fiodgllugs in the newt, partly for its own satisfac¬ 
tion, but mainly to feed its own young. This is 
also largely tho custom of tho Crow, Blackbird, 
Blue Jay. and Canada Jay. It is safeto say that 
it annihilates the families, each containing four 
or five individuals, of a pair of Sparrows, Warb¬ 
lers, Thrushes, aud lted-Wings, oil the average 
every day—sixteen to twenty insect-hunters sac¬ 
rificed. Mr. Bamvklb gives many examples 
proviug this, aud other observers support him." 
Now we do uot know what kind of Crows they 
may have in New England, but no New York or 
New Jersey Crow would permit Mr. Samuels to 
approach near enough to see him robbing birds’ 
nests ; therefore, we must conclude that Mr. S. 
either used a telescope in his observation or 
drew largely upon his imagination for liiB facts. 
Mr. 8. should know, if he does uot, that the 
Crow is not a pugnacious bird, aud that the least 
of our feathered warblers will whip him out of 
sight in less time than it takes us to write this 
sentence. Our smallest wood birds drive him 
hither and you with ease, and it would bo uu 
anomaly to find a Wren or Robin permlUing tho 
Crow to rob its nest of either eggs or young. 
This accusation reminds us of another made 
against the crow, and that is, that it is guilty of 
plucking out the eyes of young lambs in spring, 
but it would be a curious sort of a sheep that 
would stand by and see the young mutilated. 
Now the truth of all this niatler is, (bat. while a 
Crow may, in some instances, 10 b a bird’s-nest 
or kill the young when left unprotected by the 
parent bird, Messrs. IN0EJR80IL and Samuels 
know, if they know anything abont tho Crow, 
that he is not a bird or prey, preferring dead to 
live food and, in addition, is a most cowardly 
bird aud will uot stand up for his rights, hut will 
flee before tho attacks of one of our ileld Spar¬ 
rows. 
In this, we are not taking anybody's assertion 
as to tho facts but our own experience, having 
during the past dozen years domesticated cpiite 
a number of Crows, watching tlu-ir habits closely 
during the time. In addition to these tame birds, 
there is a wood near by which is a favorite resort 
i for Crows, and hundreds nest there and raise 
their young ; Btill, deHpito tho proximity of this 
great number of enemies of small birds—accord¬ 
ing to M«BsrB. I. and 8. —our garden and grounds 
r abound with flocks of all species common in tho 
i climate and locality. 
and this grows out of the fact that digging the 
tubers by hand is a very slow and troublesome 
business. It is to be hoped that by tho time the 
next year's crop is ready for harvesting, some 
maker of agricultural implement* will have in¬ 
vented a suitable Chufa-digger. Nothing short 
of such an implement will ever bring down the 
price of seed Cbufas to reasonable figures. ” 
ARTICHOKES AT A DISCOUNT 
Wk like to give both sides of a question; 
consequently we copy the following on the Arti¬ 
choke question: 
“Mr. Daniel Mosher, of Earlville, Ill., writes 
the Prairie Farmer that he considers any man 
who will advertise Jerusalem Artichokes for 
sale for seed must he a knave. Ho bought a 
farm on which they had been plnnted many 
years ago. He has tried to eradicate them, hav¬ 
ing planted the patch in corn for the past seven 
years. The Artichokes will get as large as hazel 
nuts by the time the corn is well laid by, and 
then keep on growing. They arc, he says, a 
worse curse than the Canada thistle, and ho 
THE CHUFA FOR HOGS. 
