No. 2. Squirrels. — Tomato Figs. — Croivding the Professions. 



63 



afford a fetid odour, like putrefaction; in ge- 

 neral they are perfect, and not mere impres- 

 sions ; there have boen G4 species found, one 

 3 feet in length, and a young shark, with its 

 food undigested in its stomach, and another 

 fish has one, half-swallowed, in its throat ! — 

 Selected. 



For the Fanners' Cabinet. 

 Squirrels. 



Mr. Editor, — I am glad that agricultur- 

 ists are combining against the race of gun- 

 ners, more properly termed loafers, who wage 

 an eternal war against everything that has 

 life in the shape of bird or beast, be it never 

 so small and insignificant in value; their only 

 object would seem to be extermination, with- 

 out llie least regard to the injury they are 

 inflicting on the harmless animals themselves, 

 or the proprietors of the lands upon which 

 they trespass with impunity. It has often 

 been calculated, that the services of a pair 

 of small birds have been of more real value 

 to the farmer than the labours of many a large 

 animal, and the consideration of the subject 

 seems at length to have awakened them to 

 their true interests: it is to be hoped they 

 will carry out their determination to afford 

 protection to their little labourers, by which 

 there is no doubt they will reap advantages 

 an hundred fold. But, although we find many 

 who are ready to advocate the cause of the 

 birds, we never hear any commiseration e.x- 

 pressed for the little animal, the squirrel, 

 whose presence enlivens the otherwise lonely 

 solitude of the deep wood, and adds a charm 

 to every landscape, but who is doomed to de- 

 struction by wholesale, merely for the sport 

 of the indolent and unemployed of every town 

 and village in the land. I have lately met 

 with a notice of this little interesting crea- 

 ture, which brings its labours into a new 

 view, and by which it would seem that we 

 migiit be able to account for those extensive 

 forests of oaks which spring up spontaneously 

 on the removal of a growth of pine; a cir- 

 cumstance that has baffled the conjectures of 

 many of the learned amongst ns, and has 

 never been satisfactorily accounted for. 



In a late English work, it is said: "The 

 truth, that no animal is created but for some 

 wise purpose, is beautifully illustrated in the 

 squirrel. It is a singular but well-authenti- 

 cated circumstance, that most of those oaks 

 which are called spontaneous, are planted by 

 this animal, in which way he has performed 

 the most essential service to mankind. It is 

 related, that a person walking one day in the 

 woods, his attention was diverted by a squir- 

 rel which sat very composedly upon the 

 ground. He stopped to observe his motions; 

 in a few moments the squirrel darted to the 

 top of a tree beneath which he had been sit- 



ting, and in another instant he was down 

 with an acorn in his mouth, and after digging 

 a small hole with his fore feet, he stooped 

 down and deposited the acorn ; then covering 

 it, he darted up the tree again, and in a mo- 

 ment was down with another, which he bu- 

 ried in the same manner: this he continued 

 to do so long as the observer thought proper 

 to watch him. This industry of the little 

 animal is directed to the purpose of securing 

 him against want in winter, but his memory 

 not being sufficiently retentive to enable him 

 to remember every spot in which he deposited 

 an acorn, he must lose many every year, 

 which are destined to spring up at some fu- 

 ture period to supply the place of the parent 

 tree — perhaps a century hence!" B. 



Patent Tomato Figs. 



"Take six pounds of sugar to one peck (or 

 16 lbs.) of the fruit. Scald and remove the 

 skin of the fruit in the usual way. Cook them 

 over a fire, their own juice being sufficient 

 without the addition of water, until the sugar 

 penetrates and they are clarified. They are 

 then taken out, spread on dishes, flattened 

 and dried in the sun. A small quantity of 

 the syrup should be occasionally sprinkled 

 over them whilst drying; after which pack 

 them down in boxes, treating each layer with 

 powdered sugar. The syrup is afterwards 

 concentrated and bottled for use. They keep 

 well from year to year, and retain surprising- 

 ly their flavour, which is nearly that of the 

 best quality of fresh figs. The pear-shaped 

 or single tomatoes, answer the purpose best. 

 Ordinary brown sugar may be used, a large 

 portion of which is retained in the syrup." — 

 American Farmer. 



Crowding the Professions. 



One of the ablest periodical writers in Great 

 Britain, speaking of the ambition of adopting 

 professional life of all kinds, and of the rush 

 into the professions of "law, physic and di- 

 vinity," thus points the mind's eye to the ge- 

 neral consequences: — 



" But thousands have died of broken hearts 

 in these pursuits; thousands who would have 

 been happy behind the plough, or opulent be- 

 hind the counter; thousands in the desperate 

 struggles of thankless professions, look upon 

 the simplicity of a life of manual labour with 

 perpetual envy ; and thousands, by a worse 

 fate still, are driven to necessities which de- 

 grade the principles of honour within them, 

 accustom them to humiliating modes of ob- 

 taining subsistence, and make up, by admi- 

 nistering to the vices of society, the liveli- 

 hood which was refused to their legitimate 

 exertions." — Bait. Sun. 



If justice is not due to brutes, neither is it 

 due to men. 



