No. 9. 



Birds. 



283 



the contrary they are short from the hnck 

 downwards; that their heads are short, with 

 the true Arabian face, and not thicker than 

 tiiey shouhi be to correspond with the stout- 

 ness of their bodies. At all events, you can 

 witness that Diligence has not these failings, 

 which, when absent, an En<.'lishman (evi- 

 dently, from his article, a good horseman) 

 thinks, constitutes the Norman horse "the 

 best imaginable horse for a cross upon Eng- 

 lish horses, of a certain description." This, 

 coming from such a quarter, I look upon as 

 high praise — a golden opinion. I would here 

 observe, that I have seen great numbers of 

 the cross upon the Norman mare by the Eng- 

 lish thorough-bred, and feel satisfied that they 

 are of superior fl^rm and action for road-horses, 

 and that many of them in the hands of our 

 trainers would make fast trotters. Again, he 

 fays they are " very gentle and docile ; a 

 kicking or vicious horse is almost unknown 

 there; any person may pass in security at a 

 fair at tiie heels of hundreds." 



As I do not feel myself at liberty to bore 

 you or your readers any longer with my hob- 

 by, I will conclude with the assurance, that 

 it will give me great pleasure to show my 

 horses, mares and colts, of this breed, to any 

 of your friends, particularly those who are 

 desirous of importing the stock, and to give 

 them all the information I am possessed of, in 

 regard to the best means of procuring them. 

 I remain yours, very sincerely, 



Edwakd Harris. 



Moorestowti, Burlington co., N. J., 

 March 30, 1842. 



For the Farmers' Cal>inet. 

 Birds. 



Mr. Editor, — As the season has again 

 arrived when the feathered tribes begin to 

 make their appearance amongst us, I wish to 

 say a few words on a subject that has received 

 the attention of far abler pens than mine ; but 

 a wish to cast my mite into the common trea- 

 sury on the score of humanity, has induced 

 me also to put pen to paper. We all know 

 that from the time when these little harmless 

 friends of the farmer first arrive in the spring, 

 until the day of their departure in the au- 

 tumn, they are made the subjects of an un- 

 ceasing, bitter persecution, merely for the 

 sport and ftm of the most worthless part of 

 society ! These valuable servants of the farm- 

 er, who work for him day after day, and re- 

 ceive nothing for their labour, securing his 

 frnit and crops from destruction, are killed 

 off just for sport ; and a reckless spirit of de- 

 struction is engendered, which, in the young, 

 is often the fruitful source of crime and pun- 

 ishment in after life. Now, I hold it wrong 

 to take away the life of any of God's creatures 

 for fun or pastime — much more, those that 



are of such service to man. Nothing was 

 made in vain ; every living thing, from the 

 ephemeral insect up to man, was made for 

 some use: true, there are some of our birds — 

 ihe crow, the hawk, and the black-bird — that 

 are supposed to do considerable injury at cer- 

 tain seasons of the year, yet it may be fairly 

 presumed that the good they do far overba- 

 lances the injury ; for observe the immense 

 number of worms and bugs of every descrip- 

 tion that are destroyed by the black-birds 

 through the summer. It is also true, that 

 they will help themselves to a little corn at 

 harvest, but how infinitely small is the quan- 

 tity they destroy, when compared with that 

 which is destroyed by the cut-worm ! But» 

 those birds which are of the greatest use to 

 the farmer, are they which suffer the most, 

 namely, the robin, the blue-bird, and the tom- 

 tit; and so fast as their numbers decrease, in 

 the same proportion do the tribes of hurtful 

 insects increase; and should this destructive 

 spirit continue for a few years longer, it will 

 be ditlicult for the farmer to raise any crop* 

 at all. Let therefore the farmers rise up as 

 one man, and stop the wanton destruction of 

 the inoffensive creatures : let them teach their 

 children the insanity and cruelty of the prac- 

 tice, and let the public teachers of schools 

 inculcate the blessed doctrines of humanity 

 to brutes and kindness to everything that has 

 life; especially to abstain from destroying 

 birds and robbing their nests. But more par- 

 ticularly, let every farmer do his utmost to 

 keep from off his property those miscreants 

 whose sole business seems to be to prowl 

 about the country with the gun, and waste 

 their time in the unprofitable employment of 

 destroying the lives of animals that, after all 

 the labour, are not worth a tenth part of tho 

 cost of powder and shot; and this they will 

 do in their own defence, when they see the 

 importance of the subject, and experience the 

 loss which is yearly accruing from the de- 

 struction of these their most valued friends, 

 and witness the injury done to their fences, 

 fruit trees, and crops in general, by the tres- 

 pass of a company of freebooters, who are 

 generally the off-scouring of society. Let 

 then our farmers look to it, before it be too 

 late. 



Please inform me where I can obtain the 

 book entitled Frank, or Dialogues between a 

 Father and Son, on agriculture, &c., and what 

 is the price of it ] I am, your subscriber, 

 £. BlERER, Jr. 

 Union Town, Fayette CO., Pa. 



We would inform our correspondent, that the book 

 whicli he inquires after may be had of the proprietors 

 of the Cabinet, Messrs. Kimbcr &. Sharpless, No. 50, 

 N. 4lh street — price 7.5 cents; where also maybe ob- 

 tained every other agricultural publication of standard 

 merit.— Ed. 



