223 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



man, and this is probably the 

 hear from your humble friend. 

 Yours respectfully, 

 Fryeburg Island, Me., May, 



time you will] has suited a pair of them in my garden right well, 

 this spring. A word to the wise suffices. 



.1. Lee, 

 Salisbury, Conn., Junclth, 1851. 



last 



James Walker. 

 1851. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 BIRDS— BS KIND TO THE BIRDS. 



I have been instructed by the example of the late 

 Gov. John Cotton Smith, of Sharon, Conn., in 

 -providing accommodation? for birds to build their 

 nests in his garden, by fastening up boxes on poles 

 fixed in the ground in various positions. The rob- 

 in, wren, bluebird, and phebe, seek places shel- 

 tered from rains and storms for their young, and 

 may be allured to the little houses constructed pro- 

 perly for their use. And they may be allured to 

 these resorts by gentle manners and kind treatment, 

 and become confiding and familiar. They consume 

 incalculable numbers of various insects, that would 

 otherwise prey upon fruits and vegetables, especial- 

 ly when rearing their young. It has surprised me 

 to see what a multitude of these "creeping things" 

 a single chipping bird has brought to her nestlings 

 in the woodbine, fronting a piazza by my door, 

 while her gaping chicks were under her nursing 

 care, till duly fledged and ready to try their own 

 little wings and learn to provide for themselves. 



Before sunrise the robins are wont to run over 

 my garden and pick up the grubs and worms that 

 have not returned to their concealment in the earth, 

 after their nocturnal depredations; and with the in- 

 dustry of various birds, the firebird, the oreole, the 

 light colored yellow-bird and others, I have been 

 greatly interested, as I have seen them inspecting 

 the blossoms of fruit trees and gathering insects 

 from branch to branch. To their songs and beau- 

 ty, so charming to the eye and ear, they add the 

 benefit of a service, which human skill cannot 

 achieve. 



There is a branch of education sadly neglected 

 by many parents; that of kindness and gentleness 

 to innocent animals. The noxious and mischiev- 

 ous we may rationally destroy, in self-defence, but 

 what besides savage propensities can induce the 

 habit of youth so prevalent, of stoning and shooting 

 the birds that so winningly court our friendship! 

 Advertisements from country boarding-houses, I 

 have read, holding out inducements to city visitors, 

 from their favorable situation, to test their ability 

 in warring upon the warl)lers of the forest. Strin- 

 gent laws, strictly enforced, should stop this cruel- 

 ty, crime and mischief, so fiend-like in its nature, 

 so destructive to the moial sensibilities of the heart. 



Our best protectors are destroyed yearly, by 

 thousands. What though the robin loves our 

 cherries as well as we; forbid him' not a share in 

 our own common Father's bounty, unless you have 

 ingenuity to elevate from the top of your trees some 

 object to deter his approach. Even the carrion 

 crow is a useful fowl, a common scavenger, a di 

 ligent destroyer of grasshoppers and crickets, 

 and farmers need not destroy him, when so many 

 innocent contrivances will prevent his visiting his 

 corn-fields. 



Again I say — "Be kind to the birds." Tame 

 them by showing them friendship. Wrens will 

 kill the millers that murder bees, and therefore, 

 just make them houses. A small oyster keg witli 

 a two-inch hole for entrance, and fastened upon a 

 four-foot stake, with a piojecting bush for a porch, 



ERRORS IN COMPOSTING MANURE. 



The farmer's manure heap is usually the recep- 

 tacle for every substance that has served its orig- 

 inal purpose; l)ut it is a mistaken idea that every- 

 thing thrown in there will serve a usoful purpose. 

 We may, however, just say here, that this error 

 has considerably influenced farm practice. Belief 

 in the alchemy, rather than the chemistiy of the 

 farm-yard, has led some persons to carl soil into 

 the manure yard, and carry it back again with tlie 

 dung to the very field from which it was taken; 

 adding materially to the bulk and expense of the 

 manuring. They presumed that they added to its 

 value, but the effect of the earth upon the farm- 

 yard manure would be merely to retard decompo- 

 sition, and thus might be a loss or a gain, accord- 

 ing to the circumstances of soil and tlie crop. 



Animal substances, offal, and fish of every de- 

 scription are also very unprofitable applied to farm- 

 yard manure. The natural tendency of animal sub- 

 stances to enter into putrefactive fermentation is 

 well known to be greater than that of vegetable 

 substances. By placing them iu the manure heap, 

 we, in a lather degree, facilitate the quality iu 

 which they naturally excel, and the tendency of 

 which is to rob tiiem of their most valuable cle- 

 ment, nitrogen. Judicious practice should avoid 

 this error, by adopting, if possible, a system hav- 

 ing an opposite eflect. 



Lime is one of tlie substances which it is also an 

 error to use with composts iu which we have farm- 

 yard manure. It is equally an error to mix lime 

 with any compound rich with ammonia. The ten- 

 dency of lime, in all composts, is to promote d> 

 compusition and to waste nitrogen, which escapes, 

 by union w-ith hydrogen, under the form of ammo- 

 nia, which is the very treasure of the dung heap, 

 and of most other manuring substances. — Prof. 

 Norton's A iiriculture. 



THE SOIL. 



An acre of soil one inch in depth weighs about 

 100 tons. The roots of clover descend from 20 to 

 30 inches in search of their appropriate aliment; 

 and I have traced them to a greater depth. By 

 estimating the mass of earth to the depth of only 

 20 inches as available for agricultural purposes, we 

 have 2000 tons of soil and subsoil in an acre. 

 Now, so small an amount of gypsum as 50 pounds 

 has added over 1000 to the clover hay gi-ovvn upon 

 an acre; and 100 lbs. have increased the crop more 

 than 2000 lbs. 



Where did the matter come from which formed 

 this immense gain in, the weight of the harvest? 

 100 lbs. of plaster of Paris really contain a fraction 

 less than 80 of lime and the oil of vitrol; the other 

 20 being what is called "water or crystalization." 

 As gypsum operates with marked elfect on lime- 

 stone soils in Western New York, where the use 

 of lime alone does no good whatever, I am induced 

 to regard the sulphur in this fertilizer as the ele- 

 ment that really adds so largely to the growth of 

 vegetation. Doubtless it will appear incredible to 

 you that 18 1-2 lbs. of available sulphur in 100 of 

 gypsum, should cause the organization of some 



