1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



205 



These two bags would just about fill a common 

 flour-barrel. Now let any industrious farmer ex- 

 pend five dollars in labor with his own help and 

 team, in procuring swamp-muck, if within reason- 

 able distance ; and five dollars more in collecting 

 brakes and other materials from the pasture, road- 

 side or wood-lot ; and I think he will have a pile by 

 the side of which the barrel of guano will be 

 small in size and in value ; and the ten dollars 

 be kept nearer home. 



While ammonia is the principal element of 

 value in concentrated manures, those from the 

 stable and hog-yard, contain in due proportion, 

 more of the requisite food for plants, and besides 

 have more of bulk, — an important quality for 

 most of our soils, rendering them more pervious 

 to heat and atmospheric influences. 



There are few farmers who so understand how 

 to use these manures, and their adaptation to 

 particular soils, as to make the purchase of them, 

 to any great extent, a safe operation, unless their 

 circumstances are such that they can aflbrd to 

 fail in the experiment. 



I believe that many kinds of concentrated ma- 

 nures will yet find a permanent place among the 

 farmers as reliable auxiliaries ; but they will be 

 like the mint the anise and the cummin, com- 

 pared with what he may manufacture on his own 

 premises. J. WoOD. 



Hoyalston, March 6, 1858. 



Fur the New England Farmer 

 PLEA FOB THE ROBIN". 

 BY WILSON FLAGG. 



Certain cultivators, annoyed by the depreda- 

 tions committed by the common robin upon their 

 cherry trees, have lately discovered, as they sup- 

 pose, that this bii'd is of no sei'vicc to agriculture. 

 They accuse him of living upon fruit and earth- 

 worms alone, alleging that he destroys but very 

 few of the insects which are injurious to vegeta- 

 tion. Herein they are led astray by a very egre- 

 gious error, and one that might produce incalcula- 

 ble mischief were they to succeed in convincing 

 the public that the robin is an enemy to the garden 

 and the farm. Nothing can be further from the 

 truth. It is in fact one of the most valuable of 

 oir birds, exceeded only by the small woodpeck- 

 er and the chickadee in the service he pei'forms by 

 checking the multiplication of noxious insects. 

 Let us make a few inquiries respecting his habits. 



The robin is not a searcher for small insects, 

 that live upon the bark and leaves of trees. He 

 seeks his food like the other thrushes, mostly up- 

 on the ground ; and is often seen, after a rain, 

 pulling out earth-worms from their holes. This 

 circumstance has led many to suppose that he 

 confines himself to these. It is true that he de- 

 vours great quantities of earth-worms, but they 

 are only a small part of his diet. He also con- 

 sumes large numbers of those grubs which occa- 

 sionally appear on the surface of the soil. These 

 are taken only by certain species of birds. Neith- 

 er the woodpecker, nor the chickadee, nor the 

 ■wax-wing, nor any species of swallow, nor the 

 king-bird, nor any of the fly-catchers, nor that ex- 

 cellent friend of the garden, the golden oriole, 

 take their food from the ground. What provis- 

 ion then has nature made to rid the surface of the 



soil of its noxious insects ? Among the small 

 birds the thrushes seem to be designed for this 

 special purpose ; and of all the species of this 

 tribe none is more beneficial than the common 

 robin. 



What constitutes the food of this bird during 

 eight months of the year when there are no fruits 

 in the garden or pasture ? It cannot be said that 

 he lives upon seeds, for he refuses seeds of all 

 kinds unless they are crushed and made into a 

 dough ; and if a young robin is fed chiefly on 

 farinaceous food in a state of confinement, he 

 will sicken and die. The plain inference is, that 

 when he cannot obtain fruit he lives upon worms 

 and insects. If angle-worms are the principal 

 part of his diet, how does he continue to obtain 

 them when the superficial soil is dry, and they are 

 lodged in the subsoil ? He cannot get them at 

 any time except when they are either wholly or 

 partially above ground. He cannot dig or scratch 

 for them, and must consume other insects or he 

 would starve. And when we consider the vast 

 multitudes of robins in our land, and their vora- 

 cious appetites, when we consider likewise that 

 they live exclusively upon insects and Avorms, 

 when fruit is not to be obtained, we must admit 

 that the quantity of crawling vermin consumed by 

 these birds must be immense and altogether beyond 

 calculation. There are no other birds that could 

 supply their place, since the other thrushes are 

 too shy to frequent our tilled grounds. The larks, 

 the snipes and blackbirds are likewise all too shy 

 to perform an equal amount of the same service. 



If the robins were to be exterminated the mis- 

 chievous consequences that would ensue could 

 never be repaired except by restoring them, cer- 

 tainly not within a period of twenty years. Let 

 us enumerate some of the insects that are kept 

 in check by the labors of the robin. He destroys 

 nearly all kinds of worms, grubs and caterpillars 

 that live upon the green sward and the cultivated 

 soil ; and large quantities of crickets and grass- 

 hojjpers before they have become perfect insects. 

 The grubs of locusts, of harvest-flies and of 

 beetles, which are turned up by the plow or the 

 hoe, and the puptB of the same when emerging 

 from the soil ; apple worms when they leave the 

 fi'uit and crawl about in quest of a new shelter, 

 and those subterranean caterpillars or cutworms, 

 that come out of the earth to take their food; all 

 these and many others are eagerly devoured by 

 the robin. The cutworms emerge from the soil 

 during the night to seek their food, and the rob- 

 in, which is one of the earliest birds to go abroad 

 in the morning, is very diligent at the dawn of 

 day in hunting for these vermin before they have 

 gone back into their retreat. The number of 

 these destructive grubs is immense. 



"Whole cornfields," says Dr. Harris, "are some-, 

 times laid waste by them. Cabbage-plants, till 

 they are grown to a considerable size, are very 

 apt to be cut off" and destroyed by them. Potato 

 vines, beans, beets and various other culinary 

 plants suff'er in the same way. The products of 

 our flower-gardens are not spared ; asters, balsams, 

 pinks and many other kinds of flowers are often 

 shorn of their leaves and of their central buds, 

 by these concealed spiders." — Report, page 343. 

 The services of the robin in destroying these 

 alone would more than pay for all the fruit they 

 devour. Indeed, during the breeding season, a 



