468 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



five bushels green, but could get none fully ripe. 

 Of raspberries, from eight to twenty boxes per 

 day, they would take one-half. These protecting 

 robins would leave the farms, grubs, caterpillars, 

 and all, to eat whatever berries chanced to be 

 ripening. No argument could compel them to 

 leave my garden, no persuasion induce them to 

 stay on farms where they were wanted, no in- 

 sectiverous theory was theirs, and no Horticul- 

 tural Committee confined them to three berries 

 per day. I can say from experience that there is 

 no profit in this mode of fattening robins. I re- 

 member that the '"Star" correspondent of the 

 Farmer gives no heed to profit or loss, but with 

 admirable coolness, and an easy flourish of his 

 pen, devotes a "large part of our currants, straw- 

 berries and cherries" to the robins. Well, that is 

 only a large part of my means of living — one lit- 

 tle item of his — strawberries. Probably his fruits 

 are not much exposed to their depredations. He 

 admires to see the robin 'hopping and chirping 

 about." But, permit me to ask, "Who pays the 

 piper?" If friend "Star" should be compelled 

 to pay, as I do, three dollars per day for the 

 "chirping," we should see a "hopping about" in- 

 finitely more entertaining than a robin dance. 



My communication is already too long, but I 

 beg leave to acknowledge one good feature of 

 the robin law — its philanthropy. It permits 

 whole colonies of robins to rear up large and in- 

 teresting families in each man's garden, to feed 

 all summer on his finest fruits, and then go forth 

 in autumn all ready fattened for the southern 

 market. Give us thanks — 'tis all we get — O, 

 epicures of New York, Philadelphia and Balti- 

 more, for the million birds we send you. It is 

 cheaper to fatten turkeys, but it were a miserly 

 thing to present you with any thing fattened on 

 vulgar Indian corn. The robins are ready. O, 

 what infinite pleasure to southern sportsmen ! 

 what ready profit to southern dealers ! what ex- 

 quisite relish to southern palates, what unbound- 

 ed delight to southern cooks and connoisseurs ! 

 Worthy old Bay State ! Philanthropic old Bay 

 State I Mother of New York, New Jersey, Mary- 

 land, Virginia, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas — 

 step-mother to the citizens of Massachusetts ! 

 Complacently folding her hands in the fullness 

 of joy, in view of her great disinterestedness, 

 she sits, like another Mrs. Partington, in the 

 very shadow of her own benevolence. 



N. Page, Jr, 



Danversport, August 9, 1859. 



From three of them we scarcely obtained a pint 

 of ripe fruit, and seeing the destruction which 

 awaited the fourth patch, we covered it with 

 large pieces of gauze cloth, — upon which the 

 robins were so indignant as lo scold vociferous- 

 ly, raising every feather upon their backs, like 

 "a hog's bristles in a hurricane." From some 

 twenty cherry trees we did not get a quart of 

 fruit, and so of the raspberries and other fruits. 

 And this was not all, for the green peas, even, 

 were not proof against their rapacity. We like 

 the birds, and encourage their residing near our 

 buildings ; but unless the cherry-birds, robins 



and orioles mind their manners, we shall 



not listen to their music with as much pleasure 

 as we have heretofore. Mr. Page is pretty se- 

 vere, and has cause to be so. 



Remarks. — We do not wonder at the sensi- 

 tiveness manifested by fruit-raisers with regard 

 to the "bird-law." The question comes home to 

 them now, whether they shall abandon the culti- 

 vation of the small fruits, and thus cut oft' their 

 source of obtaining a livelihood, or whether 

 they shall have the liberty of protecting them 

 selves against birds, as they do against other 

 creatures that commit depredations upon their 

 property. Mr. Page has very nearly described 

 our own experience in the matter. We have 

 four distinct patches of land planted with the 

 strawberry, and had cultivated them with care, 

 hoping for a fair share of them as a reward. 



FAREWELL TO THE SWALLOWS. 



Swallows, sitting on the eaves. 

 See je not the falling leaves ? 

 See ye not the gathered sheaves ? 



Farewell ! 

 Ib it not time to go 

 To that fair land ye know ? 

 The breezes, as they swell. 

 Of the coming winter tell. 

 And from the trees shake down 

 The brown 

 And withered leaves. Farewell ! 



Swallows, it is time to fly ; 

 See ye not the altered sky ? 

 Know ye not that winter's nigh 



Farewell ! 

 Go, fiy in noisy bands, 

 To those far distant lands 

 Of gold, and pearl, and shell. 

 And gem, (of which they tell 

 In books of travel strange,) 

 And range 

 In happiness. Farewell ! 



Swallows, on your pinions glide 

 O'er the restless, rolling tide 

 Of the ocean deep and wide, 



Farewell ! 

 In groves, far, far away, 

 In summer's sunny ray. 

 In warmer regions dwell ; 

 And then return to tell 

 Strange tales of foreign lands. 

 In bands, 

 Pearched on the eaves. Farewell ! 



Swallows, I could almost pray 

 That I, like you, might fiy away : 

 And to each coming evil say 



Farew{ 11 ! 

 Yet, 'tis my fate to I've 

 Here, and with troubles strive, 

 And I some day may tell 

 How they before me fell. 

 Conquered ; then calmly die. 

 And cry — 

 '■Trials and toils, farewell I" — Hood. 



Experiments cm Curing the Bite op the 

 Rattlesnake. — The snakes brought by Prof. 

 Christy from the South, says the Cincinnati Ga- 



