Q94 
AMERICAN AGPaCULTURIST. 
[July, 
"THE BOYS ARE COMING HOME AG A I "N ." ^^ Designed and Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
Such nil Independence Day as will be celebrated this 
month was never known before. In the earlier history of 
the nation, there was perhaps equal joy among the small- 
er number wlio proudly and gratefully commemorated 
Ihe triumph in the struggle which secured freedom and 
peace, but then only one point had been settled— the right 
of the people to self government. Wise statesmen look- 
ing to the unknown future felt that the young nation had 
yet to pass through its severest ordeal ; that the time 
would come when the ability as well as the right of re- 
publican government was to be tested. They saw evils 
already growing, filled with danger to the young repub- 
lic. How could strong party spirit be restiained from 
revolution? How could sectional jealousies be pre- 
vented? These and other queslions might well occa- 
sion anxiety, for they have recently shaken the very 
foundations of the nation. But now we rejoice in a 
tried nationality, in a Free land. Sectional hate, party 
strife and slavery have done llieir worst, and The Re- 
public Lives ! First of all we reverently give thanks 
to God who has granted victory over the terrible rebel- 
lion ; next we remember with gratitude and just pride tlie 
heroes by whose strong arras, stouter hearts and match- 
less perseverance, treason is crushed and peace restored. 
They have well earned the welcome that greets them 
on their return to the homes they have given so much to 
defend. The scene which our artist has sketched has al- 
ready been enacted in many a village, and is yet to glad- 
den hundreds of districts. While all unite in public 
demonstrations of honor to our noble brothers returning 
from the field, let them also be remembered as deserving 
the best gifts of tho nation whose life they have saved. 
Give them all offices of trust and honor for which tliey 
tnay be competent ; let children learn their deeds, and 
ever show them respect ; and where the hard fortunes of 
war have borne hard on them or their families, let the 
ample provision made for their wants show that we are 
not unworthy of the blessings secured by their hardships. 
Finally, let all our young readers keep in mind tliat re- 
bellion sprang from the ambition and selfishness of its 
leaders and the ignorance of its followers, that it was 
overthrown by heroism derived from virtue and knowl- 
edge, which are the surest safeguards of a free people. 
Friends x\moug' tlie It&rds. 
In response to the invitation in the April Agriculturist 
for our young readers to relate their success in making 
friends among the birds, James Dilts, Muskingum Co., 
O., sends an account of a pair of wrens that weie made 
familiar by kind treatment. They came to the house in 
the fall of 1SG2, and made their home in some bunches of 
cotton that hung in the garret, where they weie fed and 
cared for all winter. In the spring they suddenly dis- 
appeared, but in a few weeks loturned to the neighbor- 
hood with a brood of young. These were soon fledged, 
and set \ip living on their own account, and the old birds 
built a nest in the corner of a shop where workmen weie 
thumping and pounding continually, and there raised 
another family. When these were out of the way, they 
moved to a box in the garret where they had formerly- 
lived. The following spring they made their first nest 
in the old location in the shop, but during the summer 
changed their quarters. They entered the window, 
passed across the garret, went down a stairway into a 
store-room, and found a long-necked gourd hanging 
there, which they at once appropriated, and held through 
the summer. Presently they were missed again, but 
lale in the fall, they returned and passed the winter 
among the cotton in the garret. Toward spring one of 
Ihem died ; the other one remained, and when warm 
weather returned, brought in a new mate to share the 
gourd occupied the previous summer, wheie they are now 
enjoying life. Tlie new comer is quite shy, but the old- 1 
er acquaintance is so tame that it has sumelimes come I 
Into the window and perched on the dress of one of the I 
girls in the family. No little bird stoned or shot by a 
thoughtless boy ever gave half the pleasure derived 
from petting and taming tiicse friendly wrens. 
Another young reader, Townsend Forbes of Queens 
Co., N. y., recently described a successful method of 
attracting the birds to the grounds nenr his residence. 
He has a box or tank for containing gold fish, about three 
feet long, nearly filled with water. In one end of the 
lank is a sloping shelf passing down to where the water 
is about two inches deep, where it meets another shelf a 
few inches wide placed horizontally. The tank is 
placed in tlie yard and the birds of the neighborhood, 
robins, thrushes, yellow birds, sparrows, etc., find this a 
convenient place for bathing, and large numbers of them 
come every day to enjoy the accommodation kindly pro- 
vided for them. Their actions while bathing are very 
diverting, and they repay the favor done Ihem with grate- 
ful music. Tlie boys who take a liint from this will see 
that any shallow dish in which water is kept will answer 
the purpose. It is well to have a sloping entrance to the 
water as birds are shy and like to enter gradually. 
A Calciilntiii;^ Hen. 
The Canton Mo. Press, Is responsible for the following, 
which is certainly different from any hen performances in 
these parts. Our hens are ambitious to sit as extenslvelv 
as possible. "A few days ago, a hen was found on a 
neighboring farm, incubating upon a nest of five eggs. 
Considering that too small an undertaking for a full 
grown hen, the owner removed these and placed thirteen 
fresh eggs in the nest. On examination soon after, it 
was discovered that the old biddy had deliberalely rolled 
out eight, thus refusing to cover more than the original 
number. Four times the experiment was repented witn 
a similar result, and the obstinate hen was finally k>ft (o 
her select number, thus furnishing evidence not only of 
her reasoning powers, but of true feminine spunk.' 
