KJe Barton's Storg. 



the special vegetables they infest, there can be 

 but little objection. The strawberry and rasp- 

 berry parasites are, certainly, exceptions ; for no 

 one could taste and swallow more than one of 

 either, and live to tell the tale. The mushroom- 

 worm, the cabbage-louse, the lettuce-hopper, the 

 Brussels-sprout thrip, and dozens of other jump- 

 ing, wriggling things which the cook sends to 

 table, possess invariably the exact flavor of the 

 several vegetables they garnish. It would only 

 be by serving the wrong or foreign insects with 

 a particular dish that any gastronomical syncre- 

 tism could result. The argumentum ad gulfltn 

 advanced for the existence of the crow-black- 

 bird is, therefore, untenable, and I fail to dis- 

 cover any excuse for allowing him to usurp the 

 place of the starling, with whom he is forever 

 quarreling. 



Another blanket of snow has been heaped 

 upon us, just as the previous vestiges had dis- 

 appeared and there were hopes of an end to 

 the interminable hibernation. It was a halting 

 philosopher who termed snow the poor man's 

 manure, for want of a proper definition. The 

 ammonia it contains one might better be with- 

 out at this season, when every shrub, plant, and 

 grass-blade is crying for the caress of the rain. 

 Apparently the snow came from the asperous 