We have urged the importance of extended 
culture of the Chufa or Earth-Almond, for feed- 
jug hogs and some other kinds of stock, for 
many years; consequently, endorse the follow¬ 
ing article of J. P. Stklle, M.D.. who writes to 
the Louisville Courier-Journal, giving his expe¬ 
rience* in the culture of this tuber: 
“Since writing you ou this same subject, 
abont a vear ago, I have put the Spanish Chufa 
(ct/perus esmlentus) through a pretty thorough 
test, and the result has shown it to he a decided 
success as a hog feed. What I have seen of it 
this year has entirely satisfied me that it is the 
coming salvation of the South, so far as relates 
to the pork question, and I am by no means cer¬ 
tain that it is not going to reverse tho present 
order of things somewhat, by converting the 
Southern States into a pork-supplying region for 
tho North. I am perfectly convinced that we 
can raise pork here cheapor on Chfuas than it 
can be raised on corn above tho Ohio River, and 
the only thing that appears to rise in the way of 
our putting oar product in the place of the 
Northern product is the unfavorable character 
of our winter climate for pocking on a large 
scale. But the mildness of our climate docs not 
interfere with our packing on a small scale—we 
can always catch a suitable time for that—hence, 
if we have found In the Chufa a means of pro¬ 
ducing pork at extremely easy figures, we can 
certainly raise our own supplies at great profit 
every bearer ui a gun. wuo an uiumpu in nis i 
destruction, had not heaven bestowed on him 
intelligence and sagacity far beyond common, 
there is reason to believe that tho whole tribe 
would long ago have ceased to exist." This is a 
perfect picture of tho Crow to-day. But though 
he has found some champions to point out the 
good he docs for agriculturists, his enemies have 
increased and have waged war aguinst him by 
every force and novice which legislative power 
and individual exertion could bring to bear.” 
It was just BUCb men as Wilson who could see 
no beauty in the black, glossy plumage of tho 
Crow, who bftvo filled the minds of thousands of 
persons with prejudice against a bird which 
should be held as Bacred as tho Scarabtcua of 
Egypt, inasmuch aa it is a scavenger and uot a 
bird of prey. The Crow feeds upon tho offal 
thrown out from neghgeut farmers’ barn-yards, 
(thereby saving tho air from becoming contami¬ 
nated and unhealthy.) also upon dead birds, In¬ 
tacta—both living and dead. He is a great enemy 
of grasshoppers and crickots, saving millions to 
our agriculturists, and would even do more wero 
it not for tho prejudice and short-sightedness of 
men who have been encouraged in their warfare 
upon the Crow by bucIi men as Wilson, Mr. Sam 
uelm. 4'1 his *• Birds of New England,” and Lastly, 
Ernest Inoebsoll, in the New York Tribune. 
We were taught, when a hoy, to look upon tho 
Crow as an enemy of the farmer, and have laid 
in wait for many a poor luckless one which came 
to feed upon the dead lamb cr other carrion 
thrown out in tho back lot in winter, for the pur¬ 
pose of attracting tho attention and appetite of 
theso half-famished scavengers; hut while we 
which to fill their stomachs. 1’crbaps our anti- 
Artichoke Daniel raises turnips, boeta, and car¬ 
rot* for his stock, and, consequently, has no use 
for Artichokes; if so, we will excuse him from 
cultivating tuem. But ho roust remember (if it 
ever dawned upon his perverse nature) that Illi¬ 
nois i* not tho whole of the United States, and 
that there are soils and localities which do uot 
produce food for animals in any too great an 
abundance, even with the utmost exertions of 
man, and it is in these that the vitality aud ten¬ 
acity of the Artichoke becomo a merit of no 
mean value. Furthermore, we well remember 
cif once boarding for a short time at tho ** best 
hotel,” in a certain city in the State of IllAiois, 
whore, on accouut of the high prico of patatoes, 
guests had to be content with a few fried ones 
in the morning only; and we solemnly declare 
“to Daniel,” that almost any one of the many 
good dishes to be made out of Jerusalem Arti¬ 
chokes would have been accepted, with thanks, 
by the gnests of the said hotel. 
What has been may he again; therefore, we 
conjure Daniel to make peace with the Arti¬ 
chokes, gathering up the small tubers, “ that 
nothing shall he wasted”; planting them in 
good soil, cultivating well during the summer, 
aud in the fall permitting hi a sheep and hogs to 
gather the tubers, if they are not wanted for 
I other stock. 
No wild Crows have ever 
been shot at or killed on our grounds since they 
came into our possession, and all “ Crow doin’’ is 
permitted to come and go as it pleases, to our 
mutual pleasure and satisfaction. 
We could readily fill a volume in recording the 
good deeds of Crows, as well as recording tho 
peculinr traits of this most Intelligent, of all our 
American birds. Of course, it must bo admitted 
that he does sometimes commit overt acts ; but 
these are tho strong points in hi a history, for 
they show a high order of intelligence, just as 
we know that man, although the highest of all 
animals, can and often does, descend to do 
meaner acts than is possible among leas intelli¬ 
gent beings. 
A PLEASANT LESSON IN ZOOLOGY 
Among the many mysterious gifts that Christ¬ 
mas morning brought to our houso wero two 
boxes of shells from a valued friend in Boston, 
whose timo is devoted to scientific studies. 
