1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



291 



not be in man a principle or instinct that prompts 

 him to the manifestation of order, proportion, — 

 geometric figures, if you please, in those he plants ? 

 On riding past an orchard planted with mathe- 

 matical precision, who does not experience sensa- 

 tions of pleasure, as the changing rows marshal 

 themselves l)efore his eyes, that disorder never ex- 

 cites. But enough of this. Passing on, we have 

 more About Potatoes, in which several "Cures" 

 are cured of all cure ; the last legislative Agricul- 

 tural meeting of the season ; Shovel Making ; 

 Wealth of the United States ; and Comments on 

 Plaster. 



LAST EIGHT PAGES 



Commence with a cut and comments on Brush 

 Seed Sower, followed by a remedy for the B^e 

 Moth; then Model Farms, &c., are discussed. 1 

 understood the writer to say that the inquiry, In 

 what manner can the State beneficially aid the 

 farmer, lies at the foundation of all our- action ! 

 O, no. That talk may do for Frenchmen, but not 

 for Yankees. What are we doing ourselves, is the 

 question for us to build upon and to answer. Na- 

 tive Gooseberry recommended ; those in this sec- 

 tion, though better than none, are not much es- 

 teemed. What shall I do? I'll tell you what, Mr. 

 "C. W. A." Go to the city and work at a trade, 

 till Saturday night — pay $3,25 to the landlady, 

 ,and 40 cents to the washwoman, and you will soon 

 'learn bettor than to contrast wages icitkoui board 

 and washing, with wages tvilh board, washing 

 and mending, and may pick up a few other facts 

 worth remembering. Proceedings of Concord 

 Farmer's Club, on the memorable 19th of April ; 

 A Shower of Mud; Paint for Brick Houses ; Gar- 

 dening ; a Column of Replies to Correspondents ; 

 Ladies Department ; Advertisements and Con- 

 tents, complete the task for this month of 



A Reader. 

 Winchester, May, 1853. 



AGRICULTURAL AXIOMS. 



In no department is Bacon's celebrated maxim, 

 •'Knowledge is power," worth more than in ag- 

 riculture. Hence, no farmer can be accounted 

 skilful in his profession, who does not avail him- 

 self of the information to be derived from the ex- 

 perience of others, and who does not improve his 

 knowledge of husbandry by the perusal of the 

 ablest works which have been written on that sub- 

 ject. It is absurd to imagine, that the communi- 

 cation of knowledge which has promoted the ad- 

 vancement of every other art, should be of no use 

 in agriculture. Endeavor to raise good grain, for 

 it will always sell, even in years of plenty; where- 

 as it is only in dear and scarce seasons that there 

 is demand for grain of an inferior quality. Let 

 your stock of cattle, horses, &c., be of the best 

 bloods, and more remarkable for real utility than 

 for beauty or fashion. No fiirmer ought to un- 

 dertake to cultivate more land than he can manage 

 to advantage. It is better to till twenty acres 

 well, than one hundred in a slovenly manner. A 

 man's owning a large form is no excuse for im- 

 perfect tillage. What he cannot improve, he need 

 not undertake to cultivate. A large farm, with- 

 out skill, capital, and industry, is a plague to its 

 owner. It is like what somebody said of self-right- 

 eousness, the more you have of it, the worse ^ou 

 are oflP. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND. 

 THEIR PAST AND PRESENT HISTORY. ...No. 4. 

 BY S. P FOWLER. 



It is our intention, in this article and others 

 which may follow, to present to the notice of the 

 Farmer and Horlicullurist , some of the habits of 

 our birds most interesting to them. But in order 

 to present to the reader something of the present 

 history of the feathered tribes, wesliall enumerate 

 all the species in their orders to be found in the 

 Union, together with those that are known to 

 have been discovered in Massachusetts. 



The first order includes the rapacious and noc- 

 turnal birds of prey. These take up their abode 

 in forests and solitary places for the most part, 

 and refuse to receive the protection afforded by 

 man and flee from his presence. They subsist by 

 war and rapine waged upon other birds and small 

 quadrupeds. 



The second order are the omnivorous birds, so 

 called because they are not discriminating in their 

 food, feeding upon insects, worms and carrion. 



In the third order we find the insectivorous 

 birds, so called because they principally feed on 

 insects, only occasionally feeding upon fruits and 

 berries. 



The fourth order embraces the graminiv^irous 

 birds, so named on account of their habit of feed- 

 ing principally upon grain, and seeds, insects only 

 constituting a part of their food. 



The fifth order is the Zygodactyli, derived from 

 two Greek words to join, and a finger, and used 

 by ornithologists to designate those birds whose 

 feet are furnished with two toes before, and two 

 behind, as the Parrots and Woodpeckers. These 

 birds, particularly the Parrots, subsist principally 

 upon nuts and hard seeds, while the Woodpeckers 

 add to their bill of fare caterpillars, worms, the 

 larva of insects, and occasionally fruits. 



Order sixth are the slender billed birds, or the 

 Ten-u-i-rosters, from the Xaim tenuis ivndirostrum, 

 and applied to birds with a long and slender bill, 

 as the Humming Bird. Nearly all this order feed 

 upon insects. 



The seventh order contains only the Iving- 

 fisher, an odd, grotesque looking fellow, who gets 

 an honest living by fishing. His note is as singu- 

 lar as his appearance, and resembles the springing 

 of a watchman's rattle. It is the only species as 

 yet discovered in North America. It is known to 

 ornithologists as the Belted Kingfisher. 



In the eighth order we find the Swallow tribe. 

 These birds feed exclusively on insects. 



The ninth order contains tlie Pigeon tribe. 

 The food of these birds consists of grain and seeds, 

 rarely of insects. 



In the tenth order are included the gallinaceous 

 l)irds. These subsist on grain and seeds, not un- 

 frequently adding buds of trees, berries, and 

 larger insects, to their fare. 



The large number of water birds may be classed 

 as Wading birds, and Lobe-footed and Web-footed 

 birds. They feed upon fish, reptiles, marine in- 

 sects, seeds, vegetables and shell-fish. Their voice 

 is unmusical, they are shy and retiring in their ha- 

 bits, and avoid the haunts of men. It is in New 

 England that we find the greatest number of birds, 

 both useful and interesting to the flxrmer and 

 horticulturist. Massachusetts, particularly in the 



