134 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
left open, admitting the steam from sour vessels. 
Most dairies have windows to admit air; and so 
long as they are open, it suffices, without regard 
to the out-of-door temperature, or whether the 
wind blows from one quarter or another. Per¬ 
haps the window nearest the yard or piggery, 
tainted by the animals or sour wash or grains, 
is left open when the wind blows in that direc¬ 
tion, and carries with it all it can gather, to 
taint the dairy. No wonder that, under such 
circumstances, the produce is not good. Hav¬ 
ing had some experience in these matters, we 
do not hesitate to say that such things have a 
very bad influence on the quality of the butter 
and cheese. Remove these evils, and let it be 
known; then raise your price, and your returns 
will be greater.— Gardeners' Chronicle. 
-• • «- 
SIEEPING SEEDS. 
The germination of seeds is a thing which 
many are interested in, and any method to in¬ 
sure their pushing into growth more speedily 
than usual, would doubtless be received by many 
with delight. I have found the following plan 
of steeping them to be of service in my own 
case. When about to sow seeds, such as peas, 
broad beans, French beans, &c., I collect some 
slieep-droppings beforehand, and put them into 
a vessel with water, enough to moisten them. 
Into this I put my seeds, but of course into 
something by means of which they may be con¬ 
veniently withdrawn when required. Thus sit¬ 
uated I let them remain till well soaked, when 
they will be in a fit state for sowing. I have 
found that for beans about 30 hours are required, 
and for peas about 24 hours. Steeping, how¬ 
ever, does not apply to the above-mentioned 
seeds alone; it may be practised with advan¬ 
tage on many others, and doubtless many flower 
seeds might be safely treated in this way as 
well, and with success. This will, however, 
very much depend upon whether the plants in¬ 
tended to be raised .are gross feeders or not; 
and also whether the soil contains much organic 
matter or not; for of course the more it con¬ 
tains the less time in proportion will the seed 
require to soak before being sown. This prac¬ 
tice will be found (on poor soils especially) to be 
of very great service to gardeners in general; 
for it will not only hasten their crops, but will 
make them as strong and vigorous as need be; 
and those who have never tried it would be 
quite surprised to see the difference it makes; 
an instance of which I will now give. In 1852 
I made a trial with French beans—a small quan¬ 
tity was placed in the soil, and at the same time 
a small quantity in sheep-droppings, as des¬ 
cribed, where they remained about 44 hours; 
they were then taken up and put in soil near 
the former, and the result was surprising; but 
at the time the former were about 8 inches 
high, the latter ivere, to the best of my recol¬ 
lection, nearly double that height, and their foli¬ 
age testified as to the state of health the plants 
were in. I have since practised steeping with 
good results, and others who may be induced 
to give it a trial will no doubt be similarly re¬ 
warded.— Joseph Divers, Maidstone. [Would 
they not have grown just as well, if you had 
steeped them in clear rain water?]— Gardeners' 
Chronicle. 
-« • •- 
ON THE MEANS OF MULTIPLYING THE 
SMALLER BIRDS AROUND OUR DWELLINGS. 
On this subject, the last number of Hovey's 
Magazine contains an excellent article from the 
pen of Wilson Flagg. We can, in brief, give 
his points. Few realize how much birds, as 
companions of our residences, add to our 
happiness. To those pent up in the city, 
a walk one of these bright mornings to where 
the merry birds are laughing in the fulness of 
their joy is ecstacy; and as all pleasant impres¬ 
sions go toward forming our character and life, 
the more numerous we can make them the bet¬ 
ter. Birds, like the flowers, green fields and 
singing brooks, are part of the poetry of the 
world—banish them, and how gladness would 
give place to gloom, and music to mourning. 
Birds, too, apart from the happiness they give 
us, are real friends to the farmer; they rid him 
of thousands of insects that would destroy his 
crops. 
Mr. Flagg gives two plain methods of preserv¬ 
ing birds :—“ The first consists in omitting to 
destroy them; the second in promoting the 
growth of certain trees, and other plants on 
which they depend for shelter and subsistence. 
The birds, considered in relation to trees and 
shrubbery, may be divided into two classes. 
First, the familiar birds that live in our orchards 
and gardens, and increase in numbers in pro¬ 
portion as the woods are cleared, and the lands 
devoted to tillage. To this class belong several 
of our sparrows, the wren, the blue-bird, the 
American robin, the bobolink, the linnet, the 
yellow-bird, and some others. The second are 
the less familiar birds that frequent the woods 
and wild pastures, and which would probably 
be exterminated by reducing the whole forest 
to park or tillage. Among these may be named 
the little wood-sparrow, one of the sweetest of 
American songsters, nearly all the thrushes, the 
towee finch, and many of the sylvias, and wood¬ 
peckers. 
To preserve the first of these species little is 
necessary to be done except to avoid destroying 
them; but to insure the multiplication of the 
second, we must study their haunts, the sub¬ 
stances provided by nature for their food, the 
plants that afford them shelter, and to a certain 
extent labor to preserve all these for their use. 
The little brown sparrow is never heard in the 
heart of our villages, unless they are closely 
surrounded by woods. Yet this bird does not 
live in the woods. He frequents the pastures 
which are overgrown with wild shrubs, and 
their undergrowth of vines, mosses, and ferns 
that unite imperceptibly with the green sward 
by which they are surrounded. He is always 
found in the whortleberry pastures, and proba¬ 
bly makes his repast on these simple fruits in 
their season. 
