1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



545 



BASEMENT PLAN. 



should Still oftener be aimed at in architectural de- 

 signs. 



The second objection is connected with questions 

 of light and shade. The strength and character of 

 a building depend almost wholly on the shadows 

 which are thrown upon its surface by projecting 

 members. A structure without projections has no 

 character at all. It is blank and meaningless, just 

 as a human face would be without lips and nose 

 and eyebrows. The horizontal ruling of the clap- 

 boards, being itself a species of shading, not unlike 

 the parallel lines of an engraving, cannot but weak- 

 en the power of the other shadows, — thus impair- 

 ing, if not neutralizing, this part of the effect in- 

 tended by projecting eaves, canopies, and sills. 



A third objection to clapboards rests on the fact, 

 that when they are used, the trimmings are first at- 

 tached and the boards then fitted to them. This 

 increases the expense, as well as the chances of im- 

 perfect work. The reverse happens with plain 

 boarding. The first cost of thin clapboards is 

 about the same as that of thick upright boarding 

 without battens. In durability and warmth the 

 former is decidedly inferior. 



To balance all this the clapboard possesses one 

 advantage, and that is the power derived from old 

 habits and early associations. But this power is 

 growing weaker every day. 



Height of basement, 7 feet. Main story, 8 feet 6 

 inches. Cost, as in the last design, $1,375." 



Important, if True. — To secure from cattle 

 male or female progeny at will. — According to an 

 article in the Annals of the Luxemburg Agricultu- 

 ral Society, communicated by a Belgian farmer, a 

 heifer calf is invariably produced when the cow is 

 put to bull before milking, and a male calf when 

 the cow is put to bull just after she has been thor- 

 oughly milked. The author of this statement 

 claims to have confirmed its accuracy by four years 

 experience, and asserts that the plan has succeed- 

 ed beyond all expectation. Cows, which previously 

 had borne only male calves, and that for four or 

 five years, gave heifer calves by the above treat- 

 ment. Give it a trial. — Country Gentleman. 



Remarks. — This has long been stated by Mr. 

 French, of Brain tree, this State, who raises some 

 of the finest cattle among us, and who is a careful 

 observer of this and similar phenomena. 



For the New England Farmer. 



PORTRAITS FROM THE FIELD AND 

 FARM-YARD. 



BY WILSON FLAGG. 



No. 5— THE WOOD THRUSH, CTerdus Melodus.) 



"Most musical, most melancholy." — Milton. 



The wood thrush is one of the most remarkable 

 songsters of the American forest. He is about the 

 size of a blue-bird, and resembles in plumage the 

 red thrush, except that the brown of his back is light- 

 er and slightly tinged with olive. He arrives early 

 in May, and is first heard to sing during some part 

 of the second week of that month, about the same 

 time with the bobolink and the golden robin. Un- 

 like them, he is not one of our familiar birds ; and 

 unless our dwelling-house is in close proximity to 

 a wild wood, we should never hear his voice from 

 our doors and windows. He sings neither in the 

 park nor in the garden ; he shuns the exhibitions 

 of art, and reserves his wild notes for the ears of 

 those who frequent the inner sanctuary of the groves. 

 All who have once become famihar with his song 

 await his arrival with impatience, and take note of 

 his silence in midsummer with regret. Until this 

 little bird has arrived, I always feel as an audience 

 do at a concert, before the chief singer has made 

 her appearance, while the other performers are 

 vainly endeavoring to soothe them by their inferior 

 strains. 



This bird is more retiring than any other singing 

 bird, except the hermit-thrush, being heard only in 

 deep woods that remain in their primitive state, 

 and usually in the vicinity of a pond or a stream. 

 Here, where few other birds are in the habit of sing- 

 ing, he pours forth his brilliant and melancholy 

 strains with a peculiar cadence, and fills the whole 

 forest with sound. It seems as if the echoes were 

 delighted with his notes, and took pleasure in pass- 

 ing them round, with multiplied reverberations. I 

 am confident this bird refrains from singing, when 

 others are the most vociferous, from the pleasure 

 he feels, either in listening to his own notes, or to 

 the melodious responses which others of his own 

 kindred repeat in different parts of the wood. 

 Hence he chooses the early evening for his vocal 

 hour, when the little chattering birds are mostly si- 

 lent, that their voices may not clash with his more 

 harmonious lays. At this hour, during a period of 

 about nine weeks, he charms the evening with his 

 strains, and often prolongs them in still weather till 

 after dark, and whispers them sweetly into the ear 

 of night. 



No other bird of his size has more strength of 

 voice ; but his song, though loud, is modulated 

 with such a sweet and flowing cadence, that it comes 

 to the ear with all the mellowness of the softest 

 music. It would be difficult to describe his song. 

 It seems at first to be wanting in variety. I was 

 long of this opinion ; though I was puzzled to ex- 

 plain, on this ground, its pleasing and extraordina- 

 ry effect upon the mind of the listener. The song 

 of the wood thrush consists of five distinct strains 

 or bars. By carefully analyzing these notes, I think 

 I have ascertained that the whole series has a com- 

 pass of about two octaves. They might perhaps be 

 represented en the musical staff, by commencing 

 the first strain on D above the staff, and running 

 down with a series of rapid notes to G, one-fifth be- 

 low ; the second, third, fourth and fifth strains are 



