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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Not. 



HATCHINQ YOUNQ OSTRICHES. 



Since the French occupation of Algeria, os- 

 triches have been conveyed thence to France in 

 great numbers ; but, until the instance now to be 

 recorded, a brood had never been produced in 

 France. It is very difficult, under the necessary 

 restraint of a zoological garden, to supply the 

 necessary conditions for bringing about this re- 

 sult. The attempt had been frequently made to 

 do so in the Zoological Gardens of Marseilles, but 

 as frequently failed. Even last year, notwith- 

 standing the care devoted to the ostriches in that 

 establishment, and though eggs were laid in plen- 

 ty, no young ostriches could be hatched. The 

 director, M. Suquet, however, was not to be thus 

 foiled. Failing to accomplish what he desired in 

 the gardens, he bethought himself of trying what 

 could be done out of them. In the territory of 

 Montredon he selected a sandy plain, situated be- 

 tween the sea and the mountains which form the 

 southeast of the Gulf of Marseilles. The spot be- 

 longs to M. Pastre, who kindly gave the necessa- 

 ry co-operation. There a large secluded valley 

 was fixed upon, sufficiently wooded to afford shel- 

 ter, without intercepting the sunshine necessary 

 for quickening the eggs. After having enclosed 

 a space 600 metres long by 500 wide, the birds 

 were conveyed to their hatching ground on March 

 2 of this year. For a few days the birds seemed 

 to regard their new quarters with suspicion, and 

 ran anxiously about. Soon, however, they set- 

 tled themselves and began laying. Their nest 

 was at first a simple excavation in the sand, in 

 the form of a truncated cone. Gradually the bor- 

 ders of this hole were heightened by accumula- 

 tions of more sand. At this labor the male and 

 female bird worked alternately. A few hours af- 

 ter the completion of the nest, laying began, and 

 was continued every alternate day, until by the 

 20th of April 15 eggs had been deposited. Up to 

 this time the hen guarded the nest a few hours 

 before and after incubation, sometimes for an en- 

 tire day. After April 20, however, the male bird 

 commenced taking his spell of watching, the lady 

 only seeing to the household during periods when 

 her lord and master was temporarily absent from 

 home. All seemed to go on satisfactorily. Ac- 

 cording to observations made by M. Hardy, at 

 Algiers, the time of incubatiou should be from 56 

 to 60 days. Knowing this, M. Suquet was sur- 

 prised when, on June 3, intelligence came that 

 the first young ostrich had opened its eyes to sun- 

 shine on French soil. By the evening 11 had 

 been hatched. On the day following the young 

 birds left their nest and began to wander over 

 the enclosure, guided alternately by papa and 

 mamma, who spared no trouble in this their first 

 walking lesson. During these excursions one 

 bird always lingered a little behind. It was weak, 

 and soon died, thus reducing the number of the 

 young family to 10. They went on growing rap- 

 idly, so that by the 8th of August they were as 

 big as young turkeys, giving every promise of 

 arriving in due time at years of discretion, and 

 contributing for many a season, to the grande te- 

 nue of many a fair Parisienne. 



black knot on the cherry. They are precisely iden- 

 tical with the plum curculio, a fact which we have 

 before demonstrated. We think there can be no 

 doubt that the curculio in the knot and those in 

 the cherry, plum, apple, &c., are all one and the 

 same. — Horticulturist. 



THE DOMESTIC TYRANT. 



It is tome a thoroughly disgusting sight to see, 

 as we sometimes do, the wife and children of a 

 family kept in constant terror of the selfish ba- 

 shaw at the head of the house, and ever on the 

 watch to yield in every petty manner to his whims 

 and fancies. Sometimes, where he is a hard- 

 wrought and anxious man, whose hard work earns 

 his children's bread, and whose life is the sole 

 stay, it is needful that he should be deferred to in 

 many things, lest the over-tasked brain and over- 

 strained nervous system should break down or 

 grow unequal to the task. But I am not thinking 

 of such cases. I mean cases in which the head 

 of the family is a great fat, bullying, selfish scoun- 

 drel ; who devours sullenly the choice dishes at 

 dinner, and walks into all the fruit or dessert, 

 while his wife looks on in silence, and the awe- 

 stricken children dare not hint that they would 

 like a little of what the brutal hound is devouring. 

 I mean cases in which the contemptible dog is 

 extremely well-dressed, while his wife and chil- 

 dren's attire is thin and bare ; in which he liber- 

 ally tosses about his money in the billiard-room, 

 and goes off in autumn for a tour on the conti- 

 nent by himself, leaving them to the joyless rou- 

 tine of their unvaried life. It is sad to see the 

 sudden hush that falls upon the little things when 

 he enters the house ; how their sports are cut 

 short, and they try to steal away from the room. 

 Would that I Avere the Emperor of Russia, and 

 such a man my subject ' Should not he taste the 

 knout ? Ihat would be his suitable punishment 

 for he will never feel what worthier mortals would 

 regard as the heavier penalty by far, the utter ab- 

 sence of confidence or real affection between him 

 and his children when they grow up. He will 

 not mind that there never was a day, when the 

 toddling creatures set up a shout of delight at his 

 entrance, and rushed at him and scaled him, and 

 searched in his pockets, and pulled him about ; 

 nor that the day will never come, when, growing 

 into men and women, they will come to him for 

 sympathy and guidance in their little trials and 

 perplexities. O, woful to think that there are 

 parents, held in general estimation, too, to whom 

 their children would no more think of going for 

 kindly sympathy, than they would think of going 

 to Nova Zembla for warmth. — Country Parson. 



The Cukculio in the Black Knot. — Dr. 

 Trimble has brought us some curculios, in vari- 

 ous Rtaeres of trunsforrrr-tion. ♦^^Von from the 



PREMIUMS. 

 Some persons have complained because we do 

 not publish the premiums awarded at the Middle- 

 sex Show. If they will but consider that the 

 Farmer is dependent for its support upon the 

 patronage extended to it from many different 

 States, — that shows »re occurring almost every 

 day for five or six weeks, — and that the annunci- 

 ation of the premiums have no sort of interest 

 except in the localities where they are received, — 



