NEW ENGLAND F A R M E R , 



DEC. 6, is^r. 



trees nearly filled with feathers, bones, an.l u,- 

 mains of .lecayed bir.ls, and it was supposed that 

 riLse trees "the chhnney swallow lay .n a state 

 oftoipiditv through th. winter season It .s now 

 know'n, however, that these fees are the favon e 

 'esort or roostins pUx'es of these hu-ds, wh.le col- 

 lectin 

 purpi 



ling those 



,„,. ,„.,.. that during the winter congregate .ti 

 lurswatnps and n.arshes of the Delaware hay an.l 

 ,l,e eastern shore of Maryland, have th.s yeai 

 shown themselves in various parts of the country 

 and wherever thoy have for a few days locate.l 

 the-nselves they have done great damage .n the 

 .V,r their u;igra,ions, the trees -"in. .^ way^e,,u,nerate.r ^ We ha.e^,.^^ y^ ^^_^^^ _^ ^^^_.^ 

 of ehitnneys u. older count.ies.^ A _tew tarn^^ ^J^^ ^^^^ ,,estroved, and of their new-sown 



vears sinee, a flock of these swailnsvs collected for 

 n,i<.ration on Long Island, made their ren.le/.vous 

 i„ a chimney near Brooklyn, and heing dr.ven tn- 

 ,0 a rootn below, were captured to the nunther of 

 .overal thousands. The bank or chtl swallow al. 

 so collects in great i.u.nbers prev.ons to nngra- 

 tion and these birds are so sensitive of coUl, that 

 sotnetimes before their arrangements are comple- 

 ted, a pren.ature frost will so hennmh thcin, ha 

 they may he taken in great quantities. The hint 

 ,1ms received is not disregarde.l ; and about the 

 time they disappear in the United States, they ap- 

 pear in the equatorial regions of America where 

 it is ascertained that they, in common with many 

 other migratory birds, rear a second brood of 



^ Tl'.metimes happens that birds of delicate hab- 

 its and very sensitive to a depression of tempera- 

 ture return from their residence in the south be- 

 fore'the state of the seasons in this latitude war- 

 rants such a movement, and the cousequence is, 

 that numbers perish. In the year 1834, dunng 

 the severe frost and snow of the Mth of May, num- 

 bers of the scarlet tanagers were |.icked up m tlie 

 woods a»d fields, emiced from tluir winter homes 

 by the previous warm weather ; and last spring, , 

 after some fine warm weather in the same month, | 

 followe.l by a low temperature, we observed at 

 one time, some sixteen or eighteen of these birds, 

 on the sunny side of a piece of woods, scarcely 

 able 10 fly, and ^vide^tly repenting their prema- 

 ture movement. . 



The changes in appearance which many birds 

 tindergo previous to emigration must have been 

 noticed by all. 'I'liese occur in a striking manner 

 in that familiar bir.l, the bobolink or meadow 

 blackbird, as he is caUed in the north, or rice 

 a.unting of the south. At the time of their ai rival 

 •,rom the south, ">id during the fore part of the 

 vear the male is easily distinguished by his 

 .C A.tliness, his variegated an.l brilliant colors, 

 ?nd Ws spirited songs. After the young make 

 £r appearance his song gradually ceases, his 

 color flutes, and before the perio.l of migration 

 Arrives, he has assumed the brown, sombre hue 

 ,,e wears through the winter and "' von- a-id 

 ,,,,pearance is with diiBculty '>'«''"S'''^'"=4, " ' 

 , le young or the females of the flock. Such i. 



sweet Ipple was destroyed, ami of their new-sown 

 wheat fields in which every uncovered gram was 



■ked up, and the just spmuling 



IllCKCU up, ilM.i 111.- j^... ..J o . 



such an extent that much injury, U was feared, in 

 most instances would ensue. The distance to 

 which the crow retires from our latituile is so 

 li,nited, that a .lay or two of moderate weather 

 and a south win.l usually brings up more or less 

 of them to feast on the animals that during our 

 winters, owing to the want of proper foo. or 

 ■neat negligence, peiish in f\u- too great numbers 

 on' our farms. It is in.lee.l probable, from their 

 liar.ly habits ami carnivorous natures, that some 

 of these bir.ls do not leave the country at all, but 

 .luring tiie most severe weather shelter themselves 

 in the thickest pine or hemlock swamps. 



