2U 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



shoots, and bears regularly and abundantly. With- 

 out assigning to the Golden Beurre of Bileoa 

 the first place in a limited collection, it has merits 

 which entitle it to rank as a popular fruit, and 

 should have a place in every garden -where there is 

 room for half-a-dozen varieties. 



lil! 



For the Tiew England Farmer. 



THE SWALLOW FAMILY-No. 6. 



BY LEANDER WETHERELL. 



If naturalists would study a plain, comprehermive language, 

 well expressing the things treated of, they might gradually, by 

 making the study both useful and pleasant, bring into the love 

 of natural history, persons who now despise it. — Edwards. 



There are persons who apply the epithets of mean, 

 little, uninteresting, and the hke, to all subjects or 

 studies for which they have either no taste or of 

 which they have no knowledge. There are men, 

 and women too, that have no appreciation of, and 

 therefore asperse, all subjects and pursuits that do 

 not afford them immediate profit or sensual pleas- 

 ure. Such objectors and objections as these to the 

 study of natural history, do not, in the least, belit- 

 tle the topics of that broad field of investigation, 

 which has numbered among its explorers the wis- 

 est' and best men of all ages of the world. It some- 

 times happens that objections offered to a study, 

 or the criticisms made thereupon, only serve to de- 

 tine the character and class of the person or per- 

 sons making them. Hence it is wise to conceal 

 one's distaste, and withhold objections and stric- 

 tures when it is folly to utter or otherwise discover 

 them. King Solomon, who was declared to be 

 wise above his fellows, was most remarkable for 

 his knowledge of the various departments of natu- 

 ral history. It is probably true, that no one in 

 modern times, has ever compassed the knowledge 

 of the eastern sage, or penetrated more deeply in- 

 to the mysteries of nature, than he. It is recorded 

 of him, in an old, authentic history, "And he spake 

 of trees, from the cedar tree unto the hyssop that 

 springeth out of the wall; he spake, also, of beasts, 

 and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes. 

 For he was wiser than all men." 



How wonderful the knowledge that enabled the 

 wise king to discourse on all the trees, shrubs and 

 plants, from the cedar of Lebanon to the most in- 

 significant parasitic plant; also of beasts, birds, in- 

 sects and fishes ; showing, that he, though a king, 

 did not consider the study of botany, and that of 

 the habits of beasts, birds, insects and fishes, be- 

 neath his notice, else he could not have made him- 

 self so familiar with their quahties, habits and uses. 

 So of Job. He must have possessed extraordinary 

 knowledge of the various departments of natural 

 history, as every reader of his life must admit. — 

 And so it has been with the greatest and best men, 

 from Adam even until now. Without enumerat- 

 ing the long Hne of worthies, from Solomon to 

 Jonathan Edwards, the most distinguished meta- 

 physician this country has ever produced, it may 

 not be amiss to notice what may not generally be 

 known, that he, like the eastern sage and philoso- 

 pher, was, also, a critical student of natural histo- 

 ry. When a boy, scarcely twelve years of age, he 

 wrote an essay on a species of the spider family, 

 that his father sent to a distinguished naturalist in 

 Scotland, who wrote back, that it contained some 



original discoveries concerning the creature which 

 had not till then been noticed ; and this, too, when 

 a boy, and from carefully watching and observing 

 the subject of his essay.. He was, also, a botanist 

 and chemist, besides being conversant with the 

 laws of mechanics and physics. Having devoted 

 his time, however, mainly to the study of theology 

 and metaphysics, combined with the laborious du- 

 ties of a pastor and missionary, he did not find op- 

 portunity to write much on other subjects. Solo- 

 mon, it is said, wrote elaborately on natural histo- 

 ry, beside his three thousand proverbs and a thou- 

 sand and five songs. 



The late Rev. Dr. Peabody, of Springfield, au- 

 thor of the "Massachusetts Report on Birds," the 

 Rev. Dr. Dewey, of the University of Rochester, 

 Western New York, author of the "Massachusetts 

 Report on Botany," and the Rev. Dr. Hitchcock, 

 of Amherst College, author of the "Massachusetts 

 Report on Geology," are eminent examples of 

 what industrious, persevering professional men may 

 accomplish beside the performance of their various 

 duties, as preacher, teacher and professor. They 

 have all, with many others, whose names will sug- 

 gest themselves to the reader, on both sides of the 

 Atlantic, become distinguished for their knowledge 

 of natural history. 



The memory of Alexander the Great would 

 hardly have been preserved, but for his patronage 

 of natural history and the fine arts. Louis XIV,, 

 of France, warrior as he was, found time to study 

 the fine arts. He established an academy for the 

 improvement of the arts and for the promotion of 

 discoveries in natural history. He was such a lov- 

 er of Nature's jwoductions, that he provided hot- 

 houses for the cultivation of exotic plants ; he built 

 near his palace a large edifice containing numer- 

 ous apartments for the keeping of animals procured 

 from all parts of the world ; he also collected 

 many of the extraordinary productions of nature 

 for his cabinets. The same was true of Augustus 

 of Poland, and of George III., of England. 



Having thus shown that the study of natural 

 history has been found worthy of the time and at- 

 tention of distinguished men of various times and 

 professions, it will not by the thoughtful, wise and 

 prudent, be considered below the notice of the in- 

 telligent farmer, who dwells amid the scenes and 

 works of nature — whose soul is made joyous by 

 what he sees and hears daily, while about the busi- 

 ness and cares of rural life. Who can estimate 

 the difference between the pleasure and the happi- 

 ness of the life of one whose ear is ever open to 

 catch the harmonies of nature, whose eye quickly 

 beholds her beauties, whose heart is in sympathy 

 with her loveliness, whose soul is in communion 

 with the beneficent Creator of all things, and of 

 one who is deaf to Nature's harmonies, blind to her 

 beauties, insensible to her loveliness, and pays no 

 homage to any greater being than self, who consid- 

 ers nothing useful or desirable but what serves to 

 gratify covetousness and the sensual appetites and 

 passions of the baser sort, — who never sees any but 

 an immediate and money value, and seldom asks any 

 other question, than, "what will it fetch ?" Exorcise 

 this too popular spirit of the age, and induct that 

 which loves nature and all her manifold sources of 

 pleasure and delight, and farming, gardening and 

 other rural occupations will become the most desi- 

 rable vocations that employ the time and mind of 

 man. No employment can afford a higher pleas- 



