1884.] 
AMERIOAl^ AQEICULTUEIST. 
509 
An Illustrated Rebus. —The above rebus 
‘Contains two familiar lines of poetry by Bryant, 
•specially suited to this sad season of the year. 
Our Gallery of Dogs.—Pugs. 
Last month we gave a spirited engraving and 
■description of the Scotch Colley. We here¬ 
with present illustrations of typical prize pugs. 
Pug dogs are not over wise, but extremely loving 
and make devoted pets. They are consequential 
to the last degree, and as full of self-importance as 
young Bantam cocks. How amusingly dignified 
they try to appear. They know very little of 
bravery. A gamy cock will quickly decide any 
differences against a pug, and drive him from the 
poultry yard. The Dutch have a special fondness 
for the pug, and in Holland this old breed is a com¬ 
mon one. The pug has a round head and a high 
skull, with a very short and broad muzzle. With 
the brow prominent and beautifully wrinkled, and 
the nose turned up, the pug obtains a facial expres¬ 
sion peculiar to itself. The eyes are large, dark, 
and full, with a queer squint, and the ears, small, 
black, lying close to the cheeks. The neck of the 
pug is strong, the chest square, legs short and 
straight, and the tail curled close over the hip. 
Master Pug’s coat is short, close, and soft, and 
very variable in color, the pure apricot fawn being 
the most aristocratic. A well defined black mask 
is upon the face, and a line of the same color ex¬ 
tends along the spine. This “ stripe ” is a good 
characteristic of a fine pug. If twelve to fifteen 
inches high, and weighing ten to fifteen pounds, 
when full-grown, the pug is large enough for all 
the purposes for which it is tenderly reared. 
Shall we Destroy the English Sparrows ? 
The English Sparrow (Fasse)' domesticus), was in¬ 
troduced into this country about a quarter of a 
century ago, to exterminate the much dreaded 
span-worm, then devastating the city parks and 
lawns. Sixteen years ago we made, from life, a 
fine engraving of these English sparrows, and 
stated that the price for the imported worm-de¬ 
stroyers was four dollars per pair, and in many cases 
persons who had the birds upon their premises 
were unwilling to part with them at any price. 
The sparrows did their work very effectively, it 
being estimated that a single bird consumed nearly 
three hundred caterpillars per day. But the im¬ 
pudent, noisy, and quarrelsome sparrows have 
been very prolific in their new home, and with six 
broods a year, they have increased rapidly, and 
driven out many of our finest songsters. They 
came to stay and to occupy the land. The feathered 
deliverer has proved a nuisance, possibly greater 
than the insect enemies they were imported to de¬ 
stroy. This bird engaged the serious attention 
of the American Union of Ornithoiogists at its 
October meeting in New York, and after the 
presentation of convicting evidence from all parts 
of the country, it is declared, by the highest bird 
court in the land, a positive pest to all concerned. 
Methods will now be perfected for the wholesale 
destruction of this bird nuisance, which may lead 
to its ultimate extermination. It may be that one 
extreme will follow another, and in the extermina¬ 
tion of the sparrow wc may ofiset one depredation 
with another equally bad that may follow. A war 
upon the sparrows may be wise, provided it is no 
carried too far. We are all prone to underestimate 
the value of birds, as shown by the treatment of 
the much maligned crow, and it wUl be weil to 
move slowly upon the sparrow, and make notes by 
the way. There is a balanee to be maintained be¬ 
tween the bird and insect world. We had good 
reason for importing the English sparrow, and he 
did well the work assigned him. Instead of the 
ery “ the sparrow must go,” why not try to restore 
the equilibrium by reducing the numbers of this in¬ 
vited guest ? This will doubtless be the upshot of 
the whole matter. The English sparrow, now so 
abundant, cannot be annihilated in a single season. 
A Visit to the Founder, and for 14 Years 
Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
A large portion of Ocean Co., N. J., is occupied 
by the “ Pine Barrens.” The traveller on the New 
Jersey Southern Railroad, soon after leaving Red 
Bank, notices a marked change in the face of the 
country, and by the time he reaches Manchester, 
he is in the midst of what a superficial observer 
would say were properly called “ Barrens.” The 
soil, if white sand and yellow gravel can be so 
called, is covered by stunted pines, scrub oaks, and 
other small trees, with an undergrowth of shrubs. 
The vegetation has left but a shallow stratum of 
mould upon the surface, and the country is, to 
appearance, most inhospitable to agriculture. 
This tract extends to the ocean at Barnegat Bay, 
and is well known to botanists as producing many 
plants not found elsewhere north of the Carolinas, 
and some occur that are peculiar to this locality 
A few miles from the ocean, in Dover township, 
about a hundred miles from New York, is the 
summer residence of the venerable founder of the 
American Agriculturist, Mr. A. B. Allen, who has 
some fifty acres directly upon Tom’s River, a 
stream, the beauty of which warrants a better 
name. I had not met Mr. Allen in a number of 
years, and were surprised to find that time had 
made scarcely any change in his tali, erect figure, 
in the elasticity of his movements, or in the genial 
expression of his face, as he welcomed us in our 
unexpected visit. The portrait on page 483, 
while it satisfactorily presents his features, can 
not give the color of the hazel eyes, or the fair, 
slightly florid complexion ; these, with an ample 
forehead, as yet unfurrowed by wrinkles, make 
him appear much younger than he really is. In¬ 
deed, he carries his eighty-two years more lightly 
than many do their burden of three score and ten. 
Impressed by the unpromising appearance of the 
country we had recently passed over, I asked: 
‘‘What could have induced you, Mr. Ailen, with 
your well-known love of agriculture, and taste in 
rural matters, to locate in such a barren region ? ” 
“ I shall convince you that barrenness is in ap¬ 
pearance rather than in reality, but the inducement 
was solely its healthfulness. A member of my 
family, a confirmed invalid, found in former visits, 
that the climate agreed with her better than that 
of any other locality, and about fifteen years ago I 
bought this place of about fifty acres. We have a 
perfectly pure atmosphere; even after the most 
sultry days the sea-breezes are cool at night. We 
have a clear and beautiful river for boating or 
bathing, and the ocean is close at hand. Then the 
roads are fine and dry ; even directly after a rain 
there is no mud, which is a great comfort.” 
“ But the utter barrenness of the soil ? ” 
“ Look at these trees. The place, when I bought 
it, was an abandoned peach orchard, and every 
tree here, save the red cedars, and a few others 
that came up from seeds, I planted since I came. 
Look at the lawn, is not that a fine, close turf ?” 
A drive about the neighborhood, and through 
Mr. Allen’s own place, showed that the soil, not¬ 
withstanding its appearance, will respond to culti¬ 
vation. The place adjoining Mr. Allen’s is a large 
dairy farm, upon which heavy crops of corn had 
just been cut, and the pastures bore a satisfactory 
turf. Trees, both deciduous and evergreen, of 
course planted without manure, had made an am- 
PHIZE PUGS. 
Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
