480 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



tion from cats. A martin knows instinctively all 

 the rapacity and cruelty of the feline race, and 

 carefully avoids a house that is approachable by 

 its enemies. We have in mind an instance of a 

 colony of martins being destroyed by a cat that 

 ascended the pole on which the house was erected, 

 and from that to the present time it has been un- 

 occupied. Ventilation is important in a martin 

 house. It will be noticed that houses with two 

 tiers of entrances, through which a current of air 

 may pass, are the favorites, and an old weather 

 beaten box with numberless cracks in it is more 

 generally tenanted than a tight giib' painted affair. 

 Our experience has been that olive jars are at- 

 tractive tenements for these birds. They should be 

 fastened to the eaves of the barn or on a naked 

 fork of a tree, or on the top of a smooth pole, — the 

 entrance arranged at f-uch an angle that beating 

 rains will not prove troublesome, and a small hole 

 punctured through the further end. Vermin are 

 serious pests in martin boxes, as in pigeon cotes, 

 and birds will avoid them if infested. 



My advice to your correspondent is, to take 

 down his martin-box, examine it, ana if infested 

 by vermin, give it a thorough cleansing. Change 

 its position, and cut more entrances, on ditfertnt 

 sides, and see if its neglect is owing to its ac- 

 cessibility to cats. Care on these points may in- 

 sure him, another season, a large colony of one of 

 the most interesting and pkasiug of birds." 



A PLEA FOR THE CROW. 



I wish to enter my plea for that much abused, 

 but faithful friend of the farmer, the crow. Iti my 

 youttiful days it was the custom every spring for 

 men and boys to turn out for a giand trow tiunt. 

 All the nests that were accessihle were destroyed; 

 and every crow that came within range was shot. 

 Wonderful feats in climbing were acccomplished 

 by the boys, shinning up the huge tiees on 

 which the nests were sitjated, or cliuibmg some 

 adjaceiit tree and venturing out on the branches 

 till the other tree vfas reached. They were consid- 

 ered the natural enemies of man, and by all means 

 to be destroyed. But I have come to look upon 

 the crow as the friend and ally of the farmer. 



For the past three years I have had a piece of corn 

 in a very exposed situation, far frum any human 

 habitation, and close iiy a pieie of woods where 

 the crows have reared their young ; but by sur 

 rounding and cros>ing the field with twine, all 

 trouble with the crows has been avoided. Often 

 have I seen them in flocks on the trees or fences 

 close by the corn, but never did one dare to ven- 

 ture within the charmed circle ; while some of my 

 neighbors who ventured to leave their curn unpro- 

 tected sulfered greatly, and when the er>ws once 

 got a taste of the corn, it seemed aimost impossible 

 to keep them away by twine or any other means. 



When the corn was hoed the second time, the 

 twine , was removed ; and when we returned to the 

 Held after dinner, a flock of crows was seen on the 

 part which had been hoed, apparently searching 

 in the freshly stirred soil fur grubs and worms, 

 which shows that these wary bipeds thought the 

 danger was removed when the twine wa^t taken 

 down ; and which also shows their usetulness to 

 the farmer in destroying the insects and worms 

 which are injurious to his crops. 



Their value to the farmer in destroying the 

 grasshoppers and other insects which frequent our 



pastur< s and meadows, is also great, and their de- 

 stiuetion should should be looked upon as a ctlam- 

 ity. I say, then, protect the crows and they will 

 protect you. . E. A. Davis. 



Buckiand, Mass., July 30, 1869. 



Remarks. — We are reminded by the above plea 

 for the crow of some statements made in a let;ter 

 that we recently heard read from the Rev. Chester 

 Holcomb, a missionary at Peking, written in June, 

 soon alter his arrival there, and addressed to a 

 Sunday school in this country. In speaking of the 

 appearance and habits of the Chinese, be men- 

 tioned two commendable traits in their character — 

 veneration of parents anil ancestors, and kind 

 treatment of birds. Birds there were as tame as 

 chickens, and would come close to a per.-on with- 

 out any fear. Though in a, city of some 4,000,000 

 inhabitants, he says "there are at least twenty 

 sparrows' and swallows' nests, with two jackdaws' 

 and three crows' nests, in the building in which I 

 write. In one Chinaman's dooryard I saw a tree on 

 which theie were fourteen crows' nests and they 

 were building another!" He also facetiously re- 

 marked that in one of his evening walks a crow 

 helped him to a certain sound in the pronunciation 

 of the Chinese language, which he had been trying 

 in vain all the afternoon to catch from his native 

 teacher. 



The Chinese are skilful farmers. They have 

 cultivated the same soil from time immemorial, 

 without impoverishing it, and without having 

 their crops destroyed by insects. Hence their 

 opinion of the utility of birds is entitled to respect. 

 Still we do not propose them as arbitrators of our 

 crow question. It is possible that the habits of 

 their crow may be diflerent from ours, as his cir- 

 cumstances and trainiDg certainly are. In this 

 country every one must act on his own convictions. 

 But while doing so let us treat the opinions of 

 others with a "decent respect." 



A HOME-MADE FESTILIZEE. 



Is U not a little stranse that farmers will buy 

 the cosr,ly patent manures, when they have oa 

 their own farms all the elements necessary for the 

 manufactur»^ of an article equal, if not superior, 

 to most of th« phosphates and poudrettes in the 

 market ? Wliy is it that they have not engaged 

 more freely in ihe Lome manufacture of fertili- 

 zers ? Is it because they have given the subject no 

 thought, or is it because they do not krow how to 

 do it ? It the latter, 1 propose to give what light 

 and knowledge my own practice may aflbrd on 

 the subject. 



As soon as the busy season of haying is over, I 

 go to a muck swamp and haul up two or three 

 cords of the best muck I can procure ; put it in 

 some convenient place on thegri>und, or on a plat- 

 form made for the purpose. Then I rake up all 

 the loose chips and door-yard dirt, with that 

 around and inside the buildings. Now collect all 

 the brush and other rubbish from every part of 

 the farm, pile it all in one heap and burn it. The 

 muck, meanwhile, should be dug over in the sun 

 until it is quite dry. Then procure a dozen good 

 molasses liogsheads, which may be bought at the 

 grocery stores for from fifty cents to a dollar each ; 

 or if these are not procurable, barrels will answer. 

 Ashes from the burnt rubbish and elsewhere, are 



