BUDS. BLOSSOMS, FRUITS. 



fruit-buds in a way to suit themselves and not me. Be- 

 fore the sparrows came, it was a grand sight to see scores 

 of swallows continually on the wing, darting hither and 

 thither after flies. I have seen sparrows pull swallows out 

 of their nests by the head, and take possession. They 

 also drive away other small birds. Only the robin seems 

 to be boss of the field yet. I have seen sparrows go for 

 small test-plats of grain in a way that was very annoy- 

 ing. — Jas. M. Waters, 07it., Canada. 



The English Sparrow is not without redeeming qual- 

 ities. In the time of oat harvest, near the city, they 

 come in vast numbers and are destructive. They eat 

 some fruit, and early in the summer I have known them 

 to visit the nests of the goldfinch and feed upon their 

 callow broods. They are vigilant, and have driven away 

 the bluebirds and the purple martins, but seem on good 

 terms with all the rest of our native birds. They have 

 their ugly moods, but they contrive to get sunshine out 

 of their hunted and harassed lives. They are beset 

 and tormented, yet cheerful at all seasons, even in the 

 streets and gutters. They eat with the hogs and with 

 the chickens, and get their portion. Their history is the 

 history of martyrs, and they are endowed with wonder- 

 ful fortitude. They love life as well as it ought to be 

 loved. What good do they ? They destroy worms and 

 grasshoppers and moths. For a number of seasons 

 they kept the cabbage-worm from our garden. A lot of 

 cabbages remote from the house were not visited by the 

 birds, and it cost us much labor to save them from the 

 worms. Altogether I think the sparrows deserve better 

 treatment than they are now receiving. The truth was 

 told by a little girl in her school composition, " Murder 

 is a bad habit." — W. R. Parsons, Franklin Co., O. 



I think the English Sparrow has been basely slan- 

 dered. I have watched him a number of years and 

 found his winter impudence and chatter rather enjoy- 

 able. In the spring he retires to the woods, and then 

 our trees are filled with robins, so that we can count 

 them by the score on the lawns in front of our house. I 

 cannot see that the sparrow has interfered with them in 

 any way. The blame for thinning out our native birds 

 does not belong to him but to Dame Fashion and our 

 ladies.— M. S. L., O/si's-o Co., iV. Y. 



The English Sparrow was a nuisance around our 

 home, but they can easily be kept away simply by not 

 allowing them to harbor or nest around our buildings, 

 orchard or lawn. During the summer of 1889 they were 

 in complete possession of my grounds. The first bird- 

 note in the morning, and the only one during the whole 

 day, was the monotonous, disagreeable chirp of the 

 sparrow. During the spring of 1890 I offered my chil- 

 dren five cents a dozen for all the sparrow-eggs they 

 could find, and told them to break up their nests wher- 

 ever found. They brought me five and one-half dozen, 

 for which I paid them 28 cents. This little scheme rid 

 my home of the nuisance. During the summer of iSgo 

 there were but few birds around my house ; but in 1891 

 birds of all kinds except the sparrow were back in full 



force, and the early morning serenade was made up of 

 the sweet notes of the song sparrows, robins, orioles, 

 the soothing twitter of the cunning little wrens and 

 chippies, and we are in bird paradise again. This 

 method is much better than that of the shotgun ; we do 

 not allow a gun to be fired near our house, as it frightens 

 away our friendly birds more easily than it does the 

 sparrows. Of course our children are taught the differ- 

 ence between the English sparrow and the favorite 

 birds, and they show just as much respect and love for 

 bird-nests as before, and more, because they know the 

 difference and are taught to appreciate the other birds. — 

 B. Wheaton Clark, Niagara Co., N. Y. ' 



Winter Treatment of Oleanders. — (December 

 American Gardening.) I was not aware that Oleanders 

 needed rest. My mother raised many kinds and was 

 successful. She left them out in the yard as late as 

 November, and I have seen them covered with sleet be- 

 fore they were taken into the house. They were kept in 

 the sitting-room all winter, and bloomed well with blos- 

 soms large and perfect. Her oldest specimen was over 

 21 years old when she left it in the care of a family who 

 destroyed it by breaking, cutting and neglect. That was 

 in Indiana, my native state. Here in Florida we have 

 "oleander avenues" that are never given a rest. They 

 bloom and thrive, and never suspect that their kin 

 on the other side of Mason and Dixon's line are im- 

 portant enough to be taken into the house or cellar. I 

 have only seen the double white and pink growing wild 

 down here, but I have another kind that would be a 

 rarity to the home folks. It is very handsome, and there 

 is but the one in the place — St. Augustine. The true 

 spider-lily is a beautiful thing, and grows wild in these 

 parts ; there is also another nearly like it that I saw ad- 

 vertised in a catalogue as the true one. — Mrs. Hallie 

 E. Thomas, Florida. 



The Same Old Things.— (Page 107 ) Sister Gra- 

 cious, it's different here ! I have only four geraniums ; 

 have one large yellow oxalis in bloom, one pot of freesias, 

 two blue browallias and four begonias, and four nastur- 

 tiums will soon be in bloom. The nasturtium is lovely 

 even if it did not bloom ; but the dwarf ones will just 

 cover the foliage with flowers, and in spring slips can be 

 set in the garden where they will bloom till frost. Do not 

 give them rich soil. One window has a lot of cacti, 

 many of which I have never seen catalogued. Another win. 

 dow has an immense Elettaria cardamomum, but it won't 

 bloom for me. There are three fine dracenas, D. indivisa, 

 rosea, and terminalis. — Margaret Campbell, La. 



Some Fruit-Notes. — I think Mr. Kellogg of Wiscon- 

 sin was somewhat extravagant in his denunciation of the 

 Michel Early strawberry. I am not a professional fruit- 

 grower, but I raise a considerable quantity of small fruits. 

 I may not have fine discrimination in taste, but I know 

 good fruit when it touches my palate, and can distinguish 

 a Delaware grape from a Talman. I have a few varie- 

 ties of grapes, and never saw finer grapes the past sea- 

 son than the Empire State, with poor culture and without 



