86G 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
Looking into the Birds' Stomachs. 
The English papers have heen for some time 
engaged in a discussion upon the value of birds 
to the farmer and gardener. Some writers con- 
tend for the destruction of the birds to save 
the grain and fruits from their attacks ; while 
others warmly advocate their preservation on 
account of their usefulness in destroying insects, 
and consider that the injury they do to various 
crops, is more than counterbalanced by their 
destruction of the insect enemies to vegetation. 
As the Agriculturist has frequently advocated 
the preservation of the birds, we were pleased 
to see a list of the contents of the stomachs of 
birds, which were exhibited at the International 
Exhibition in London. The list comprises 20 
of the common birds of Europe, and shows that 
the majority of them feed largely on animal 
food. Even the mischievous blackbirds are in- 
sect eaters during a greater part of the year. 
The stomach of the blackbird contained in Jan- 
uary and February, seeds, spiders, chrysalids ; 
March, worms, grubs, buds of trees ; April, in- 
sects, worms, grubs ; May, the same, and cock- 
chafers ; June, the same, and fruit ; July, August, 
September, all sorts of worms, and fruit; Octo- 
ber, grubs of butterflies, worms; November 
December, seeds and chrysalids. We believe 
that similar examinations ^have been made in 
this country and show like results, but we have 
not them at hand. Not only do the old birds 
eat great numbers of insects, but the quantity 
fed to their young is enormous. A gentleman 
who carefully watched a nest of thrushes, found 
that the old ones fed their brood no less than 
20G times daily. Considering- Ihe great service 
the birds perform in lessening the number of 
destructive insects, we can well afford them a 
dessert of fruit. This view will be objected to by 
some who will declare that the birds cause them 
a great loss of fruit and grain, and there is 
much to be said on both sides. It seems to be a 
choice of evils, and the mischief clone by the 
birds seems to us the lesser of the two. We 
know that in those places where birds are left 
unmolested and are encouraged to staj r , there 
are no complaints of devastation by insects. 
Last May we put up in trees and elsewhere a 
dozen small boxes with a single hole each, and 
they were all quickly occupied by wrens' nests. 
These birds destroy an immense number of in- 
sects. Next March and April we intend to put 
out from fifty to a hundred boxes of different 
sizes, and with apertures suitable for the dif- 
ferent kinds of birds. 
Sweet Potatoes Successful at the North. 
A correspondent in Connecticut who made a 
single trial of Sweet Potatoes and failed, thinks 
the Agriculturist should not recommend their 
culture, in any localities north of New Jersey. 
It is hardly fair to form a positive opinion upon 
any plant from one year's failure or success. 
This is especially true of so tender a plant as 
the Sweet Potato. At our first trial, years ago, 
it happened to be a very wet season, and the 
plants ran all to vines, and made but few roots, 
and we did not get enough to pay the cost of the 
plants. Not discouraged with one season's fail- 
ure, they were tried the next year, and every 
year since, to our great satisfaction. There are 
letters before us from Brown Co., Wis., Water- 
town, Ct., and near Providence, R. I., all speak- 
ing of great success with sweet potatoes this 
year. We visited the garden of J. C. Thomp- 
son, Esq., at Slaten Island, at the time his po- 
tatoes were dug. The crop was grown according 
to the method described by Mr. T., in the Agri- 
culturist for April. One portion of the planting 
was upon ground occupied by the same crop 
last year, while the other was upon land which 
had formerly grown cabbages. Mr. T. has 
sweet potatoes in two different places where 
cabbages had been raised last year, and the 
yield in both instances was very inferior. Judg- 
ing from this single experiment, it would appear 
that this crop can not properly follow cab- 
bages. Upon the land which had borne sweet 
potatoes the year before, the crop was very fine, 
yielding at the rate of at least 300 bushels to the 
acre. The roots were of good size for the table, 
with very few so small as to be worthless. We 
have not the statistics relative to the cost per 
bushel. In addition to the above, our own ex- 
perience on Long Island may be given. We set 
out 200 plants last Spring and have used the 
potatoes from the time they became large enough 
to cook, and are convinced that we have had a 
supply of'better quality, and much cheaper than 
we could have procured them in the market, 
aside from the satisfaction of eating the product 
of our own land. They cost less per bushel 
than the common potatoes. We commenced 
early in September to examine the hills, by 
thrusting in the finger, and when a large tuber 
was found, it was taken out and used, and the 
smaller ones were left to increase in size, until 
the hard frosts late in Oct. W. H. Lewis of 
Ct., writes that he obtained the best results from 
deeply worked soil, contrary to the experience 
of Mr. Thompson. M. S. Shaler writes that he 
raised potatoes in the cold climate of Wisconsin, 
measuring 10 inches long and 3 inches in diam- 
eter. In answer to queries in the letters above 
alluded to, we would add that the vines should 
be moved occasionally to prevent their rooting, 
and that the crop should be dug as soon as the 
tops are touched by frost. — Next Spring we will 
give further directions for culture at the North. 