Looking at tho unpretentious boxes, then, wo 
had no idea what a fund of information was in 
store for us, and what added intercut would be 
given to our study of zoology by this timely gift, 
ilow curious and brilliant were those from the 
Bahama Islands—so rich in coloring, so delicate¬ 
ly shaded; but they did uot attract us so much 
as their less showy sisters from tho New England 
coast- How we laughed at the funny littlo 
“Hermit Crabs," that are found ECiimpering 
over muddy bays, and fond of attaching them¬ 
selves to almost every kind of shell. How inno¬ 
cent and patbelio looking was tho littlo animal 
(Eucciuwm cinerrum) that gets its living by bor 
iug holes in oyster shells and sucking out tlie 
contents. We could hardly fancy such a simple- 
luoklug vampire destroying large beds of oysters, 
as is often the esse. Then the queer-looking 
sea-urchin. We paused in our examination to 
quote from Mrs. Agassiz’s delightful “first 
lessons: “ I dare say you have often seen them 
dead and dry on the beaches; hut you cannot 
then judge at alt of their appearance while liv¬ 
ing. They look very pretty when dried in this 
way, because, though they have lost all their 
spine aud suckers, the Bpots where tlioBO ap¬ 
pendages were attached form a sort Of pattern 
in regular rows or zones over the surface of the 
animal and you can trace in this pattern the 
lines along which the spines and suckers were 
arranged when the animal was living. Tho 
broader rays, with the larger spots, are those 
along which the spines were attached. The nar- 
I rower ones, with tho smaller spots crowded 
' closely together, are those along which tho suck¬ 
ers were placed." 
I panso here to wonder how many children 
living near the sea-shore, or] spending part of a 
summer there, uro familiar with this, or uny of 
rich, eighteen inches iu the rows might be near 
enough. If the tubers have been kept dry, they 
should be soaked iu water about two days before 
planting. The usual plan of culture is, when 
grass aud weeds have put in appearance, to run 
round the plants with sweeps, following and re¬ 
moving with hoe all grass that the sweeps have 
loft. Three weeks later run round again the 
same way, leveling as much as possible. This 
finishes the culture, ir the ground is sufficiently 
rolling to he drained; if not, then it is best to 
finish with one narrow furrow down the middle, 
between each pair of rows. 
“Lateiu the fall, when frost has killed the 
tops, we dig as many Cbufas aa we require for 
the next year’s planting, and then turn iu our 
• fattening hogs’ to do their own diggiug. The 
truth is, they have very littlo digging to do, as 
most of the tubers are so shallow as to be barely 
concealed beueath the surface of the soil. 
“A notion prevails in some localities to the 
effect that the Chufa is a pest ou the farm once 
it has obtained a start. This is entirely a mis¬ 
take. Wo have grown it for a number of years, 
and find it no harder to get rid of than corn or 
oats. It will come up next spring on the grounds 
where it grew this year; hut plowing promptly 
puts an eud to it. The idea of a pest has doubt¬ 
less sprung from associating it with the nut- 
PLANT EARLY POTATOES ONLY 
Prof. McAfee, of the Iowa Agricultural Col¬ 
lege, advises tho planting of early varieties of 
potatoes only, iu order to cut off the supply of 
food for the potato beetles late in summer. 
This, we think, is an excellent suggestion, and 
for other reasons than those named by Prof. 
There are, at least, two broods of this 
McAfee. 
insect in a soasou throughout the greater part j 
of the Northern and Middle States, aud in some 
favorable localities three. Now, if none hut the 
earliest varieties of potatoes are planted, the tops 
will bo ripe by the time the first brood of beetles 
have come to maturity. The second brood, not 
finding its favorite food in abundance, a large 
portion must perish, for, say from the first of 
August until the following spring iB rather too 
long a time for the mature insect to live, espe¬ 
cially if short of food It is generally tho second 
or last brood of the season which hybernates, 
passing through the winter in safety; hut by 
cutting off the supply of food we may at least 
lessen the number which are to pass over to the 
following season. 
It is worth trying; in fact, anything which is 
likely to lessen the number of this great pest 
should receive due attention at this timo. 
Will the excessive quantity of snow covering 
the earth this winter he of benefit to the next 
crops ? Good reasons are given both ways. 
