No. 15. 



Birds, Moles and Toads. 



281 



part strength to it, than to improve its 

 beauty at the expense of its stability: and 

 in order to accomplish this, at least one-tliird 

 of the stone should be laid across the wall 

 to bind it together properly ; whereas the 

 more common plan is to lay them, generally, 

 lengthwise, to make a handsome facing on 

 each side. This is the most material and 

 principal matter to be attended to in buildmg 

 a stone fence. Some are of tlie opinion that 

 it IS better to build upon the surtace of a sod, 

 than to dig a foundation, unless you e.xtend 

 it entirely beneath the reach of frost. Those 

 that extend north and south stand belter than 

 those which run east and west, because the 

 frost thaws out of the ground on both sides 

 about the same time and it settles equally; 

 but in the other direction the frost on the 

 south side is gone long before that on the 

 north is operated upon by the sun, conse- 

 quently it settles unequally and is liable to 

 be leaned over and injured, unless it is well 

 bound together by cross-ties. Those who 

 wish to try this mode of fencing might begin 

 by making those north and south ; as with 

 them they would be likely to be most suc- 

 cessful ; and by the time they have finished 

 all in that direction they will have acquired 

 experience, which will enable them to go 

 east and west with safety. The indefatiga- 

 ble Samuel Mason, of Roxborough, on the 

 township line road, about seven miles north 

 of the city of Philadelphia, has made a con- 

 siderable extent of stone fence within the 

 last ten years on his place, with the aid of his 

 common hired help only, and it is done in a 

 handsome, workmanlike manner, and looks 

 as if it might stand for generations to come 

 with very little care. Let this important sub- 

 ject engage the attention of those who have 

 the material handy, perhaps in their fields, 

 where it interferes with the plough. 



Whitewash all the fences about your 

 house, barn and garden, and your out-houses, 

 that are wood and are not painted; it preserves 

 the timber to a much greater amount ot value, 

 than the labor and expense of doing it; and 

 tlien you have all the advantage from the 

 neatness and improved appearance of your 

 premises gratis, and that I think no person 

 will doubt is worth having tor nothing, for 

 that is certainly the absolute cost of it. I 

 am fully aware that some people, whose 

 moral standing is not very elevated, seldom 

 attend to those little matters of neatness, as 

 they often call them, but those of a different 

 cast consider them as involving a principle 

 of some importance; for I once heard a cele- 

 brated preacher of acknowledged piety and 

 great experience say, that " Cleanliness was 

 near a kin to Godliness." 



After the feeding season is over, clean out 

 your barn, stables and cellars thoroughly, and 



give them all a complete white washing, it 

 will much improve tneir appearance and de- 

 stroy the insects which harbor and propagate 

 their species in places that the whitewasher 

 don't intrude upon with his brushes and lime ; 

 some think whitewashing an excellent way 

 of getting the weevil, which is so destructive 

 to wheat, dislodged from a barn — it is cer- 

 tainly worth a trial. Wiss.\iiicon. 



March 28, 1838. 



For the Faiuicrs' Cabinet. 



Birds, Moles and Toads. 



The evil tongue of slander is ever busy 

 in finding fault and deprecating the charac- 

 ter and standing lor usefulness, of those, of 

 whom they know but little, perhaps nothing. 

 So it is with the public generally, and with 

 many farmers in particular, hi respect to the 

 character, habit and instinct for usefulness 

 of many birds, reptiles, insects and some ani- 

 mals, the true character of which has not 

 been carefully investigated, except by natural- 

 ists who have devoted much time and laborious 

 research to the more obscure and diliicult 

 branches of natural history. 



Many kinds of birds have been supposed 

 by the great mass of the people, to be use- 

 less or mischievous, or at best to be only 

 valuable for the purpose of instructing young 

 urchins or older dunces how to shoot with 

 precision and efiect. But this, in regard 

 to many kinds of birds, it is believed, is 

 now on the way of being settled , tor those 

 who refused to be operated upon by argument 

 or remonstrance, have been, and are likely 

 still further to be influenced, not by the 

 voice of humanity or benevolence, but by tlie 

 more powerful influence of interest or the 

 love of gain. The prodigious multiplication 

 of destructive insects, since the progressive 

 and great diminution of birds in the more 

 densely settled parts of our country, begins 

 to call up reflection, and seriously to alarm 

 the great mass of agriculturists throughout 

 the Atlantic states, where the great evil of 

 this destruction of the equilibrium of nature, 

 and the palpable interference of man with its 

 antagonist principles, are at present most se- 

 riously tielt. But my object, in the present 

 communication, is not to discuss particularly 

 the uses of birds in the economy ot nature, but 

 to call attention to the character, habits and 

 usefulness of the mole and the toad; l\\x> 

 animals which have been assailed with- 

 out much mercy or compassion tor ages 

 and generations; and in the almost total ab- 

 sence of defence, judgment has been rendered 

 against them by default, and they considered 

 by the multitude as mischievous depredators 

 or offensive outcasts; and as a matter of 

 course, every ignorant or prejudiced person 

 in whose presence they make their appear- 



