may be heated to 190° of Fahrenheit's scale without losing its germinating power, and this is sufficient to kill all the insects contained in it.

It is an interesting fact that in all this ceaseless crusade against the destructive insect tribes, Nature is ever coöperating with man. In the order of Providence, some races of the animal creation are appointed to arrest the growth and progress of others; thus limiting the results of excessive fecundity, which, if not restrained, would soon cause the earth to be overrun and monopolized by a few prolific tribes to the exclusion of all others. Natural history everywhere abounds with curious illustrations of this marvellous law, by which the equilibrium of the animal kingdom is steadily and mysteriously preserved.

"Many of the almost unheeded insects," says Levi Bartlett, in a communication to the Country Gentleman, "that flit about the farmer's feet, as he traverses his acres, are truly his friends and agents in destroying other species that are so injurious to his crops. The first named should be protected, the latter should be destroyed, in all their three-fold stages, as far as possible. But without some knowledge of the science of entomology, no one can discriminate, to any great extent, between his insect friends and foes. Most of the tiger-beetles should be protected by the farmer while the May-beetle, and others of his like, should be crushed beneath the foot, even if it should 'feel a pang as great as when a giant dies.""

But of all the agents that coöperate with the farmer in his warfare upon injurious insects, there are

none that render a more important service than birds. The following striking illustration of this is given in Anderson's Recreations:-"A cautious observer, having found a nest of five young jays, remarked that each of these birds, while yet very young, consumed fifteen full-sized grubs in one day, and of course would require many more of a smaller size. Say that, on an average of sizes, they consumed twenty a piece. These for the five make one hundred. Each of the parents consume, say, fifty, so that the pair and family devour two hundred every day. This, in three months, amounts to twenty thousand in one season. But, as the grub continues in that state four seasons, this single pair, with their family alone, without reckoning their descendants after the first year, would destroy eighty thousand grubs. Let us suppose that the half, namely, forty thousand, are females, and it is known that they usually lay about two hundred eggs each; it will appear that no less than eight millions have been destroyed, or prevented from being hatched, by the labors of a single family of jays. It is by reasoning in this way that we learn to know of what importance it is to attend to the economy of nature, and to be cautious how we derange it by our short-sighted and futile operations."

How plainly, then, is it the interest of the farmer to attract to his fields, to encourage and protect the feathered tribes, of every name and kind, and to wage uncompromising war against all who persecute them; for, incredible as it may seem, there are those who find a mysterious, if not malignant pleasure in slaying

these merry and innocent types of beauty. If there is, on earth, one miscreant that deserves scourging more than another, it is the shameless scamp who is so often seen prowling through fields and woods, with loaded gun, intent on the destruction of these harmless and useful friends of man, that aid in protecting his cereal treasures, while they embellish with their presence his groves and orchards, and fill the air with the music of their artless notes.

DISEASES OF CORN.

In the history of this plant disease is scarcely known. Occasionally some morbid indication, as a rust on the leaves or stalk, or an unnatural secretion, is witnessed; arising probably from wounds in cultivation, or from long-continued extremes of weather; but otherwise its history is marked with health and vigor, and it still remains untouched with any serious malady. The contrast in this respect with wheat and most other grains is so strikingly in favor of corn, as to justify the conclusion that the exemption of the latter is purposely ordered by a beneficent Providence.

The principal disease of this cereal appears in the form of a dark spongy growth, sometimes of a blue black or purple tinge, that occasionally shows itself on the stalk or leaves, but is more apt to take the place of the blighted ear. This substance increases gradually in size, sometimes reaching six or seven inches in diameter, and is generally regarded as a rank and luxuriant species of fungus. The kind of parasitic growth to which this fungus belongs, it has been found, may be in most cases effectually destroyed by

an application of common salt. It has, therefore, been inferred by some that soaking the seed-corn before planting in a solution of salt, or spreading salt freely upon the surface of the ground, will have the effect of preventing this disease.

The usual theory in regard to this fungus attributes it to the bruises and lacerations inflicted upon the young plant by a reckless mode of cultivation. The bleeding that occurs from these wounds results in the formation of the dark morbid substance above described. When this happens to be in contact with the ear, it is liable to prove destructive unless discovered in season and promptly removed. When it occurs on other portions of the plant it is more or less injurious, sometimes interfering with the perfection of the grain. The only effectual remedy is speedy removal, and repeating this process as often as the fungus may reappear, which it is apt to do, and sometimes to a troublesome extent.

It

But this course, even when faithfully pursued, does not always insure a restoration of the plant. is consequently a matter of importance to use precaution in avoiding the causes of this malady, and to guard carefully against the wounds and bruises liable to occur in after culture. Though some of the plants thus carelessly mangled may outlive the infliction and seem to thrive, even when the morbid growth is suffered to remain, yet a part of them must necessarily become too much enfeebled to be capable of perfecting the ear.

In addition to the above-described fungus there is