160 
THE GREAT HORNED OWL. 
point out its value, because I have so many 
other thing to notice. But I pray you, reader, 
look it over again. Do not say you don’t under¬ 
stand anything about geology. The Doctor 
will make you understand it. You cannot help it. 
Construction of Cattle Yards. —Another very 
sensible article. Speaking of hauling manure, 
reminds me that whenever it costs anything 
near a dollar a load to get manure from abroad, 
I have proved by actual experiment, that the 
same amount laid out in guano, will give me a 
better return. But, after all, as this writer says, 
the best economy is to save and make manure 
at home. 
Galls on Horses , “ may be cured by white lead.” 
That is true. I have always found that ground 
in oil the best. Try it. 
Treatment of Mowing Lands. —A better article 
than this, and one of more value to the reader, 
never has been published in this or any other 
agricultural paper. The direction about har¬ 
rowing old meadows, coming from so practical 
a man, I look upon as of great value to the new 
beginner, or even to the old farmer who has not 
tried the virtue of that implement upon an old 
grass sod. In my opinion, the harrow is not 
used upon wheat and corn half so much as it 
should be. Those who have never seen it tried, 
can have no idea how much it improves a field 
of wheat in the spring of the year, to go over it 
with a harrow and break the crust which the 
winter rains have formed. Have no fear of 
pulling up the wheat. To go over corn in the 
same way, just after it is up, and breaking the 
crust which has been formed ‘by the sun and 
rain, is one of the best things that can be done 
to start the com into a rapid, healthy growth. 
Tea Nuts. —This reminds me that I have often 
seen bifds in tea, that I have been informed, 
when a boy, was tea seed. But I have since 
been told that these -were the buds of the Olea 
fragrans, which are used to scent the tea, and that 
without some artificial flavor, it would have lit¬ 
tle or none. 
What Farmers ought to Know. —We know it? 
Now, let us see you make us know it. Why, 
this writer would actually have farmers edu¬ 
cated, “just like a doctor.” Preposterous! Vv r ould 
you destroy their happiness ? Is not ignorance 
bliss? And is the farming class generally in 
any other than the sublimest state of bliss. It 
were a great pity to disturb them. “ The farmer 
should be a botanist.” Well, is he not ? Don’t 
he know a corn stalk from a turnip, and a this¬ 
tle from a strawberry plant ? What more would 
you have ? “ How does the seed germinate ?” 
What is it to us ? Don’t we know if we plant 
corn it grows, and if it don’t we replant? 
What more does the farmer want to know? 
Don’t talk to us about your “ book farming.” 
Blacksmiths’ Portable Forge and Bellows .—This 
is a capital invention. I should think it well 
suited to plantation use, at the south, where it 
would often be convenient to move the black¬ 
smith from place to place. 
Pruning Vines. —I don’t know much about the 
pruning, but I do know that the preparation of 
the ground, as recommended, is good, and that 
soap suds are a good fertiliser for grape vines. 
To Guard the Lungs While Threshing. —Worth 
its weight in gold. Look to it threshers, and 
other laborers in dust. 
To Cure Scratches. —True. Look at that, horse¬ 
men. 
Mr. Robinson’s Tour. — No. 15.—I am glad to 
find this gentleman still keeps going, and furn¬ 
ishing your readers with a mass of interesting 
matter, picked up by the wayside. How true 
it is that one half the world don’t know how 
the other half live. I am sure one half of your 
readers did not know that the practice of dig¬ 
ging up land with the hoe, was so extensive in 
any part of America, as this writer informs 
them is the case in South Carolina. What pos¬ 
sible reason can these people have for discard¬ 
ing the plow? Can you tell us, Mr. R.? Your 
description of the manner of planting and pre¬ 
paring rice, I read with interest; for during 
all my own travels, I have never been upon a 
rice plantation, though I have often seen them 
when sailing to Charleston and Savannah. 
Reviewer. 
THE GREAT HORNED OWL. 
Horned Owl.—Fig. 49. 
The great horned owl, ( Strix virginiana,') 
though much of'tener heard than seen, is a native 
of nearly all parts of North America, occurring 
not only in the vicinity of the sea shore and the 
alluvial bottoms along the borders of rivers, but 
in the highest mountain districts, and even in 
latitude 68° north. Hence it may be regarded 
as an extremely hardy bird. 
Like most, if not all other owls, his flight is 
chiefly by night, and as he flies, one may 
observe how exceedingly noiselessly he glides 
through the air; not a ruffle is to be heard, 
which arises from the very soft nature of his 
loose, un webbed feathers, that offer but little 
resistance to the air. Audubon, in treating of 
this Nimrod of the night, describes him in his 
usual happy manner, nearly in the following 
words:—“Now and then he glides silently close 
over the earth, with incomparable velocity, and 
drops, as if shot dead, on his prey beneath. At 
other times, he suddenly alights on the top of a 
fence stake or a dead stump, shakes his feathers, 
