1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



207 



Twenty years ago Chicago, as well as most 

 of the country from whence she now draws her 

 immense supplies of breadgtuffis, imported both 

 flour and meat for home consumption — now she 

 is the largest primary grain depot in the icorld, 

 and she leads all other ports of the ivorld, also, in 

 the quantity and quality of her bctf exports ! ! We 

 say the largest primary grain depot in the world, 

 because it cannot be denied that New York, Liv- 

 erpool, and some other great commercial centres, 

 receive more breadstuffs than Chicago does in 

 the course of a year, but none of them will com- 

 pare with lier, as we have sho-\vn above, in the 

 amount collected from the hands of the pro- 

 ducers. 



What a practical illustration the above facts 

 afiPord as to the wonderful, the scarcely credible, 

 progress of the West — what an index it furnishes 

 to the fertility of her soil, and to the industrious 

 and enterprising character of our people — what a 

 prophecy of the destiny that awaits her, when 

 every foot of her long stretches of prairie and her 

 rich vallies shall be reduced to a thoroughly sci- 

 entific tillage ! How long, at this rate, will it be 

 before the centre of population and of wealth will 

 have arrived at the meridian line of our city, and 

 Chicago will have vindicated lier right to be recog- 

 nized as the great commercial metropolis of the 

 United States ? We verily believe such is the des- 

 tiny that awaits her. — Free Press. 



For the Neiv England Farmer. 



ABOUT RAISING STRAWBERRIES- 



I find that my neighbors who cultivate straw 

 berries in a very rich piece of garden ground, are 

 so overwhelmed with weeds that they feel com- 



Eelled to make a new bed every year or two. I 

 ave had a bed in the same spot, a part of it for 

 six and a part for five years, and for the past 

 three years have had comparatively very little 

 trouble with the weeds ; the hoe and hand, three 

 times in the season, being sufficient, including 

 therein once late in the autumn. I take poorer 

 land and a larger piece — a piece where nothing 

 but grass or strawberries will grow, unless it be 

 weeds, owing mainly to the close proximity of 

 two largo elms, whose roots draw largely on the 

 soil, and partly to the soil being a gravelly loam, 

 which has never received much that was enrich- 

 ing. Sometimes I have given the bed a dressing 

 of well-rotted compost, sometimes of leaves in the 

 fall, and suiiietimes nothing whatever. Last sum- 

 mer it produced 105 quarts of strawberries. The 

 dimensions of the bed I cannot now give^ but 

 should suppose it would contain 1000 or 1200 

 square feet. I would not exchange it for one of 

 half the size, in rich soil, if I had to take the 

 weeds also. 



As strawberries do not grow on bushes to ac- 

 commodate tall people, and as the sun always 

 sliine-s its hottest raj's when they ripen, and itis 

 a busy time, I find it advantageous to have a 

 bed sufficiently large to pay for the picking, by 

 allowing my neighbors' children or wives to pick 

 them on fliures, giving me one-half, which halfj 

 is sufficient fur my family's present consumption,! 

 and fur tlieir preserve jars, and for the supply of 

 several quarts to friends. 



Yours, &c., Lewis S. IIopkixs. 

 Northampton, Feb. 15, 1855. 



For the New Enslaiid Farmer. 



DON'T SHOOT THE BIRDS. 



Mr. Editor : — Humanity has the first claim 

 upon our nature. It is the first natural lesson 

 we teach the child ; it daily admonishes offending 

 man ; it asks your forbearance to do wrong. It 

 says to the Spring birds, — come and sing your 

 joyous songs around my dwelling. If the robin 

 j wants your cherries, mount the tree and sing and 

 leat together ; so with the beautiful cherry birds ; 

 ' make them your daily guests. If you have but 

 i few, plant more trees and invite familiarity. 

 [When the fruit is gone, the canker-worm and 

 other insects are their food. Don't shoot these 

 birds ! 



Build houses for the martin, the wren, the 

 swallow, the blue bird ; make the entrance holes 

 small for the wren, and according to size for the 

 other birds. Severe battles are fought for the 

 mastery of the house, but the size of the hole 

 decides who shall occupy it. The swallow and 

 martin are sallying forth for musquitoes and 

 other insects, while the little wren is picking 

 over your fruit trees for bugs and slugs ; early 

 and late they regale you with their music. Have 

 you a heart to shoot these Inrds 1 



Few knoAV the value of the woodpecker, who 

 constantly seeks for noxious grubs beneath the 

 bark of your orchard trees, and so dexterously 

 does its work. Will you shoot this bird ? There 

 is the "golden robin," that hangs her "reticule" 

 on the limb of the graceful elm, ingeniously be- 

 yond your reach. She opens her voice with the 

 dawn of the morning in rich notes ; she lives on 

 worms and insects ; give her thrums to weave 

 her nest. Don't shoot this beautiful bird. 



There is the thrush — he perclies upon the tree- 

 top and directs you to "plow it," "furrow it," 

 "drop it," and "cover it up," as a true monitor 

 of seed time. Will you shoot huu for this good 

 advice ? The merry boborlink, the lark that 

 whistles, and that little Bible bird, the "spar- 

 row," that chirps around your door, seeks a few 

 crumbs of bread, and becomes the pet of children. 

 Will you shoot these innocent birds ? 



The hawk dashes into your brood of chickens 

 with a relish for uncooked poultry, and carries 

 off his victim before the eyes of its terrified, be- 

 seeching mother ; yet his principal food is snakes, 

 mice and lizzards. So he is an expert fisherman, 

 but there is plenty of fish in the sea for you. 

 Don't shoot the hawk. 



The crow pulls up your corn, (soak it in cop- 

 peras water as a preventive,) but he is your com- 

 mon scavenger, removes carrion and other offiil, 

 eats worms, and is highly beneficial in liis depart- 

 ment. His music — any thing but agreeable to 

 us — is heard by Him "who hears the young 

 ravens when tliey cry." Will you shoot this 

 raven ? 



It was my intention to have merely sketched 

 these birds, that surround every New England 

 home. Wanton is the hand and wicked the 

 lieart that revels in tiiis destructive, indiscrim- 

 inate sport. Legislation is too tame upon this 

 subject; law is disregarded; and, as conventions 

 are the order of the 'day, why not have a great 

 national bird convention and decide whether, in 

 God's providence, birds were sent to curse or to 

 bless us. Yours, H. Poor. 



New York, March 15, 1855. 



