No. 1. 



On the Deslritciion of Birds. 



33 



been frustrated wlien called to witness the 

 c;irc;isses of the rookery strewed upon the 

 ground, bearing such marks in their execu- 

 tion OS gave ample testimony to identify the 

 perpetrators, for they had feasted sumptuous- 

 ly upon that which is unlawful for man to 

 eat. Their declarations of war were vain, 

 and their munitions of war of none effect, 

 while they furnished the enemy with such 

 commodious ambuscades, for every fence was 

 strongly fortified by a well set hedge of na- 

 ture's variety, from two to ten poles in width, 

 and every field interspersed with shady 

 groves, and numbersof acres of the land were 

 covered with stately oaks, whose sturdy trunks 

 had witlistood the surly blasts of centuries. 

 Now, since the hedges and groves have dis- 

 appeared, and many acres disburdened of 

 their cumbrous load, what is the consequence ! 

 Why, the objects of the " paid slaughterers" 

 have disappeared ; the open fields being un- 

 congenial to the habits of the nocturnal mur- 

 derers, they have decamped, and the farmer 

 now enjoys as much security and repose as is 

 usual in a country residence. Every mem- 

 ber of the congregation, from the " feathered 

 tribe domestic," up to the lord of the palace, 

 may sit under his own vine and under his 

 own fig tree, and there is none to make him 

 afraid. The axe, the hoe, the spade, and the 

 plough, have accomplished in five years what 

 the gun, the dog, the trap, and the man 

 could not perform in a century. 



In a spiritual point of view, how admira- 

 bly illustrative of the workings of the babe 

 of Bethlehem. Some in the zeal of their re- 

 ligious frenzy will compass sea and land to 

 gain one proselyte, and others re.sort to the 

 sword, the fire, and the faggot to establish 

 what they believe to be the true worship. 

 But the meek and humble follower of Him 

 that was laid in a manger, by the sword of 

 the spirit which is the operation of the still 

 small voice, so cleanses and purifies the heart 

 of the mo.st obdurate and profane sinner, that 

 it becomes a pleasing receptacle for Him 

 " who is exalted above the heavens, and whose 

 glory is above all the earth." Excuse this 

 digression, and I will proceed. 



If the conclusions to be drawn from the in- 

 timations given by that intelligent correspond- 

 ent respecting the increase of injurious insects 

 be correct, the prospects of the farmer must 

 be alarming indeed. But my experience 

 teaches me that there is not much cause of 

 alarm; for I remember some twenty years 

 since that there was & universal complaint 

 of grubs in the corn; some fields almost ruin- 

 ed, and for several years their ravages were 

 extensive, much worse in some places than 

 others, but of later time their injurious effects 

 have not generally been very serious. I 

 think it was in tlie year of 1819 that my corn 



was nearly destroyed by the common large 

 white grub-worm preying upon the roots; 

 some parts of the field did not produce one 

 bushel to the acre, and one or two years I 

 have known the same species of grub to be 

 very injurious to the timothy sward, but have 

 seen no injury nor heard any complaint re- 

 specting them for some years. l,ast year I 

 planted Indian corn on a piece of new land 

 never ploughed before ; in some parts imme- 

 diately afler it came up it was attacked by the 

 cut- worm, and taken off at the surface of the 

 ground ; we replanted and re-replanted, but it 

 was all cut off and not a stalk survived in that 

 part of the field, while other sections were un- 

 molested and produced a fair crop. If the la- 

 bors of the feathered tribe are so remarkably 

 beneficial, why should this spot have escaped 

 them, when it had been in their possession from 

 time immemorial. The present season I 

 have Indian corn on land, a part of which had 

 been farmed but once, and put in with wheat 

 and grass, then mowed three years, the re- 

 mainder was old farm land, some ploughed 

 in the autumn, some in the winter, and some 

 in the spring, and I do not know that any part 

 of it was injured by insects of any kind, and 

 the appearance of a heavy crop was very pro- 

 mising until the present severe drought, 

 which has so changed its aspect that I do not 

 calculate upon one-half of the number of bush- 

 els that I did on the first of this month. I 

 am not able to ascertain by the appearance 

 of the corn as respects the drought, or other- 

 wise any difference in the respective plough- 

 ings. And I also remember when in conse- 

 quence of the ravages of the fly, the farmer 

 almost despaired of raising wheat, and many 

 turned their attention generally to rye; bat 

 since that, the crops of wheat have been abun- 

 dant, and the crop of 1835 has probably ne- 

 ver been exceeded since the settlement of 

 the country, and for several years past the 

 rye has been almost a failure in many places* 

 And thus it is, if we take a retrospective 

 view of former year.^i, we shall find a great 

 diversity in the amount of their prodTictions» 

 and that seldom, if ever, two remarkably pro- 

 lific seasons in all kinds of grains have fol- 

 lowed in immediate succession. Some years 

 I have observed that a certain species of cat- 

 terpillir would be very numerous — other 

 years another species, and some years bot few 

 to be seen. From Tarious similar observa- 

 tions I am inclined to belieye that there are 

 certain operations of nature that tend to mul- 

 tiply or decrease the different portions of the 

 animal and vegetable kingdom?, in due pro- 

 portion to the propitious or destruetJTe agen- 

 cy relative to the fructifying principlt of their 

 respective species. The geological researches 

 and discoveries of the 19th century, with the 

 assistanee of comparative anatomy, afford in- 



