of them had suffered 

 all the horrors of a most terrible siege. 



It was these Scotch Irish emigrants that intro- 

 duced the cultivation of potatoes into this country, 

 and from them, probal)ly, obtained the prefix 

 "Irish." The first potatoes ever cultivated here 

 were planted in the garden of Nathaniel Walker, 

 in Andover, of this State.* 



Very truly yours, ICHABOD Hoe. 



* Sir Belknap's Hist. N. tf., p. 193, Farmer's edition. 



IxcEEASED Duration of Life. — Professor Bu- 

 chanan, in an lecture before the Mechanics' Insti- 

 tute of Cincinnati, makes the following observations 

 upon the average duration of life, the effect in part 

 of the improvements in medical science. He says 

 that in the latter part of the sixteenth century, one- 

 half of all that were born died under five years of 

 age, and the average longevity of the whole popu- 

 lation was but 18 years. In the 17th century, one- 

 half of the population died under twelve. But in 

 the first sixty years of the 18th century, one-half 

 of the population lived over 27 years. In the lat- 

 ter forty years, one-half exceeded thirty-two years 

 of age. At the beginning of the present century, 

 one-half exceeded forty years, and from 1838 to 

 1845 one-half exceeded forty- three. The average 

 longevity at these successive periods has been in- 

 creased from 18 years in the 16th century, ujj to 

 43.7 by our last reports. 



Apples for Export. — Owing to the failure of 

 the apple crop in Europe, there is a large demand 

 here for exportation, and at least 10,000 barrels of 

 Newtown pippins, embracing the best of the crop, 

 will be sent out this fall. One firm here has al- 

 ready contracts for England to the amount of 6,000 

 barrels. This variety of apples has the preference 

 over all others, though Baldwins and Ilussetts are 

 exported to some extent. Shipments this year have 

 commenced early; and all the first quality fruit 

 received in this market up to the 1st of December, 

 of the varieties mentioned, will be readily pur- 

 chased, to send oflF. — JV. Y. Journal of Commeree. 



Id^ The fall of rain in England the last week in 

 September, was greater than in any corresponding 

 period for fourteen years. 