Every one must he sensible of the pleasure he 

 has experienced, when after our long an.l gloomy 

 winters the appr.iach of spring and summer is an- 

 nounced by the sweet song of the s,K,rrow, an.l 

 ,be familiar notes of the robin and bluebird. 

 These birds are the earliest to show themselves 

 with us, and announce that the stern domination 

 of winter has passed away. Later comes the tan- 

 airers an.l the oriole, the barn swallows and the 

 mher families of the fly catchers; but we can 

 burdly deem ourselves secure from the sleet an.l 

 gnow'until the shrill twitter of the chimney swal- 

 low is heard, usually the first week in May, a 

 ^ratifying proof that "the winter is over and 

 ^one '■ .md that the labors of the husbandman 

 may with safety be ivsuined. The song of the 

 iMown thrush, like the blossoming of the dog- 

 wood is by many consi.lered as indicating the 

 time to commence planting in the north, while, in 

 ,be south, the cry -if the night hawk serves with 

 tlie corn and cotton grower to announce the pro- 

 per period of commencing operations. Whatever 

 ustice there may be in these suppositions, it is 

 clear that birds liy their mysterious mst.nct ap- 

 pear to decide in most cases correctly on the 

 w.-ather -, an.l that a knowledge of their habits, 

 independently of the many sources of pleasure l he 

 pursuit opens to us, may be of essential use in the 

 prosecution of agriculture. 



these beets were removed from the earth on the , 

 93d of Aueust, they bad not attained their full 

 erowth Indee.l, it is probable that many of the 

 former may measure three feet in ciicutuference, 

 and the latter two and a half, when they are fully 



The manager of the farm infor.ied me that he: 



rais-.l fifty t.ms, actual weight, of beets to the* 



I acre, last year, and that his crop is much betteri 



1 ■ w.„ the present season. He also said that it required 



'"'■" '[beied o t me .,ore labor to raise Jifty tons of beets than 



ones galheie.l to o .. I .... ■.i„ ,i.„ fmmer v/as nuite 



fiftu bushels of corn, while the former was quite 

 as .'ood for horses, much better for cattle, and 

 rather better for stock hogs. He also asserted 

 tiKU sucking calves preferre.l beets, when proper- 

 ly prepared, to milk. Indeed, I could almost se- 

 \Jt from am.uig fifty-six head of Durham cattU 

 those that had been fed during the last season ot 

 beets ■'hey were not only fatter, but smooths! 

 an.l better grown, than those that ha.l been kep 

 on other foo.l. . j 



Although cattle and hogs will eat beets in a ra* 

 state, still they are much better when boiled. Ph 

 apparatus and fixtures used by Mr l>ugli for boil 

 ii'.r, or rather steaming, foo.l for three hundre 

 bogs an.l fiu-ty or fifty cows, with other stock, cos 

 about one hundred and fifty dollars, and consume 

 a quarter of a cord of wooil per day. 



Among the Durham cattle on the' farm ot M 

 Pu-'h I uhserve.l some very fine young male 

 and among rhem Lebanon, an animal of superi. 

 growth an.l figure. 



Mr Pugh had not attemiited to make sugar fro 

 liis beets.'^hut if its manufacture is profitable ai 

 where from this article, it would certainly be t 

 here for no soil can produce a better growt 

 Two' hands can prepare the ground, plant and ci 

 tivate five acres of beets in a season, an.l the pr 

 duct would doubtless yiehl many tons of sacch 

 rine matter." 



