470 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



often witnessed from the mere commingling ofi 

 soils. To farmers who are so situated as to be un- 1 

 able to buy, or to make the manure necessary to 

 keep up the fertility of their fields, the subject is | 

 one of interest. 



WILD PIGEON. — Columba Migratoria. 

 This well known bird, commonly called the pas- ; 

 senger pigeon, is remarkable fur the great rapidity j 

 and elegance of its Hight. It is supjioscd to l)e 

 capable of moving through the air at the rate of a 

 mile a minute. The most singular fact in the nat- 

 ural history of the pigeon is their countless num- 

 bers. Audul)on saw a flock that coniaincd "one 

 Viillion, one hundred sixteen millions." One may 

 live many years and \wl sec such a tiock as tliis, 

 though once a year you may see pigeons enough to 

 astonish you. "The passenger is smaller than the 

 common "house pigeon. Its color is nearly a uni- 

 form slate. The colors are deeper in the male, 

 and the neck feathers present the same change- 

 able hues common to all birds of this species. It 

 is only when freshly caught or killed that these 

 brilliant tints of green and gold can be seen to per- 

 fection. They fade immediately after the bird is 

 shot. A pigeon roost is a curiosity well worth see- 

 ing, and no'laniruage can give a perfect idea of the 

 appearance of the place when occupied by its ten- 

 ants. They come ijy thousands in a Hock, and set- 

 tle upon the trees around, and the confusion is in- 

 creased by the upper limbs breaking, owing to their 

 gi-eat \vcil;ht, and falling with a crash upon those 

 who have alighted beneath, carrying death and de- 

 struction with them. A noisy scene it is. The clap- 

 pin"- of a million pair of wings sounds like the roar 

 of thunder. The passenger pigeons breed in all 

 parts of the United States, and they are often found 

 as far north as Hudson's Bay. The nests are built 

 upon high trees, resembling immense rookeries. 

 The e^-^-s are generally two in number and pure 

 white.°°Like the common kind, they breed several 

 times in a season. h. m. 



Northampton, Mass., 1867. 



Rem AUKS. —When a boy, we used to see pigeons 

 enough eveiy spring to "astonish" one. We have 

 seen but few of late years. 



LUNAR INFLTIENCE. 



I recollect hearing people talk, when I was quite 

 a lad, about killing pork, sowing gram, cutting 

 bushes and herbs, and doing various other kinds 

 of labor at a particular time in the age of the 

 moon. The idea always seemed absurd to me, 

 and as I grew to the age of retlection, I concluded 

 there was no ground for such a belief. I com- 

 menced a series of practical observations for the 

 purpose of ascertaining, if possible, the truth ot 

 the i)revalent theory. . ^ ,„ t <.,„„ 



When I began to do business for myself, I often 

 took some pains to do such work as was said to be 

 aflected by the moon, at the reputed wrong time, 

 and I have never l)ccn able to discover any diflcr- 

 encc in my crops, in cither field or garden, nor be- 

 tween my own crops and those of my neighbors, 

 other circnmstanccs bring ccpial. 



I have always found that those farmers succeed 

 best, who plow their land well, and sow and idant 

 when the ground is in a proper condition to receive 

 the seed, witluuit any reference to the lunar orb ; 

 in otiier winds, that farming on the earth is more 

 relialilc than fanning in the wooH. 



Among the many whims al)ont lunar innuence, 

 is one which I heard last siiring. The weatiier 

 had liccii very wet for son e lime, and some peo- 

 i)le licgan to i)e desponding. Calling at a shop to 

 transact some l)usiiiess,tlie good lady of the house 

 said, "Do you know wc arc to have twenty days 



of rainy weather in succession ?" I replied, "No, 

 and asked the reason. "Because," said she, "the 

 monn changed on Saftirdatj .'" I was furtln r in- 

 formed that a change very seldom oci urs on that 

 day. Upon further inquiry, I ascertained thtot 

 this profound knowledge was obtained from the 

 Almanac ! 1 was somewhat surprised at so much 

 ignorance, buc made no reply. I came home, and 

 at the first opportunity. I examined the Almanacs 

 for several years past, and ascertained, what I had 

 no reason to doubt, that the new moon occurs once 

 or twice on that day of the week nearly every 

 year. I did not think it worth while to look far- 

 ther back than 1860. In that year tivo changes 

 occurred on the ill-omened day ; in 1861, three ; in 

 1862, two; in 1863, one; in 1864, two; in 1865, 

 two; in 1866, one; in 1867, two; fifteen times in 

 eiqht years. By this it will appear that a new 

 nioon on the last day of the week is no great 

 rarity. I believe it occurs as often on that day as 

 on any other. Now in regard to the weather fol- 

 lowing such changes. I find liy reference to a 

 meteorological record which I have kept nearly 

 twenty yelirs, that in the twenty days next su > 

 cecdiiig each of the al)oye mentioned changes, not 

 more ihan eight were at anytime attended by rain, 

 until this year, when after the change, 5th mo. 4th, 

 rain fell in eleven days. , . i 



Like the belief in ghosts and witches, the idea 

 that the moon exerts a powerful inlluenee over 

 animal or vegetable life must yield to the light of 

 knowledge, and will ere long be remembered as a 

 relic of superstition. 



I resolve the whole theory of lunar influence 

 upon vegetation into moonshine, thus : the moon 

 is just aslarge one day as another, and its mean 

 distance from the earth is nearly the same, hence 

 the force of its attraction must he about the same 

 at all times,— this is shown to be the case l)y the 

 reo-ularity of the tides. Now the dittcrent phases 

 of "the moon are caused by a greater or less amount 

 of light reflected from that luminary; conse- 

 quently, if the chauge, quarter or full, exerts the 

 influence claimed by some, it must be caused by 

 the amount of reflected light ; in other words, by 

 moonshine .' 



Reflect upon this, ye who deem pale Cynthia so 

 puissant! Lay aside your prejudices, and exer- 

 cise your reason. Never take an assertion for 

 fact even though it may have descended as an 

 heir-loom, through a long line of venerable an- 

 cestry. L. Varney. 

 Bloomfield, C. W., 1th mo., 1867. 



SUBSTITUTE FOR TOLLEN. 



Your New Hampshire correspondent "F" wishes 

 for a substitute for "l)ee bread." I would like to 

 copy an article from Langstroth's work on the 

 honey bee, for him. „ , , , 



"Though the importance of pollen has long been 

 known, it is only of late that any attempts have 

 been made to furnish a substitute. Dzierzon, early 

 in the spring, observed his bees bringing rye meal 

 to their hives from a neighboring null, l)efore they 

 could procure any pollen from natural supplies. 1 he 

 hint was not lost; and it is now a conimou prac- 

 tice in Europe, where lice-kecping is extensively 

 carried on, to supply the bees early in the season 

 with this article. Shallow troughs are set in trout 

 of the apiaries, tilled about two inches deep with 

 finelii-nround, dry, unbolted rgc meal. Thousands 

 of liees, when the weather is favoral)lc, resort 

 eagerly to them, and rolling themselves in the 

 meal, return heavily laden to their hives. In hue. 

 mild weather, they "labor at this work with great 

 industry, preferring the meal to the old pollen 

 stored in the coml)s. They thus breed early, and 

 rapidly recruit their numbers. The feeding is con- 

 tinued till the blossoms furnishing a preferable ar- 



