artistically  as  if  on  its  favorite  spray.  I  vas  en¬ 
chanted  with  the  bold,  innocent  confidence  with 
which  it  turned  up  its  keen  black  eyes  to  survey 
us,  as  much  as  to  .<»ay :  *  Well,  good  folks !  who 
are  yon  ?’  I3y  the  next  day  It  would  come  from 
any  part  of  either  room,  alight  upon  the  side  of 
a  white  China  cup  containing  the  mixture,  and 
drink  eagerly,  with  its  long  bill  thrust  into  the 
very  base.  It  would  alight  on  ray  fingers,  and 
seem  to  talk  with  us  endearingly  in  its  soft 
chirps."  Mr.  Webber  afterward  succeeded  in 
acre,  made  by  Mr.  John  Stevens  at  Hoboken, 
sixty-nine  years  ago. 
To  what  are  we  to  attribute  these  uusatisfac- 
tory  results  in  the  average  yield  of  our  fields, 
notwithstanding  the  wonderful  improvements  In 
our  machinery  and  implements?  Several  rea¬ 
sons  may  be  assigned  for  it,  among  them  igno¬ 
rance  of  agrononaio  science,  and  more  particu¬ 
larly  of  chemistry  as  applied  to  agriculture. 
Next,  I  should  fancy,  Is  too  great  a  tendency  to 
adopt  Englii»h  methods,  which  are  unsuited  to 
our  climate.  How  many  homilies  have  been 
preached  upon  the  imiKirtance  of  root  culture, 
and  more  particularly  lomips,  and  how  much 
toil  and  money  have  been  wasted  upon  root  cul¬ 
ture,  which,  while  it  constitutes  the  very  basis 
of  successful  culture  in  the  moist  and  temperate 
air  of  the  British  Islands,  is  the  most  prec.arious 
of  crops  in  our  sun-bmmed  arid  climate,  unless 
we  can  have  recourse  to  irrigation,  that,  with  ns, 
the  moat  neglected  though  tho  most  fruitful  of 
all  the  agriuoailo  arts;  and,  finally,  the  fatal 
ambition  of  a  vast  majority  of  our  people  to  cul¬ 
tivate  great  breadths  of  land  without  adequate 
capital. 
But  let  us  suppose  my  assumptions  to  be  all 
wrong  and  that  our  farmers  do  get  from  the  soil 
i  its  fullest  returns,  of  what  avail  would  this  be  if 
they  neglect  the  politics  of  agriculture  and  resign 
the  legislative  power  into  the  hands  of  rival  if 
not  hostile  industries? 
Possibly  the  instituting  of  the  Granges  may 
bo  a  step  in  the  right  direction — a  step  towards 
that  self-assertion  and  co-operation,  whithout 
which  fat  bullocks  and  hogs,  heavy  fleeces  and 
crops,  are  of  but  secondary  importance,  and 
without  whioli  tho  agricultural  must  ever  remain 
tributai’y  to  all  other  iudustries. 
There  are  two  other  topic*  which,  if  I  could 
spare  the  time  from  my  own  paper,  I  should  like 
to  write  upon,  and  which  have  not  received  from 
the  agricultural  press  the  consideration  which 
their  vast  importance  deserves— I  moan  the  fence 
laws  and  irrigation,  the  one  inflicting  upon  tho 
agi'icultural  inpu-est  a  burthen  of  almost  iucou- 
oeivable  magnitude,  and  the  other  offering  to  it 
a  source  of  fertility  and  wealth  beyond  the 
dreams  of  avarice. 
THE  POLITICS  OF  AGEICULTUEE, 
BY  F.  O.  SKINNEK, 
Field  Editor  ol  tho  Turf,  Field  and  Farm. 
Ed.  of  Bubal  New-Yokkeb  Having  hon¬ 
ored  me  with  a  request  to  write  for  your  excel¬ 
lent  journal,  I  comply  most  willingly,  because  I 
THE  SPA.NIEX.. 
taming  several  of  the  same  species.  lie  gave 
them  liberty  occiibionally,  and  they  returned 
regularly.  At  tlie  time  for  migration  (hey  left 
for  tlio  winter  ;  hut  the  next  spring  they  sought 
their  old  quai-ters,  and  accepted  tho  delicious 
nectar  kindly  provided  for  them,  and  by  degroos 
brought  their  mates. 
