ESSAYS.

The Committee have had under consideration an Essay on the Importance of Birds to the Success of Farming Operations, and if we had not previously believed the same doctrine, we should be converted on reading this essay.

The shooting of birds, for taking some of their natural food from trees upon which we have bestowed a little cultivation, of which claim the innocent bird has had no previous notice, is a crime of which the conscience of the writer does not accuse him; and he takes this opportunity to make a public acknowledgment of the sin of once having killed a bird, in the woods, doing no harm to any one, with a stone thrown in mere wantonness. Gladly would he have restored the poor struggling bird to life,—that was impossible; and our only consolation is, that the offense has never been repeated; but the essay speaks for itself. It will save the lives of many of the feathered tribes, and we cheerfully award the author-Wilson Flagg of Cambridge-the premium of ten dollars.

An elaborate and well written Essay upon the culture of the Cranberry, was presented for the consideration of the Committee, by Nathan Page, Jr., of Danvers,-to the writer of which the Committee have no hesitation in awarding the premium of ten dollars.

His directions for the culture appear to be minute, discriminating, and sufficient to enable any one to put his directions. into practical use. Mr. Page has not told us how far he has

tested his own directions; but the essay has intrinsic evidence that his knowledge is not merely theoretic, or derived from books, but that he understands, practically, the almost new art of cranberry culture.

With regard to the use of water in overflowing and protecting cranberry beds, we doubt whether, in practice, it will be found possible to apply to the extent which the essay seems to contemplate; and we are glad to know that some of the most prolific natural cranberry meadows are never overflowed.

The price which this fruit always bears will offer ample inducements to all who possess land in any degree suitable; and with this essay for a guide, it may be entered upon with every prospect of success.

JEREMIAH SPOFFORD, Chairman.

A PLEA FOR THE BIRDS, ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR UTILITY TO AGRICULTURE.

BY WILSON FLAGG.

It may seem strange to some of our readers that there is a necessity, in the present enlightened age, to enter into a course of argument to prove the utility of birds to agriculture; they may be still more surprised to learn that the greatest enemies of the birds are among those classes whose occupation would be ruined, if they were for a single year wholly deprived of their services. We are accustomed to plead for the birds as beautiful and interesting objects, that deserve protection for their own sake, while we overlook their importance in the

economy of nature. Valuable as they are for their songs, their lively motions, their gay plumage and their amusing habits, all these circumstances are of minor importance, compared with the benefits they confer upon man, as checks upon the overmultiplication of noxious insects. The fields are greener and the flowers more beautiful in the spring, the fruits of summer and autumn are fairer and more abundant, and all nature is preserved in freshness and beauty by these hosts of winged musicians who celebrate their garrulous revelries in the woods and pastures.

From a conviction that this general ignorance or imperfect appreciation of the services of birds may lead to momentous consequences, I propose to make a formal vindication of the feathered race, but shall not in any respect exaggerate their importance. I believe it admits of demonstration, that if the birds were exterminated, mankind could not subsist upon the face of the earth. Almost every species is indispensable to our agricultural prosperity. The gunner who destroys ten birds in the spring, secures the preservation of so many millions of injurious insects to ravage our crops, and to destroy the trees of our forests and our orchards. Naturalists, in general, will admit the great importance of their services; but cultivators, who of all persons in the world ought to be the most familiar with the facts that prove their usefulness, are indeed the most ignorant of them; and they are so full of prejudices against the birds, that they attribute to them a full moiety of the mischief perpetrated by insects. There is perhaps not an insect. tribe in existence which is not the natural food of some species of the feathered race, and which, if not kept in check by their agency, would multiply to infinity. Calculations have been frequently made, to ascertain the probable amount of insects. consumed by single birds. Many of these accounts seem almost incredible; yet they will, for the most part, admit of demonstration.

Two different methods have been adopted for the purpose of ascertaining this class of facts: first, by watching the birds and

taking note of their actions; second, by destroying individuals at different times and seasons, and examining the contents of their alimentary organs, to ascertain the quality of their food. Mr. Bradley, an English writer, mentions a person who was led by curiosity to watch a pair of birds that had a nest of young, for one hour. They went and returned continually, bringing every time a caterpillar to their nest. He counted the journeys they made, and calculated that one brood could not consume less than five hundred caterpillars in the course of a day. The quantity consumed in thirty, at this rate, by one nest, would amount to 15,000. Suppose that every square league of territory contained one hundred nests of this species -there would be destroyed by the birds of one species alone, a million and a half (1,500,000) of caterpillars, in the course of one month for every square league of agricultural territory.

I was sitting at the window one day in May, when my sister called my attention to a Golden Robin in a black cherry tree, devouring the common hairy caterpillars; and we counted the number he consumed while he remained on the branch. The time that elapsed was one minute by the watch, and during this space he destroyed seventeen caterpillars. But it is worthy of notice, that he did not swallow the whole insect. After seizing it in his bill, he carefully set his foot upon it, tore it asunder, and swallowed a small portion taken from the inside. He then seized others in succession, and in like manner selected and devoured his favorite morsel. Had he consumed the whole caterpillar, five or six only would probably have satisfied his appetite. But this is not the general practice of birds that devour hairy caterpillars: they eat only an interior morsel, and require a proportionally greater number to satisfy their

wants.

This observation led me to consider how vast an amount of benefit this single species of birds must contribute to agriculture. We will suppose that each bird spends, at different times during the day, sixty minutes, or one hour, in the aggregate, feasting upon this kind of food. This is not an ex