1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



517 



a bushel of it behind each grown animal, and it 

 will become well saturated and mingled with the 

 cattle droppings, and make the very best of ma- 

 nure ; indeed, far better than that which is com- 

 monly saved in the farmers' stables. No one who 

 has ever fairly tried this method of composting, 

 would dispense with it, nor would he regard the 

 expense of fitting up the stables for it, or of sup- 

 plying the raw material in the trench, as to be 

 named in comparison with the advantages realiz- 

 ed therefrom. 



It would undoubtedly be a good plan to tie 

 the cows in the stables, nights, through the sum- 

 mer and fall, or after the full flush of spring pas- 

 turage has passed, and feed them at night with 

 green corn, or other soiling crops, raised for that 

 purpose. The trench should also be daily filled 

 with muck or rich mould. Thus you would in- 

 crease both milk and manure. 



For oxen, the floor-planks should be about six 

 feet and nine inches long. The ox-stalls being 

 made all at one end of the stable-range, no in- 

 convenience will arise from having a jog in the 

 trench where the cow-stalls commence. 



Very truly yours, F. HoLBROOK. 



For the New England Farmet , 

 BLACK KNOT ON PEACHES, 



Mr. Editor : — Some months since I noticed 

 an article in the Farmer on ''Doubtful Items in 

 Culture," by your correspondent, J. M. Ives. 

 From some remarks in that article, I infer that 

 he has had much experience in testing different 

 varieties of peaches, as well as other fruits, and 

 1 should be m.uch pleased to see a list of those 

 kinds which he esteems most valuable, and par- 

 ticularly, which among the late ripening varie- 

 ties he thinks the most profitable. The late 

 Crawford seems to be our standard late peach, 

 but in many places it has proved too unproduc- 

 tive to be profitable. Is there a better late va- 

 riety ? If I remember aright, some years since 

 the late Robert Manning recommended a late 

 peach, called the Welch Freestone. Can your 

 correspondent give me any information concern- 

 ing it? Has the Druid Hill been sufficiently 

 tried to determine its value? 



I also wish to inquire if peach trees are ever 

 much troubled by the black knot ? Until very 

 recently I was not aware that they ever were, but 

 a short time since, while I was looking at a 

 young peach tree, I was much surprised to dis- 

 cover upon it one of our old enemies, a veritable 

 black knot; it was about two inches in length, 

 and was upon the last year's wood ; the tree is 

 only two years from the stone, and is not budded ; 

 with the exception of this knot it seems to be 

 perfectly healthy and thrifty. I have thought that, 

 perhaps, the injury which this tree, in common 

 with all peach trees, received from the severe 

 cold of last winter, might have som.ething to do 

 with the production of this knot ; yet this tree 

 did not appear to have suffered more than the 

 others. 



I have heard of cherry trees, and of wild plum 

 trees, (American,) being affected by the knot, but 

 I have never heard of their being found upon 

 the peach; yet, perhaps, they are not uncommon. 



Sey>t. 20, 185a. X. t. z. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 A PLEA FOR THE ROBIN. 



On page 542, vol. 10, of the monthly Farmer, 

 is a communication from J. S. Needham, West 

 Danvers, in which he says many hard things 

 about the robins. He denounces legislative en- 

 actments to protect these birds, and asserts it as 

 the "right and duty" of man to disobey the law, 

 by destroying all those birds that taste the ripen- 

 ing fruit. 



All the weeds, shrubs and bushes which infest 

 the pastures, — hence the deterioration of pasture 

 land, and its consequent depreciation in value, 

 and the increase in the price of butter, — are laid 

 to the poor robin. Really, such an amount of in- 

 jury would consign a human being to infamy, if 

 he were guilty, and who can uphold such prac- 

 tices in birds ? But I am far from believing the 

 robin guilty of all that is charged to his account. 

 Other small birds are quite as plenty as robins, 

 and some species feed almost wholly upon seeds, 

 without being very particular in their choice. 

 As soon as any seed is grown the common yel- 

 low bird may be seen upon plants, gathering his 

 daily food. The lady's flower-bed receives a due 

 share of attention, and in the latter part of sum- 

 mer and in autumn, thistles, mullins, burdocks, 

 and almost every other noxious weed, furnish 

 their quota of food, and we hear nothing about 

 the utility of destroying them, but on the con- 

 trary all admire them ; yet it appears to me that, 

 if the "germ of the seed is not killed in passing" 

 through the digestive apparatus of birds, the 

 yellow bird deserves a full share of the denunci- 

 ation for scattering seeds of injurious weeds. 



On page 332, vol. 11, is another article writ- 

 ten in the same strain, by a correspondent who 

 signs himself "N." The article in entitled, "Or- 

 nithology," but his animosity to robins seems to 

 have led him from his subject, for I think it 

 would be difficult to find, in his communication, 

 much that pertains to the science. He says, "To 

 my mind, the robin possesses no taste, but se- 

 lects its food to the fancy of its eye," and that 

 the bird swallows angle- worms "only to gratify 

 his vicious destructiveness." I am glad the wri- 

 ter will admit that the poor bird's destructive- 

 ness sometimes leads him to destroy worms. I 

 will also admit that he eats fruit, and so do sev- 

 eral other species of small birds, occasionally, 

 but I do not believe the robin would live entire- 

 ly upon that kind of food, if he could have his 

 ■choice. Indeed, I think I have very good proof 

 to the contrary, for during the present season I 

 have seen a robin fly from the fence, and pick up 

 worms and swallow them, when a cherry tree, 

 laden with ripe fruit, was quite as near. Many 

 a time have I seen robins follow the plow, pick- 

 ing up every worm and bug that came in their 

 sight. This was in New Hampshire, where, it is 

 true, angle-worms were not as plenty as in some 

 parts of the country, yet robins were abundant, 

 and fruit was plenty. The great number of in- 

 sects which birds destroyed, was generally con- 

 sidered a full remuneration for all the fruit they 

 eat, yet there, as everywhere, the robin had ene- 

 mies. Persons called men would kiH any small 

 bird rather than allow it to take a few cherries 

 or raspberries. I am glad, however, that all are 

 not of that class, and that some men can be 



