MAY. 
99 
preserving the crops, which is rarely done by the most uncompromising plans 
of bird-killing ? Cannot we by such means direct the busy energy of birds, 
so as to avoid the harm, and secure a greater blessing ? According to our 
view, there is a waste of thought and labour in first devising means to destroy 
the birds, and then having to provide something in the place of birds to 
destroy the insects. Is it not less trouble, and sounder economy, to protect 
our crops from the birds, and thus compel the latter to search closer for insects 
as a means of livelihood ? 
In our judgment at least, it is about as just to kill birds for destroying 
or stealing a few seeds and fruit, as it would be to hang a man for mis¬ 
demeanour or petty larceny. If, as in some places is the case, birds destroy 
much fruit, let us remember that they also destroy many insects, for the fruit 
season is short, the insect season long. It is well authenticated that a black¬ 
bird or a thrush will destroy twenty slugs or snails in a day, and we have often 
been astonished when watching the proceedings of the smaller insectivorous 
birds by a computation of the quantity of insects a nest of young finches 
will consume in the course of a day. Thus, wb venture to hope that we 
have shown that there is no just ground on which to destroy birds from any 
point of view—utilitarian, humanitarian, or aesthetic ; and in our most 
severely combative moods we should remember that— 
“He prayeth best who lovetb best 
All things both great and small; 
For the dear God who loveth us, 
He made and loveth all.” 
W. P. 
KIDNEY BEANS IN WINTER. 
I do not pretend to have anything new to say about the winter culture of 
Kidney Beans, but simply wish to record the practice which I have adopted, 
and which I find to answer the purpose remarkably well. Simple though 
the winter culture of this vegetable may appear to be, it has often baffled 
our best gardeners, and I have myself lived at great places where immense 
quantities were grown, but where rarely more than a Bean or two to a pot 
could be obtained. The plants generally went on well up to the flowering 
point, and then all was over. One man after another was put to manage 
them, but still the Beans were a failure. The pots had been badly drained : 
the supply of water had been either too much or too little : or the pit at 
some time or other had been allowed to get either too hot or too cold—these 
were the stormy arguments with which the young men were assailed; yet 
during all the time I was a graduate at that despotic school of gardening, 
Bean-culture never grew into a success. Similar results attended the 
culture of winter Cucumbers at the same place. Accidental good manage¬ 
ment occasionally brought a few Beans, and sometimes Cucumbers, but 
these were exceptional cases. 
My Bean-jut is 80 feet long, and 12 feet wide, having a bed in front 
4 feet wide, which contains loamy soil to the depth of about 12 inches. In 
this bed the Beans are planted in transverse rows, at, 12 inches apart. 
Underneath the bed is a heated chamber, which may or may not be filled 
with water. There are three rows of four-inch pipes along the front, by 
means of which, together with the hot air issuing from the chamber, a 
temperature of from 60° to 65° by night, and during the day with the aid of 
