1852 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



565 



bearings upon the labors of the field and the efiFect 

 of those labors on the condition and improvement 

 of the art, and on the value and beauty of the hills 

 and valleys of the country as well as upon the 

 prosperity and happiness of the farmers, cannot be 

 overrated. 



The soil of Massachusetts is for the most part 

 rather forbidding, while the advantages for com- 

 merce and other pursuits have held out to our cit- 

 izens inducements to engage in such employments, 

 as would, (in their imagination) better repay time 

 and industry, and give a larger profit to capital in- 

 vested. Those who have staid by the sod have 

 done well. They have always, when industrious 

 and skilful, gained a competent support, and some 

 have saved small fortunes. But the cultivation of 

 the soil here, undoubtedly, requires more toil, skill 

 and expense, than in some other States. We have, 

 however, the comforting assurance of writers on 

 political economy, that a hard soil is favorable to 

 the best development of the intellect, and that 

 good morals thrive best where the products of the 

 land require the most care. In proportion, how- 

 ever, to- the ungenial quality of the soil, is the ad- 

 vantage of machinery and implements adapted to 

 lighten labor and assist the work. In no part of 

 the country, therefore, is this subject of imple- 

 ments more important than here in our own 

 State. 



The United States present a wide field for the 

 operations of skilful artisans in all useful as well 

 as ornamental articles ; as their wealth increases, 

 so do also their taste for the elegant and beautiful, 

 and their desire to possess what will minister to 

 the refinements of life. This is ever the case with 

 nations as they advance in intellectual power, and 

 in the first appreciation of what confers real dig- 

 nity on a people ; and their moral strength keeps 

 pace with their progress in intelligence. 



During the last fifty years, as was remarked in 

 the outset, the mind has been pre-eminently active 

 in seeking out new inventions. It has also had its 

 period to soar to the heavens in search of new 

 planets, mark the time of their coming, and tell 

 us when their far-off light shall first touch our 

 earth ; — to explore fathomless seas and penetrate 

 deep bays and inlets of frozen zones ; it has out- 

 stript the fancies of the poet, in "passing a girdle 

 round the earth in forty minutes." Marvellous 

 works has it wrought in steam and electricity ; 

 probed deep into animal physiology, given us new 

 limbs in surgery, and finally (through the agency 

 of ether,) thrown us into a temporary death in 

 order to haul up our shattered frame for repair of 

 damages. 



But at present the mind's popular idea is agri-i 

 culture. The decrease of crops on most of our 

 old lands, with the rapid increase of population,' 

 has arrested the attention of many earnest and, 

 intelligent persons. The inquiry everywhere is,' 



What shall be done to increase the fertility of 

 our impoverished acres, and bring a more ample 

 reward for the labor bestowed upon them ■? Our 

 answer is, more light — a more intimate knowledge 

 of the laws and operations of nature, and a more 

 careful and skilful cultivation of what we under- 

 take. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 BIRDS OP NEW ENGLAND. 



THEIR PAST AND PRESENT HISTORY No. 7. 



BY S. P. FOWLER. 

 THE SWALLOAV TRIBE. 



The Purple JMartin is first seen in the eastern 

 part of Massachusetts from the Ist to the 15th 

 day of May. Hearne informs us, in his journey to 

 the Northern Ocean, that the martins visit Hud- 

 son's Bay in great numbers. This account of the 

 northern migrations of the martin is quoted by 

 Mr. Wilson, in his American Ornithology, as show- 

 ing the extent of its northern flight being lat. 60"^ 

 north. But no doubt Mr. Wilson was mistaken, 

 in supposing that the bird described by this north- 

 ern traveller was the Purple Martin. Islr. Hearne's 

 description is as follows : "Martins visit Hudson's 

 Bay in great numbers, but seldom so far north as 

 Churchhill River. They usually mnVe thHr nests 

 in holes formed in the steep banks of rivers ; and 

 like the swallow, lay four or five speckled eggs ; 

 and retire southward in August. Atthe northern 

 settlements they are by no means so domestic as 

 the swallow." Now, in fact, the Purple Martin 

 never make their nests in holes, in the banks of 

 rivers, and are considered more domestic than the 

 swallow. These birds seen by Hearne, were un- 

 doubtedly the Bank Swallow, called in England, 

 and sometimes in this country, the Sand or Bank 

 Martin. However, the extract taken from the 

 Northern Journalist afforded good opportunity, 

 which was improved by Mr. Wilson, to throw a 

 shot at the believers in the brumal retreat of the 

 swallow. He says, if the martins in Hudson's Bay 

 are first seen in May, and return in August, they 

 have a pretty long annual nap in those frozen re- 

 gions, of eight or nine months under the ice. This 

 account of the martin given by Hearne, was in 

 1770, and could we suppose that the Purple Mar- 

 tin was here intended, it would afford us evidence 

 wherewith to settle the question, much agitated by 

 ornithologists, whether the bird was to be seen in 

 New England prior to the Revolution. They are 

 mentioned as being common in Pennsylvania in 

 1745, and Kalm found them numerous in New 

 Jersey in 1749. In regard to the most noi-thern 

 limits of the martin's migrations, we are informed 

 by Dr. Richardson that it is found on the Winipeg 

 River, near the 50" parallel of north latitude. • In 

 their winter retreat, they return south to New Or- 

 leans, and pass on, continuing their migrations 

 through Mexico, Quito, Chili, and, as some have 

 supposed, even to Terra del Fuego. 



It will be recollected that in our first commu- 

 nication upon the swallow tribe, we made the Pur- 

 ple Martin an exception to the otherwise general 

 good character of these birds. Their notoriety 

 consists in being very fond of honey bees ; and 

 when several pairs of martins are raising their 

 broods, in the vicinity of swarms of these industri- 



