FARMERS' REGISTER— VALUE OF BURNT CLAY AS MANURE. 



27 



nothing to do with man, except to benefit him by 

 eating weasels, foxes, racoons, rats and mice, a sin 

 for which most housekeepers will readily forgive 

 him. 



In some parts of Europe, he is kept in families 

 like the cat, whom he equals in patience, and sur- 

 passes in alertness ; hour after hour he may be 

 seen watching for his prey, with tlie air all the 

 while of being completely absorbed in some ma- 

 thematical problem. Anotlier of these birds, the 

 blackbird, is the avowed enemy of grubs, like the 

 crow ; in the middle states, the farmer knows the 

 value of his company to pluck them from tlic fui-- 

 rov»r ; while other less pains-taking birds collect 

 the vermin from the surface, his investigations are 

 more profound, and Jie digs to the depth of several 

 inches in order to discover tiiem. When the 

 insects are no longer found, he eats the corn, as 

 well he may, but even then he asks but a m.oderate 

 compensation for his former services ; five hun- 

 dred blackbirds do less injury to the corn than a 

 single squirrel. The last upon the catalogue of 

 persecuted birds is the bluejay ; whoever watches 

 him in the garden will see him descend incessantly 

 from the branches, i>ouncing every time upon tiie 

 grub, his enemy and ours. These are facts which 

 are derived from tlie researches of the ornitholo- 

 gists : and they certainly show, that a knowledge 

 of the character and habits of birds may be of con- 

 sequence in legislation, if it should do no more 

 than to give protection to the innocent. 



We have already seen that the act to which we 

 liave referred, protects some birds certain seasons 

 of the year; among others, the robin, av ho lives 

 on insects and worms, and has no taste for vegeta- 

 ble diet ; and tlie lark, who is extremely useful in 

 his way ; the only wonder is, tliat it should have 

 been thought expedient to allow them to be shot 

 in any season. The quail, another of the privileg- 

 ed class, has no title to be named in company with 

 the others ; in tlie planting time, he makes more ha- 

 voc tlian a regiment of crows, v/ithout atoning for 

 his misdeeds, by demolishing a single grub. Nor 

 is the partridge a much more scrupulous respecter 

 of the rights of propertj' ; though, as he lives in 

 comparative retirement, he succeeds in preserving 

 a better name for honesty. 



There are some other of our most familiar birds, 

 of which a word may here l)e said. Every body 

 has observed the little goldfinch on the thistle by 

 the wayside, and wondered perhaps, that his taste 

 should lead him to so thorny a luxury ; but he is 

 all the while engaged in devouring the seed, which 

 but for him, would overrun the grounds of eveiy 

 farmer. Even the bob'o'link, a most conceited 

 coxcomb, who steals with all imaginable grace, 

 though we are bound to say that he is much more 

 attentive to our southern neighbors in this particu- 

 lar, than to us, destroys millions of the insects 

 which annoy the farmer most. All the little birdi3, 

 in fact, which are to be seen about the blossoms oi' 

 the trees, are doing us the same service, in their 

 own way. Perhaps there is no bird which is con- 

 sidered more decidedly wanting in principle, than 

 the woodpecker ; and certainly, so far as man is 

 concerned, there is none more conscientious. So 

 long as a dead tree can be found for his nest, he 

 will not trouble himself to bore into a living one ; 

 whatever wounds he makes upon the living, are 

 considered by foreign gardeners as an advantage 

 to the tree. The sound tree is not his object : he 



is in pursuit of insects and their larvfe. In South 

 Carolina and Georgia, forests to a vast extent have 

 been destroyed by an insect, which would seem as 

 capable of lifting a tree as of destroying it ; the 

 people were alarmed by the visitation, and saga- 

 ciously laid the mischief to the door of the wood- 

 pecker, until they found that they had confounded 



the bailiff Avith the thief 



The injury arising from the loss of a single crop 

 is hardly to be estimated. The experience which 

 is taught us by our own misfortune is very dearly- 

 bought ; and we think that if we can derive it 

 from others — if, for example, wo can learn from 

 the ornithologist, the means of preventing such 

 injury, as in many instances we may, the dictates 

 of economy combine with those of taste, and warn 

 us not to neglect the result of his researches. 



Ox!iJi.^ Cremates,^ 



A ITIVAli TO TIIE POTATO. 



This plant has been recently introduced into this 

 country from Chili ; and it is not improbable that 

 it may shortly command the attention of the agri- 

 culturist as a rival to the common potato. In April 

 last, a small tuber of the root was planted by Mrs. 

 Hirst, of Great Roj^ers, Warley, Suffolk, and the 

 roots were taken out of the ground on the fifth of 

 this month. As the habits of the plant were very 

 little knov/n, this lady placed tlie tuber first in a 

 small pot, and afterwards in the open ground of the 

 garden. It appears, however, that this precaution 

 was vumecessary, as the herbage grew very vigo- 

 rously, and the leaves remained, and v/ere but slight- 

 ly injured by the frost, until the roots were examin- 

 ed. Altho' tiie tuber planted did not weigh half an 

 ounce, the produce Aveighed upAvards of 4 lbs. Be- 

 sides tlie family at Sopers, several other botanists 

 had visited and Avatched tlie progress of this Oxalis ; 

 and Avhen a fcAV of the tubers Avere boiled, all the 

 party admitted, that, as much as they resembled 

 tlie potato, their flavor Avas decidedly superior. — 

 This result is very promising ; and Avhen it is re- 

 collected that our common potato, (solanum tube- 

 rosum,) also from South America, Avas confined 

 to gardens more tliau a century, its tubers being 

 small and Avatei'y, avc may reasonably expect that 

 cultivation can do much for the noAv plant. The 

 stems Avere numerous, large, and diffuse ; the floAv- 

 ers, Avhich appeared in August, yelloAV and slightly 

 notched ; hence the epithet crenata. At present, 

 the tubers somcAvhat resemble small kidney pota- 

 toes, inclining, hoAvever, to groAv in an aggregate 

 form. — [London Paper. 



&R the '^■\ane of ^i?rnt €lay 



As Btan-iJi'c. 

 From the Ediiibiirgii Fanners' Magazine. 



Sir — I am much concerned to see the ashes of 

 a friend of mine, lately the cause of considerable 

 speculation and interest, now suffered to repose in 

 utter neglect, and going, as it Avould seem, rapidly 

 to olilivion. I do not mean the ashes of PlatoiT, 

 or of Barclay de Tolly, or of any other of the illus- 

 trious men Avho have figured in the world, but 

 merely those of inanimate clay, conceived at one 

 time Avell adapted to assist in i*aising food for Avar- 

 riors, and all tiie less distinguished inhabitants of 

 the earth. 



Seriously, sir, I do think that this manure, clay 

 ashes, has fallen into unreasonable neglect. Prol>a- 



