883 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JUNB 19, 1S33. 



From the lioston Patriot. 

 ON BIRDS AND THEIR MISFORTUNES. 



We liave already intimated our opinion, 

 tliat tlie labors of the scientific ornithologist 

 are of for more practical utility, than the casu- 

 al observor might suppose ; and that, even 

 in the business of legislation, a regard to his re- 

 searches might prevent many errors, vhich may 

 mucii affect pulilic welfare. The legislation on 

 the subject of birds has been marked by some es- 

 sential errors, which have led to real evil. By 

 tho law of 1817, woodcocks, snipes, larks, and 

 robins, were protected at certain seasons of the 

 year, whilst war to the knife was declared against 

 crows, blackbirds, owls, blue jays, and hawks ; 

 these last were treated as a sort of pirates, subject 

 to suspension at the yard arm with the least possi- 

 ble ceremony. It so happens, that the charac- 

 ter of these very birds has been singularly mis- 

 taken ; for wliile the ordnance of legislation has 

 been thus systematically levelled at them, they, 

 on a principle which man would do extremely 

 well to imitate, have been returning good for 

 evil : they have been diligently engaged in cxtri- 

 pating all sorts of vermin, while never were the 

 vilest vermin half so ill treated by the human race. 

 The crow for example, who is generally regarded 

 as a most suspicious character, has bad great injus- 

 tice done him ; in the spring, when the ground 

 is moist, he lives in a state of the most triumphant 

 luxury on grubs ; he eats the young corn, it is true, 

 but it is a necessary of life to which he never re- 

 sorts, except when his supply of animal food is 

 shortened. After the corn is tolerably grown, he 

 has nothing more to do with it ; and in any stage 

 he destroys at least five hundred pernicious grubs 

 and insects, for every blade of corn which he pil- 

 lages from man. In the Southern States he is 

 regularly permitted to accompany the ploughman, 

 and collects the grubs from the newly opened fur- 

 row ; his life is thus secured by the safest of all 

 tenures — that of the interest of mau in permitting 

 him to live. 



There is scarcely a farm in England without 

 its rookery ; the humid atmosphere multi[)lies eve- 

 ry species of insect, and those birds reward mau 

 for his forbearance by ridding him of legions of 

 his foes. By a policy like that which dictated 

 the revocation of the edict of Nantes, they have 

 occasionally been exposed to the mischievous pro- 

 pensities of unruly boys, who, as faras utility is con- 

 cerned, are not to be compared to crows: but the 

 error of this step soon became obvious, and they 

 are now received with a universal welcome. The 

 hawk enjoys a doubtful reputation in the hen-roost: 

 he sometimes destroys the chickens, but with the 

 consistency of man, does not like to see his infirmi- 

 ties copied by another; and by way of compensation 

 demolishes the fox, v/hich eats twenty chickens, 

 where he eats but one ; so that it is hardly the part 

 of wisdom to set a price upon his head, while 

 tho fox, a hardened knave, is not honored with a 

 penal statute. How the owl came to be included 

 in this black list, it is difficult to conjecture ; he 

 is a grave, reflecting bird, who has nothing to do 

 with man except to benefit him by eating weasels, 

 foxes, racoons, rats and mice,— ;a sin for which 

 most housekeepers will readily forgive him. In 

 some parts of Europe, he is kept in families, like 

 the cat, whom he equals in patience, and surpas- 

 ses in alertness. Another of these birds, the 

 blackbird, is the avowed enemy of grubs, like the 

 crow ; in the middle States, the farmer knows the 



value of his company to pluck them from the fur- 

 row ; and while other less pains-taking birds col- 

 lect the vermin from the surface, his investigations 

 are more profound, and he digs to the dejjth of seve- 

 ral inches in order to discover them. When the 

 insects are no longer to be found, he cats the corn 

 as well he may, but even then asks but a moderate 

 compensation for his former services; five hundred 

 blackbirds do less injury to the corn, than a single 

 squirrel. The last upon the catalogue of perse- 

 cuted birds is the blue jay. Whoever watches 

 him in the garden, will see him descend inces- 

 santly from the branches, pouncing every time u)i- 

 on the grub, his enemy and ours. 



We have already seen that the act to which 

 we have referred protects some birds at certain sea- 

 sons of the year ; among others, the robin, who 

 lives on insects and worms, and has no taste for 

 vegetable diet, and the lark, who is extremely use- 

 ful in his way. The only wonder is, that it 

 should have been thought expedient to allow them 

 to bo shot, in any season. — The quail, another 

 of the privileged class, has no title to he 

 named in company with the others ; in the 

 planting time, he makes more havoc than a regi- 

 ment of crows, without atoning for his misdeeds 

 by demolishing a single grub. Nor is the partridge 

 a much more scrupulous respecter of the rights 

 of property ; though, as he lives in comparative 

 retirement, he succeeds in preserving a better 

 name for honesty. 



