Page:Monthly scrap book, for August.pdf/24

24 Usefulnes of Wrens.—As a devourer of pernicious insects, one of the most useful birds is the house wren. This little bird seems peculiarly fond of the society of man, and it must be confessed that it is often protected by his interested care. It has long been a custom, in many parts of the country, to fix a small box at the end of a long pole, in gardens, about houses, &c. as a place for it to build in. In these boxes they build and hatch their young. When the young are hatched, the parent bird feeds them with a variety of different insects, particularly such as are injurious in gardens. An intelligent gentleman was at the trouble to observe the number of times a pair of these birds came from their box, and returned with insects for their young. He found that they did this from forty to sixty times in an hour, and in one particular hour, the birds carried food to their young seventy-one times. In this business they were engaged the greater part of the day; say twelve hours. Taking the medium therefore of fifty times in an hour, it appeared that a single pair of these birds took from the cabbage, salad, beans, peas, and other vegetables in the garden, at least 600 insects in the course of one day. This calculation proceeds upon the supposition that the two birds took only a single insect each time. But it is highly probable they often took several at a time. 



If any seeds were omitted to be sown last month, finish now. Sow cabbage and all kinds of greens to stand through the winter for plants in spring; also cabbage and Dutch lettuces on warm borders, for winter use. Earth up celery, and plant out more. Clean asparagus beds. If room, plant more brocoli, cabbage, &c. About the middle sow cauliflower and prickly spinage. Gather onions, garlic, and all sweet herbs. Clip thorn hedges and pare thrift edgings.