have  always  held  the  Rcbal  New-Yohkkb  to  be 
among  the  very  ablest  papers  in  its  special  field, 
but  I  find  a  difficulty  in  the  way.  Though  I 
have  been  more  or  ‘ 
less  intimately  connected  with 
the  agricultural  jiresa  ever  since  my  father,  tlie 
late  John  8.  SKiNXEn,  founded  the  American 
Farmer,  just  fifty-six  years  ago,  lam  somewhat 
at  a  loss  for  a  subject,  unless  1  venture  to  run 
against  and  iicrhapa  wound  what  seems  to  me 
the  doep-i'ooU'd  prejudices  of  almost  every  jour¬ 
nal  ill  Hie  country  devoted  to  rural  pursuits.  It 
does  apiioar  to  me  that  in  their  anxiety  to  secure 
pati'oiiage,  must  of  these  journals  have  renounced 
their  independence  to  become  a  species  of  politi¬ 
cal  hiTmaphrodites,  for  while  tliey  pile  uji  precept 
upon  precept  on  tlie  best  modes  of  fattening 
bullock*  and  hogs  and  the  cnUiviition  of  field 
crops,  they  avoid,  as  they  would  tho  pest  or  Uie 
murrain,  any  allusion  to  what  wo  will  call  the 
politics  of  agriculture,  for  fear  of  losing  the  sup¬ 
port  of  the  i»litioal  pai-tizaiis  on  one  side  or  the 
other.  A  majority  of  our  farmers  will  leave  their 
CUEING  ALFALFA  HAY 
piesiune  lo  speaii  a  goou  word  f.ir  the  siainiol 
—for  the  setter  and  pointer— for  the  Newfound¬ 
land— for  any  dog  that  is  capable  of  lieiug  taught 
sufficiently  to  reveal  noble  instincts  and  qualities 
and  to  provont  him  from  resembling  too  closely 
the  poodle  on  tho  one  hand  and  the  untutored, 
ferocious  farmers’  ciir  on  the  other. 
We  need  not  beg  the  fanner  to  change  this ; 
to  procure  spaniel*  or  other  intelligent  dogs  ami 
to  train  them  so  that  they  may  become,  as  it 
were,  guardians  and  compaiiion*  of  tho  family 
and  nol  the  pests  of  the  neighborhood.  The 
farmer  in  some  things  is  very  set.  But  we  will 
Bay  to  tho  ladies  iluit  there  is  no  living  animal 
that  is  demoralized  hopelessly  by  their  caresses 
except  tho  ]ioodle  and  that  they,  therefore,  put 
to  a  bad  use  that  which  is  conducive  to  unquali¬ 
fied  and  unlimited  good  when  lavished  upon 
more  appreciative  objects !  I 
Me.  Lamoxt,  an  English  sportsman  and  mem¬ 
ber  of  Parliaiue  it,  who  has  made  many  summer 
yacht  voyages  to  the  arctic  seaa,  says  that  the 
reindeer  in  Nova  Zeiiibla  is  much  larger  and 
w  ilder  than  in  Spitsbergen,  and  he  is  disposed  to 
behove  that  the  smalior  and  tumor  variety  found 
in  the  hitter  island  is  allied  to  (he  reindeer  of 
Norway  and  Lapland.  As  these  animals  are 
noted  for  thou’  wandering  habits,  Mr.  Lamont 
cotjjeciiires  that  tlioy  may  have  made  their  way 
originally  into  both  islands  from  the  continent, 
over  seas  not  usually  frozen,  but  which  tlien 
happonod  to  be  so.  It  is  a  curious  fact,  how¬ 
ever,  that  although  Nova  Zombla  is  much  uearer 
tho  continent  of  Euro|je  than  Spitzbergen  U,  the 
reindeer  (lierc  ai'e  of  the  wild  and  large  American 
tj^ie,  while  those  of  8pitzbergen  more  nearly 
correspond  to  the  European  variety. 
farmers  on  tho  Atlantic  slope  to  experiment 
with  Uiis  plant,  and  tho  following  from  the 
Sacrainoulo  (Cal.)  Union  in  regard  to  the  cutting 
and  curing  of  alfalfa  hay  may  interest  them : 
Tliero  has  been,  and  is  yet  to  some  extent,  a 
prejudice  against  alfalfa  hay  ns  a  winter  feed 
for  stuck,  especially  horses.  The  iiriuopiil  causa 
that  gave  rise  to  and  kept  up  this  prejudice  is  to 
ho  found  in  the  fact  that  tho  furmors  did  not  un¬ 
derstand  when  to  cut  it,  or  how  to  cure  it,  or 
perhaps,  aotecedont  to  either  of  these  onuses, 
we  miglit  mention  another  tliat  they  diil  not 
know  how  to  sow  tho  see  1.  The  seed  was  sown 
loo  thinly  on  tho  ground  and  the  plants  grew 
lai'ge  and  coarse  and  woody.  Thon  this  ooarse 
growth  was  aJlowod  to  stand  before  cutting,  llU 
the  plants  liail  hlussoined,  and  sometimes  till  the 
seeds  had  formed.  In  this  condition  the  stems 
had  become  more  like  wood  tliau  clover  hay,  and 
tho  leaves  hod  fallen  off,  leaving  what  was  then 
called  alfalfa  buy  more  like  a  bundle  of  sticks 
than  hay. 