He builds his nest on the ground, on a mossy 
knoll, under the protection of a thicket. Every 
bird is more or less attached to a particular 
character of grounds and shrubbery; and if we 
destroy this character, we drive this particular 
species from our neighborhood, to seek in other 
places its natural habitats. Hence we may ac¬ 
count for the comparative silence that pervades 
the grounds of some of our most admired 
country seats, for with respect to the wants of 
our most familiar birds, it is possible that culti¬ 
vation maj' be carried too far.” 
In all well-cultivated farms and country resi¬ 
dences the familiar birds will be plenty; but 
the others will frequent those places only, where 
wild shrubbery, thickets, &c., abound. Every 
one by watching the habits of birds can tell 
what is necessary to induce them to be friendly. 
By removing all underbrush, you as effectually 
banish the cat-bird, red thrush, &c., as you 
would exterminate the squirrel by destroying all 
nut-bearing trees. 
A fence-row near the house grown up with all 
sorts of wild plants, will become an aviary of 
many singing birds. Study the habits of the 
blue-bird, martin and swallow, and you may 
have them about you by thousands. 
From the earliest period of our history, it 
has been customary among our people to en¬ 
courage the multiplication of swallows, by the 
erection of bird-houses in their gardens and 
enclosures. This custom was probably derived 
from the aborgines, who were in the habit of 
furnishing a hospitable retreat for the purple 
martin, by fixing hollow gourds or calabashes 
upon the branches of trees near their cabins. 
It is generally believed that these little birds 
serve, by their unceasing annoyances, to drive 
away the hawks and crows from their vicinity, 
performing thereby an essential service to the 
farmer. This pleasing and useful custom has 
of late years grown unaccountaby into disuse. 
The chattering of swallows is one of the de¬ 
lightful accompaniments of a vernal morning; 
and that of the martin, in particular, is the most 
enlivening of all sounds from animated nature. 
As the birds of the swallow tribe subsist upon 
insects that inhabit the atmosphere, it is not in 
our power to increase their means of subsist¬ 
ence. Hence the only means we can use for 
increasing their numbers is to supply them with 
a shelter and retreat. By such appliances it 
would be easy to keep their numbers up to a 
level with the quantities of insects that consti¬ 
tute their prey. 
The wren and the blue-bird are encouraged 
by similar accommodations. But these birds 
are not social in their habits, a separate box 
must be supplied for each pair of birds. The 
wren is an indefatigable destroyer of insects, 
and one of the most interesting of our familiar 
songsters, singing like the riser, during the heat 
of the day, when most other birds are silefat. 
The blue-bird, which is hardly less familiar, 
delights in the hollow branch of an old tree in 
the orchard, but would be equally satisfied with 
an artificial imitation of the rude convenience 
supplied him by nature. 
If we observe all these requirements, when 
employed in tilling a farm or laying out a coun¬ 
try seat, we do but avoid the destruction of 
those beautiful relations which nature has es¬ 
tablished throughout the earth. The plow and 
the scythe may do their work for man, without 
interfering with the wants of those creatures 
whom nature has appointed as the enliveners of 
his toil. Every estate might be made to repre¬ 
sent the whole country, in its fields and culti¬ 
vated lawn, with their proper admixture of for¬ 
est, thicket and primitive herbage. Then, while 
sitting at our windows, the eye would be de¬ 
lighted by the sight of little coppices of wild 
shrubbery, with their undergrowth of mosses, 
ferns, and Christmas evergreens, rising in the 
midst of the smooth lawn, and charming oppo¬ 
sition to the flower-beds, that are distributed in 
other parts of the ground. In these miniature 
wilds the small birds would find a shelter suited 
to all their wants and instincts, and in return 
for our hospitality", would act as the sentinels of 
our orchards and gardens, and the musicians 
to attend in our daily labor and recreations. 
- • O • - 
CLAIMS OF AGRICULTURAL PATENTS 
FOR TnE WEEK ENDING APRIL 25, 1854. 
Ditching Plow. — J. C. Tiffany, of Coxsackie, 
N. Y.: I claim, first, one or more abjustable 
coulters or cutters, in combination with a per¬ 
manent coulter, with one or more adjustable 
elevators, with a mold board or mold boards at¬ 
tached, as described. 
I do not claim any of the parts or devices 
enumerated, separately or alone, but in combi¬ 
nation, and in combination only. 
Second, I claim the flexible adjustable spreader 
for moving the earth from or returning it to the 
ditch as required, as described. 
Third, I claim the flexible adjustable spreader 
in combination with the plow, as set forth. 
Fourth, I claim the devices, substantially as 
described, or their equivalents, for changing the 
position of the rear end of the beam, in combi¬ 
nation with the angular slot, and curved plate, 
as described. 
Field Fence. —D. R. Prindle, of East Beth¬ 
any, N. Y.: I claim the method described, or 
its equivalents of fastening together the adja¬ 
cent posts or standards of a field fence, that is, 
by passing a piece of metal having a head on 
one end through two adjacent posts, and secur¬ 
ing the same by a wedge or its equivalent at the 
other end, the standards or posts being so bev¬ 
eled as to cause any desired angle to be made 
by any two adjacent panels. 
Guard Fingers for Harvesters. —W. F. 
Ketchum, (Assignor to Rufus S. Howard,) of 
Buffalo, N. Y. : I claim moulding and casting 
the blank for the tooth in the open form des¬ 
cribed, (without a chill,) then mallifying, dress¬ 
ing up, and bending them into the proper shape 
as required. 
