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mischievous : they steal either our fruit or our grain. Next to the robiu, 

 probably the most useful bird to agriculture is the red-winged blackbird, 

 called the "maize thief," from his habit of stealing Indian corn, when it 

 is in the milk. But the blackbirds are not sufficiently numerous or familiar 

 in this part of the country to render us a great deal of service. 



The truth is that nature does not aiford us a benefit without exacting pay 

 for it. Hence, if a bird is particularly useful to our fields, he is sure to 

 devour some portion of their produce. We must be content to pay them 

 for their services, as we pay a hired man, for clearing our trees of borers 

 and caterpillars. If it were possible to obtain an exact estimate of the 

 services performed by the robin, we should be willing to pay him more than 

 the value of what he steals, rather than dispense with his services. At 

 present, however, it must be confessed that the robin tax falls chiefly upon 

 those who raise cherries and other summer fruits. This is an evil which 

 must be patiently endured for the common good. There are only two 

 remedies of the evil to those who happen to be the unfortunate owners of 

 cherry trees : the first is, to cut down all the trees on one's ground, on the 

 principle of cutting off one's nose to spite his face ; the second is, to induce 

 all others to plant cherry trees, that the present possessors may have com- 

 pany in their misery. The extermination of the robins is out of the ques- 

 tion as it would be hardly advisable to sacrifice the interest of all the 

 staple products of agriculture to preserve a few bushels of cherries. 



As an improvement of the second remedy, we should encourage the 

 growth of the high blueberries, on the borders of all our pastures in all 

 parts of the country, especially in the vicinity of large towns. I observed 

 in the early part of the season, that the cherry trees before my windows 

 were filled with robins, whose numbers diminished as the fruit ripened and 

 improved in quality. The question was asked if the robins preferred the 

 cherries before they were ripe. It was answered by remarking that as 

 cherries became more abundant, their depredations were spread over a 

 wider surface. This was hardly a sufficient explanation. The problem 

 was soon solved, however, by discovering multitudes of robins in the blue- 

 herry pastures, where the berries had ripened in great abundance, and were 

 preferred to cherries, by the robins. I am persuaded that a tree full of 

 the finest of cherries, in the middle of a blueberry pasture, would remain 

 almost untouched. 



ON MARLS AND MANURES. 



Wm. Lawton. — More than thirty years since, Sir Humphrey Davy, in 

 his experiments, found the pores in the fibres of roots to be so small as 

 hardly to be discovered with a microscope. Thus proving the value, if not 

 necessity, of a weak solution of suitable manures for fertilizing plants. 

 And his experiments also furnished abundant proof that plants, like ani- 

 mals could be overfed ; and also like animals poisoned, by taking up into 

 their radical fibres, minute portions of substances destructive to life, pro- 

 bably by choking up the cells and pores of the plants. 



There is then two considerations in the application of all manures, adap- 



