752 



FARMERS' REGISTER— THE TURKEY BUZZARD— BIRDS, &c. 



Tlie planter should he on the watch, and have 

 tlieni cauglit while younp; and comparatively inno- 

 cent. He should he careful to have the c^^s de- 

 stroyed also, as Ihcy will soon hatch and keep up 

 a succession of worms These may be found on 

 the underside of the leaves near the fibres or 

 stems. They are round and transparent, and about 

 the size of a partridii;c shot. They are deposited 

 on the leaves by a species of fly, commonly sup- 

 posed to be the large tly, seen in a summer's even- 

 ing about the blossoms of the James Town weed. 

 But of this I am doubtful. About this period 

 also, the plants begin to i)ut forth suckers, which, 

 together with the worms, should be carefully kept 

 off, by going over the crop at least once in ten 

 days; as a little neglect at this time is attended 

 with serious injury to the crop. 



The fourth working should be slight — merely 

 scraping over the surl'ace with the hoes, so as not 

 to interfere with the roots. Four v/orkings are 

 generally considered sufficient, but I generally 

 give my crops five — the fifth being similar to the 

 Iburth — especially on my old land, as that requires 

 more frequent stirring than ncv. In ab.out six- 

 weeks from the time the plants are lopped, they 

 will be rij)e, or ready for the knife — which brings 

 me to the third branch of t!ic subject, that of cut- 

 ting and curing. These will be treated of in a 

 third essay, herenfter. G. 



IVardsfurk, Charlotte County. 



THK TURKEY BUZZARD. 



From the Baltimore American. 



A small pamphlet has been put into our hands 

 by a friend, containing an account of some inte- 

 resting experiments made at Charleston, South 

 Carolina, during the winter, fi'r the purpose of de- 

 termining certain facts in tiie natural history of the 

 Vulture. The Turkey Buzzard and the Carrion 

 Crow were the particular suijecfs of experiment, 

 and the object was to determine whether they do 

 in fact possess the extraordinary powers of smell- 

 ing, which have been so unifitrmly attributed to 

 them by naturalists, and whether it is their habit 

 to feed only on putrid meat 



Mr. Audubon was the first writer on American 

 Ornithology, who denied the Vulture thefoculty of 

 smell, and maintained that it is guided by the eye 

 only, in its search t()r food The experiments by 

 which he arrived at this opinion, w'ere published 

 in 1826, and have been treated on both sides of the 

 Atlantic, with severity, as unsatisfactory, and in- 

 deed palpably absurd. The pamphlet before us, 

 written by Doctor Bachman of Charleston, details 

 a series of experiments, made for the express pur- 

 pose of testing the correctness of Mr. Audulion's 

 opinion. That gentleman ',vas on a visit toCharles- 

 ton, but took no part in them. They were wit- 

 nessed by Robert Henry, President of the College 

 of South Carolina ; Dr. John Wagner, Professor 

 of Surgery of the Mediral College of the State; 

 Dr. Henry Frost, Professor of the Materia Me- 

 dica ; and C. F. Leitner, Lecturer on Botany and 

 Natural History, in the same institution; Dr. B. 

 B. Strobel, and Martin Strol)el, Esq. — all gentle- 

 men of eminent standingand capacity. They have 

 unanimously signed a certificate, stating that from 

 theexperiments they have witnessed on the habits 

 of the Vultures of Carolina, called t!ie Turkey 

 Buzzard and the Carrion Crow, they " feel assured 

 they devour fresh as well as putrid food of any 



kind, and that they are guided to their food alto- 

 gether through the sense of siicht and not that of 

 smell. 



The result, besides its bearing on a material 

 part of natural history, is a gratifying testimony 

 to the scientific accuracy of Mr. Audubon, and a 

 sutiicient defence against the illiberal sneers with 

 which his discovery has been treated. The expe- 

 riments detailed, show not only that these birds 

 are without any particular strength of smell, but 

 that they are destitute of the sense altogether. 

 Among other proofs of this, it was found that they 

 were attracted by coarse pictures of dead animals, 

 and were unable to perceive flesh, which was only 

 hidden by a j)iece of canvass, although standing 

 upon it at the time. The experiments were va- 

 ried in such a way as to make it impossible there 

 should be any mistake. There can be no doubt, 

 that with respect to this part of the V'ulture fami- 

 ly, the opinions that have prevailed for so many 

 centuries are erroneous. 



Among tlie experiments was one to test the sto- 

 ry, jjuhlished lately, — that if the eye of the Tur- 

 key -Buzzard was put out liy pertbration, it would 

 be restored, and the sight renewed, by putting the 

 head under the wing, the down of which was said 

 to perform the miracle. They found that the ball 

 of the eye is refilled, but the sight was not restor- 

 ed. They foimd, also, that a blind bird cannot per- 

 ceive the most ofiensive animal substance, how- 

 ever near. 



BIRD KILLING. 



From tlie Farmer and Mechanic. 



The following notice to gunners and hunters, 

 signed by nineteen individuals, ap]ieared in a late 

 number of the Germantown Telegraph. 



" We, the subscril;ers, of Lower Merion town- 

 ship, iNIontgomery county, viewing with concern 

 the astonishing increase of insects, and the im- 

 mense damage done to oiir crops and fruit, for se- 

 veral years past, and believing the cause to be 

 principally owing to the killing of birds, do most 

 respectfully admonish all persons to al)stain from 

 shooting them, or destroying their nests or eggs ; 

 and, for ourselves, we do absolutely forbid any 

 person or ])ersons trespassing on our places, break- 

 ing our fences, hunting or firing a gun on our re- 

 spective lands, or with dogs of any species : there- 

 tore, any persons entering on our j)remises, con- 

 trary to this notice, must expect to be dealt with 

 accordin'T to law." 



TO PREVENT MILK BECOMING SOUR. 



From the Mechanic's Magazine. 



To prevent milk from turning sour and curd- 

 ling, as it is so apt to do in the heat of summer, 

 the milk-men of Paris add a small quantity of 

 sub-carbonate of potash or soda, which saturating 

 the acetic acid as it forms, prevents the coa- 

 gulation or separation of curd ; and some of them 

 practise this with so much success, as to gain the 

 reputation of selling milk that never turns. Often 

 when coagulation has taken place, they restore the 

 fiuidity by a greater or less addition of one or the 

 other of the fixed alkalies. The acetate which 

 is thus formed has no injurious effects, and besides 

 milk, contains naturally a small quantity of ace- 

 tate of potash, but not "an atom of free or carbo- 

 nated alkali. 