Our present method is uniformly successful. 
Fur the American Agriculturist. 
Goodrich's Seedling Potatoes. 
— « 
These potatoes originated with Chauncey 
Goodrich, of Utica, N.Y., and have been before 
the public several years. They have been quite 
widely distributed, so that they are not a mo- 
nopoly in the hands of any seedsman, and gener- 
ally sell for the same price as other good seed 
potatoes. I received four varieties from Mr. Good- 
rich two years ago, and have tried them for two 
seasons. They were the Garnet Chili, the Cuz- 
co, the Copper Mine, and Pink-eyed Rusty Goat. 
They all have their good points, and are worthy 
of general cultivation. The Garnet Chili was 
sent out some ten years since, and is much bet- 
ter known t*an the others. It is a large red- 
skinned, white fleshed potato, of very good qual- 
ity for the table, but not the best, (ranks about 
with the Davis Seedling,) very productive, very 
hardy, and yielding few small potatoes. The 
Copper Mine is a long flattish potato, about 
as smooth and handsome as the Prince Albert, 
coppery skin, white flesh, very productive, and 
of about the same quality as the Garnet Chili. 
The Cuzco is a white skinned, white fleshed va- 
riety, nearly first-rate in quality, and the most 
productive of the four. I have never found 
any thing to equal it in this respect. The only 
objection to it is, a propensity to form little 
knots upon the tuber, somewhat marring its 
beauty. The Pink-eyed Rusty Coat is the best in 
quality, and is so good that it was used in my 
family last Winter in preference to any tiling 
else. There is but one potato that I should pre- 
fer to it, the Dover, and there is not much to 
choose between them. It is a large potato, with 
a rusty brown coat, white flesh, very hardy, 
very productive, and yielding very few small 
potatoes. To test their comparative produc- 
tiveness, I planted upon a two-acre field the fol- 
lowing six varieties. 
No. of rows. Whole yield. Average per row 
Davis' Seedling.... 26 92 bush. About 3 l-5tll hush. 
Prince Albeit 6 19 " " 3 1-Gth " 
Dover 4 g " '< 2 (i 
Garnet Chili is 45 » « 2>£ <i 
Copper Mine 8 20 " " 2'£ " 
Cuzco 6 25 " " 41-6th " 
The land was exhausted meadow, that would 
not yield ten bushels of corn to the acre with- 
out manure. It was manured with twelve bags 
of fish guano costing fifteen dollars, or seven 
and a half dollars to the acre. The manure 
was strewn in the hill. The yield for the whole 
piece was about a hundred bushels to the acre, 
which was quite good for so little manure upon 
so poor laud. It is well known that the Davis' 
Seedling and Prince Albert are among the most 
productive varieties, and the Cuzco exceeds 
them by nearly a fourth. This is the general 
reputation of this potato. Under favorable cir- 
cumstances, it has been known to yield over 
five hundred bushels to the acre. A neighbor 
planted a peck, and with ordinary field culture 
dug eleven bushels. The productiveness of the 
Pink-eyed rusty coat is quite equal to the Gar- 
net Chili. This and the Cuzco have shown no 
signs of disease. The other two have rotted a 
little under circumstances calculated to develop 
disease. I regard them all as valuable contribu- 
tions to our new seedling potatoes, and worthy 
of general cultivation. If I were to have but 
one of them, I should choose the Pink-eyed 
Rusty Coat, on account of its excellence as a ta- 
ble potato. I should put the Cuzco next in 
quality, and far ahead of the others in produc- 
tiveness. It makes a very great difference in 
the profit of raising this crop, whether the yield 
be one hundred or two hundred bushels to the 
acre. A very desirable feature in these potatoes 
is that they are nearly all of merchantable size. 
Connecticut. 
—. —«— _ 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Tim Bunker's Reasons against Tohacco. 
" Why don't you use tobacco, and raise it like 
other people, Squire Bunker ?" asked Seth 
Twiggs one day of me, with a discharge of 
smoke from his pipe that would have done 
credit to a locomotive. 
" Because you do !" I replied a little gruffly, 
" Wal neow I don't see the peth of that Squire." 
" I do. You see Seth, you and your farm are 
a standing argument agin tobacco. You are al- 
ways smoking, smoking, smoking, and you have 
pretty much smoked your brains out." 
"You weren't in any particular danger on 
that pint, Squire." 
" Well I admit I'm not so smart as some ot 
my neighbors, and it becomes me to take care 
of what little brains I have got." 
" Jest so," said Seth. "I see." 
" Your eye sight is darkened half the time," 
I continued " by that cloud of smoke, and you 
don't know exactly what you're about. You 
waste time and money as well as brains. It 
takes you about one half the time to load j'our 
pipe, anil the other half to smoke it. And it is 
a great deal worse since you have got them big 
Dutch pipes, with big bowls and crooked stem, 
than it used to be when you had that old stump 
