AliOTTNP TTTH FABM. 367 



■What Bird; .Vcc'on»pli^:i. — The swallow, swift, and iuLirk are the 

 guardians of the atmosphere. They check the increase of insects that other* 

 wise would overload it. Woodpeckera, creepers, and chickadees are the 

 guardians of the trunks of trees. Warblers and flycatchers protect the foli- 

 age. Blackbirds, crows, thrushes, and larks protect the surface of the soil. 

 Snipe and woodcock protect the soil under the surface. Each tribe has its 

 respective duties to perform in the economy of nature, and it ia an undoubted 

 fact that if the birds were all swept off the face of the earth man could not 

 live upon it, vegetation would wither and die; insects would become so 

 numerous that no living being could withstand their attacks. The whole- 

 sale destruction occasioned by grasshoppers which have devastated the 

 West is to a great extent, perhaps, caused by the thinning out of the birds, 

 such as grouse, prairie hens, etc., which feed upon them. The great and in- 

 estimable sers'ioe done to the fanner, gardener, and florist by the birds is 

 only becoming known by sad experience. Spare the birds and save the fruit; 

 the little com and fruit taken by them is more than compensated by the 

 quantities of noxious insects they destroy. The long-persecuted crow has 

 been found by actual experience to do more good by the vast quantitiefi of 

 grul)8 and insects he devours than the harm he does in the grains of com he 

 pulls up. He is, after all, rather a friend than an enemy to the farmer. 



Recipe for Caring Meati — To one gallon of water take one and one- 

 half pounds of salt, one-half pound sugar, one-half ounce saltpetre, one- 

 half ounce potash. In this ratio the pickle can be increased to any quantity 

 desired. Let these be boiled together until aU the dirt from the sugar rises 

 to the top and is skimmed off. Then throw it into a tub to cool, and when 

 cold pour it over your beef or pork. The meat must be well covered with 

 pickle, and should not be put down for at least two days afler killing, dur- 

 ing which time it should be slightly sprinkled with powdered saltpetre, 

 which removes all the surface blood, etc., leaving the meat fresh and clean. 

 Soma omit boiling the pickle, and find it to answer well, though the opera- 

 tion of boihng purified the pickle by throwing off the dirt always to bo found 

 in salt and sugar. If this recipe is strictly followed, it will require only a 

 single trial to prove its superiority over the common way, or moet ways of 

 putting down meat, and ^^ill not soon be abandoned for any other. The 

 meat is unsurpassed for sweetness, delicacy, and freshness of color. 



Value of Drainage. — Afl a matter of fact there is very little land in our 

 country that would not be improved by drainage. Many hght soils are 

 springy, and the crops are injured in them by stagnant water. Heavy land 

 can never do its best until drained. Vast areas of low-lying but rich land 

 are practically valueless for want of drains to cany off the redundant mois- 

 ture which forbids the growth of any but aquatic plants. Many who admit 

 the importance of this improvement are puzzled about the ways and means 

 of effecting it. The Drainage Journal mentions tlie following plan, which is 

 well worthy of serious consideration: " Some enterprising tile manufacturers 

 select careful farmers who own flat lands, and make them something like 

 the following proposition: That the farmer make a careful estimate of his 

 average crops, and the tile manufacturer proposes to furnish the tile neces- 

 sary to drain thoroughly the lands designated in the agreement, the farmer 

 to ftimish the labor of putting in the drains at a stipulated price, to be paid 

 out of the excess of crops grown on the land over and above the average 

 yield before agreed upon, and the tile manufacturer agreeing to take the 