SUGAR I5EET. 



A correspon.lent of the Cmcimiati Gazette fur- 



1'!'^ ^r^lr when i ;mm...rn;ousau.ls, on ..^le^ U^Tcdlowing interesting fitcts, collected by 

 his appe.uance, vyn i ._^ ^^_ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^.^ ^^ ,1,^ ,,„^,t. 



the progress soutl.war.l, they lin.l food ami rest ,n 

 the ri.-e fiel.ls of Carolina and Georgia. 



There are some kinds of birds that perform 

 their migrati.ms in such flocks as to be pr.Kluctive 

 of serious injury to farmers by d.pre.laling on 

 ,.rops not hou,r.l ami securcl at the time Late- 

 Bown oats not unlVc.pienlly attract t lu. hlackhud 

 in multitu.les; an.l wo have seen sa.l havoc ma.le 

 in fiel.ls of golden corn by these same migratory 

 bor.les The crow too, siu.'.e its numh.MS have so 

 ereally increase.l, is becoming seriously tro.iblc- 

 some at the period of annual migraiiou. It not 

 only attacks the cornfield, or such gram as may 

 be lingering in the fiel.ls, hut plun.l.is <.n;l;»nls 

 of their sweet apples, an.l ravages the fiel.ls ot 

 new-sown wheat. Immense flocks, almost rival- 



lllSlieK Ul<: iuiiu.....„ . o /• , t , 



ob.servati..n, in relation to the cult.ne of the beet. 

 " When on a visit to the farm of our enterpris- 

 ing citizen. Lot Pugh, thirty-two miles n<^)rth ..f 

 our city, 1 saw a white sugar beet, raised Irom 

 seed imported from France, which measured (/nr- 

 /., inches in circumference, ami weighed, after b.- 

 big removed from the groun.l ami diveste.l <d 

 foreign substances, twemy-two pouu.ls. Although 1 

 tl„. si.ecimen which was measured and weighed 

 was taken from a fiehl of several acres, still it 

 probably was not the largest, for the greater i)arl 

 .,f the crop appeared to be of equal magnitu.le. 

 A mangel wurtzel from the same grounds, and 

 laise.l from importe.l seed also, measure.l tw.mty- 

 five inches in cireumference, and w.'ighed sixteen 

 pouu.ls and a half. It must !).• observed that, as 



TO FARMERS. 



Extract from an addr.'ss delivered before t 



Cheshire Co. Agri.-ultural Association, 



Samuel Wood war.!, Jr. 



" In gi>ing over your premises, 1 find ma 



acres of land that lie" warm, but produce nothi 



but a stinted growth of Jolinswort and goldeiir. 



an.l many other parts of your farm have a 1 



unproductive appearance ; di.l it ever prodi 



better ? Yes, in my grandfather's .lay it was 



best farm in town, an.l where I get nothing m 



my father used to cut swamping grass, hut it 



run out and so will your farm be when it is 



old as mine, in spite of all your kiiowle.lge. 



hope not sir, at any rate I shall lake a .liftci 



course from what you pursue, and try to prev 



«uch a catastrophe. And now friend I will { 



you a little a.lvicc. Sell oft' all your horses ; 



one ami lay out the money for sheep or CO 



Disiiose of your long snouted, razor-backed h 

 luul lu-ociire some of our impro\ed breed;! 

 tliem shut up in a yard, and give them a suffifl 

 quantity .>f muck, loam an.l vegctahh'S, and , 

 will make inanme enough to pay lea.lily; 

 whole expense of their keeping. Be asffl 

 that the practice of letting your hogs run m 

 road, sn.uting at, an.l .startling every horse 

 nasses, is intolerably had. Frem the sulhII q 

 litv of manure you put upon your lan.l, I 

 sume you are not in the habit of caning ■ 

 muck" or decaying vegetables, into your 

 yard. See that you have enough in future I 