There are some of our most familiar birds, of 

 which a word may here be said. Every body 

 has seen the little goldfinch on the thistle by the 

 the way-side, and wondered, perhaps, that his 

 taste should lead him to so thorny a luxury ; but 

 he is all this while engaged in devouring the seeils, 

 which but for him would over-nm the grounds ot 

 every farmer. Even the bob-o'-link, a most con- 

 ceited coxcomb, who steals with all imaginable 

 grace, destroys millions of the insects which an- 

 noy the farmer most. All the little birds, in fact, 

 which are seen about the blossoms of the trees, 

 are doing us the same service in their own way. 



Perhaps there is no bird which is considered 

 more decidedly wanting in principle, than the 

 wood-pecker ; and, certainly, so far as man is con- 

 cerned, there is none more conscientious. So 

 long as a dead tree can he found for her nest, he 

 will not trouble himself to bore into a living one; 

 whatever wounds he makes upon the living, arc 

 considered by fi)reign gardeners as an advantage 

 to the tree. The sound tree is not the object — he 

 is in pursuit of insects and their larvae. In Somli 

 Carolina and Georgia, forests to a vast extent have 

 been destroyed by an insect, which would seem as 

 capable of lifting a tree, as of destroying it. TIjc 

 people were alarmed by the visitation, and sagaci- 

 ously laid the mischief at the door of the wood- 

 pecker, until they found that they had confounded 

 the bailiff with the thief. 



The injury arising from the loss of a single 

 cro]) is hardly to he estiinated. The experience 

 which is taught us by our own misfortune, is very 

 dearly bought ; and we think that if we can derive 

 it from others — if, for example, we can learn from 

 the ornithologists the means of preventing such 

 injury, as in many instances we may, the dictates 

 of economy combine with those of taste, and 

 warn us not to neglect the result of his researches. 



The first Strawberries in this market were e'x- 

 hibited Friday, 7th iust, 21 hours from Long-Island. 



From tlu Kmmlec Farmtr. 



Mb. Holmes, — Having before treated of a num- 

 ber of things which have an indirect bearing upon 

 the breadstuff of Maine, and promised those which 

 have a more direct bearing, 1 therefore jjroceed to 

 mention such as occur to my mind, and First of 

 the imperfect unilerslandi^jg of wheat raising in this 

 state. It is to be hoped that the wheat raising busi- 

 ness may hereafter be so well tinderstood that wc 

 may become famous for that crop. It is emphati- 

 cally the golden crop, and I thiidv it may be brought 

 to as great a state of|)erfection in this as in any otli- 

 er section of the union, or any place in the knowtsi 

 world, and cultivated to as great an extent as m 

 any other country. While on this subject I will 

 mention a few things which apjiear to me impor- 

 tant. The first is good, sound and perfectly ripe 

 seed. Never be satisfied until you have a good 

 kind, and then select the best of that annually. It 

 ought to be done much as good farmers select their 

 seed from Indian corn. Second, a proper quanti- 

 ty of seed sown to the acre; not so much as to fill 

 the land so full that it will be crowded, nor so little 

 that it has to sucker to fill the laud, for the. sucker 

 will grow fast and consequently be more liable to 

 blast, and will not ripen evenly or at the same time 

 witli the stalks proceeding directly from the seed- 

 Third, not too much animal or vegetable manure, 

 nor too little. If there is too much it grows rapidly 

 and of course is weak and unhealthy and exposed, 

 should the weather not favor it, to blast or blight. 

 A iiro])er quantity of alkali by means of wood ash- 

 es and also Lime is important. I have no doubt that 

 it isabsolutely necessary to theperfection of wheat, 

 that the soil should contain lime, either naturally 

 or supplied by art. 



I'ut your finger on the map of the world and 

 that spot which contains lime, if properly manured, 

 is a wheat spot, unless so near the sea as to be de- 

 stroyed by the sea breezes and exhalations ; and 

 the contrary may be expected if there should be a 

 lack of that material. The art of wheat raising- 

 njay, I think, be reduced to a few general rules j 

 viz. Good soil for the crop, a stiff clay loam, if 

 not rendered too wet by a bad subsoil ; a proper 

 quantity of animal and vegetable manure. Good 

 seed, and not too much nor too little, sown with 

 mild lime to perfect the crop. The land well tilled, 

 and the blessings of Divine Providence. 



Seco7id. Indian Coniv. This crop may be raised 

 upon our sandy loams, in as great perfection as in 

 any part of tho world, if as well tilled. It should 

 be planted proportionably uigher together and well 

 manured, having due regard to the variety or kind 

 planted. 



Thirdly. Rve, may bo ?dvantageously raised 

 on almost any sandy soil ; and in almost any quan- 

 tity. 



Fourthly. Buck Wheat may be raised in al- 

 most any quantity, and used when it is first har- 

 vested, and eaten warm, it makes an agreeable 

 bread. It is also used for Hogs and Horses. 



Fifthly. Oats, when hulled by proper mills, 

 make a flour that sells in the Nova Scotia inarkets, 

 at nearly the same price as flour made from wheat, 

 and they may be raised almost any where. 



Sixthly. IJarley, is raised to advantage in ma- 

 ny parts of Maine, and its use as a breadstuff is 

 appreciated in many countries of Europe and in 

 soiTie parts of our own. 



Seventhly. The raising of Potatoes and other 

 roots, may be a substitute for Breadstuff, as it re- 

 spects our stock ; and if boiled and properly pre- 



