THE GENESEE FARMER. 



207 



THE POTATO BIRD. 



Our esteemed German friend Hochstein, whose 

 idinirable drawings of trees, fruits, &c, have so 

 >ften embellished the pages of the Genesee Farmer, 

 sends us the following description of a Potato 

 Bird : 



It is a new genus. You will find no figure of 

 ;his "rara avis" in the most celebrated works on 

 )rnithology, like Audubon's, Prof. Gould's, &c. — 

 't has proved to be a very fine bird, 

 .hough, one always on the wing to 

 lo good service, — a solution of that 

 grand problem, the " perpetual mo- 

 ion"; with, of course, the only addi- 

 ;ional qualification that, as long as 

 t is lasting, and the body, head, 

 vings and tail keep together, it is 

 )erpetually moving. Its name is 

 ;iven by good authors as "Potato 

 3ird," and it belongs to the interest- 

 ng family of the Scarecrows. 



Habit. — It lives in the cheapest 

 >ossible wr;y, viz: on air, — which 

 nvolves another important point — 

 t don't cost its owner a bit to keep 

 fc alive. 



The Great Purpose. — The busi- 

 less of its existence is to protect 

 he seed plants of turnips, cabbages, 

 isc, from the depredations of small 

 nrds, like the Yellow bird ; and it 

 ulfils its destiny very faithfully in 

 caring away those winged, cunning 

 hiefs, those pests of the garden and 

 arm, perhaps as effectually as the 

 oyal eagle, the swift falcon, or the 

 doomy, wise-looking owl. Although 

 t is a mocking bird, still it is only 

 inartificial bird. That is the secret; 

 md no doubt every ingenious reader 

 las found it out by this time — and 

 lere follows the receipt to manufac- 

 ure one : 



Composition. — One large potato, say a big 



'inkeye, adorned with feathers of any kind — those 



>f a defunct chicken do very well — stuck in in such 



|, way that the the largest feathers form the point 



|f the wings, the tail being feniike and spreading. 



the head is a small potato ; the neck a little stick 



onnecting the head and body ; the bill two quills 



r sticks; legs, ditto. In the body, small feathers 



|jiay be inserted ad libitum. A pole eight or ten 



et in length is set in the ground between the 



ed plants, to the top of which is attached a 



nailer piece in a hoiizontal position. At the end 



f this a strong twine about fifteen feet long is 



istened, which passes through the body of the 



otato bird in the middle — and then the kite is 



iady to fly and to scare the native birds. 



In these our days of patent inventions, many a 



ercenary soul given to speculation at the expense 



his cotemporaries, would hare tried to get a 



itent on such a grand and useful invention ; but 



te inventor bids his fellow readers of the Genesee 



irmer welcome to share the profits, and if this 



lent messenger of love and protection for their 



fields and gardens proves himself useful in saving 

 their seeds by the ounce, |K>und, or even hundred- 

 weight, expects nothing in return but their silent 

 thanks. And if they have no serious objections^ 

 something more on kindred subjects might follow, 

 illustrated by his peu and pencil. Besides, he 

 detests the possible danger of a formidable law 

 suit with some insidious individual vho might 

 claim a perogative to the invention, on the old 

 adage that there is " nothing new under the sun." 

 Nil novi sub sole. 



t^*ttACV"*>- 



THB POTATO BIRD. 



Liquid Manure. — S. Edwards Todd, in on^of," 

 Ids many interesting and instructive eojiimufcica- 

 tions to the Country Gentleman, remarks.:- 



"I have known farmers to haul liquid manure 

 to the corn field, and pour about a pimt of it around 

 each hill when the corn was more than afoot high. 

 But such manure must be applied with care, for it 

 will injure the corn, and perhaps kill it, if it be 

 sprinkled on the leaves. 



"My daughter applied a little liquid manure to 

 our tomato plants, and killed them." 



Very likely. We once knew a gardener who 

 had a choice lot of cabbage planfs that he wished 

 to push forward as much as possible before trans- 

 planting. He took a quantity of fresh liquid from , 

 the cow stable, and watered them with it. Every 

 plant died. The fact is that fresh urine is injurious 

 to plants. It should be fermented before it is 

 applied, and also be diluted with twice its quantitj 

 of water. 