Then  again,  it  -was  formerly  tho  custom  of 
farmers  to  allow  this  over-ripe  grass  to  lie  in  the 
sun  and  dry  till  it  had  neither  c<jlor  nor  nutri¬ 
ment  in  it,  and  (.ill  even  the  seed  that  had  form¬ 
ed  on  it  had  shelled  out.  Experience  with  this 
hay  has  taught  fanners  many  valuable  lebsous 
as  to  its  uiauagemeid.  First  they  liave  learned 
that  the  seed  needs  to  he  sown  very  thickly  on 
tho  ground,  so  that  steins  of  the  grasj  will  grow 
smaD  and  slender.  Secondly,  lliey  have  learned 
INTELLIGENCE  OF  ANIMALS. 
The  exaggeration  of  tho  alleged  intelligence  of 
animals  has  called  forlii  some  severe  criticisms 
from  Ml’.  St.  George  Mivart,  F.  R.  8.,  an  able 
writer  on  evolution  and  kindred  topics.  Although 
an  advocate  of  tho  evolution  hypothesis,  he 
refuses  to  regard  the  higher  nature  of  man  as 
having  been  develoiied  rrom  the  mind  of  brutes. 
Au  examination  of  Mr.  Darwin’s  cases,  showing 
to  the  siiti.sfaction  of  that  eminent  naturalist 
that  brutes  possess  reason,  fails  to  oonvince 
Mr.  Mivart.  On  tho  cowtrarj’,  he  tliiuks  them 
wholly  without  it ;  and  a  strong  argument  is 
drawn  fi'om  the  fact  that  tliose  animals  which 
most  resemble  man  physically,  are  by  no  means 
mentally  most  like  him.  Thus,  dogs,  hoi-sesand 
elephants  are  quite  as  intelligent  as  the  goriiJa. 
Attention  is  also  called  to  the  fact  that  greatJv 
«B  dogs  enjoy  the  heat  of  a  lire  in  cold  weather, 
and  frequently  as  they  see  wood  put  on  to 
maintain  it,  they  never  put  any  on  the  fire 
themselves,  though  usually  quite  able  to  do  so. 
TAMING  THE  HUMMING  BIED 
HuMiriNO  Bibds  are  usually  exceedingly  deli¬ 
cate  therefore  quickly  killed  if  liaudled  at  all 
roughly.  But  while  few  will  succeed  in  trying  to 
tame  them  wo  are  pleased  to  know  that  it  has 
been  done— r,t  least  so  says  the  Popular  Soieuco 
Monthly, 
The  ruby-throat  has  somelitnos  been  tamed. 
Mr.  Webber,  in  his  “Wild  Scenes  and  Song 
Birds,”  says,  after  several  unsuccessful  attempts, 
at  last  “I  succeeded  iii  securing  an  uninjiu’od 
captive,  which,  to  my  inexpressible  delight, 
proved  to  be  one  of  the  riihy-tLu'oated  species, 
the  most  splendid  and  diminutive  that  conies 
north  of  Fioiida.  It  imniediatel}’  suggested 
itself  to  me  that  a  mixture  of  two  parts  of  loaf- 
sugar,  with  one  of  fine  honey,  in  ten  of  water, 
would  make  about  the  nearest  approach  to  the 
nectar  of  flowi  rs.  Wliile  my  sister  ran  to  pre¬ 
pare  it  I  gradually  opened  my  hand  to  look  at 
my  prisoner,  and  saw  to  my  no  little  amusement 
as  well  a*  f<u.spicion  that  it  was  actually  ‘  playing 
possum’— fidgning  to  be  dead,  moat  skillfully. 
It  lay  on  my  open  palm  motionless  for  some 
SALT  IN  SEA  WATEE. 
Peof.  Chapman  of  University  College,  Toronto, 
has  published  an  inteTesting  paper  on  the  “pur¬ 
pose  of  the  saltuesBof  sea  water.  After  giving 
reasons  why  lie  does  not  accept  Ihe  usually  re¬ 
ceived  opinions,  ho  urges  the  theory  that  the 
object  is  to  regulate  evaporation.  If  any  tem- 
porai-y  cause  remicni  the  amount  of  saline  niattor 
m  tho  sea  above  its  nortnal  value,  evaporation 
goes  on  more  and  more  slowly.  If  the  value  be 
depreciated  by  the  addition  of  fresh  water  in 
undue  excess,  tho  evaporating  power  is  the  more 
and  more  increased.  He  gives  the  results  of 
various  experiments  in  reference  to  evaporation 
on  weighed  quantities  of  ordinary  rain  water 
and  water  holding  in  solution  2.6  per  cent,  of 
