The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1854-06-17
agricultural.
klNG-BiRDS L. FARMERS CLUBS.
II he Eti,or of The New York Tyibaae.

IT. The Etitor Of HE New York Tr;baae.
Srn: In your weekly OF May 90 is publish
cd an abstract Of a paper read before the
"Farmsrs' CRIB" under the heading Of THE
Birds and the Farmers" Speaking of til,
King bird, the author Of that paper says:
AS to eating honey bee, it is preposter-
Gus. Its sting is Natures efficient guard
against such enemies. Ifany doubt this fact
let them produce one honey-bce from the
stomach of King Bird, and this statement
will be defeated. Mr.. John G. Bell, the best
t,xdcrmist in the world, has disscctcd nu-
mcrors King Birds, and never found honey
be- in the stomach Of IA single one. This is
sufficient evidence for me-
Now. this may be sufficient evidence for f
city club farmers but to common sense far
Incr it is nu more than the simple fact that
Mr.. Bcll never found honcy-bec in the
stomach of a King Bird. Every farmer who
knows n kng-bird from y night hawk; who
has half an eye, and is in the habit of going
with it open, knows that king-blds do cat
bees. l have opened the stomach ola King
bird, and have seen the yrritable honey-bce
therein. 4 friend Of nine shot Il King bird
and released from lis crop live honey bee,
which, after exposure short time, flew ava i.
This fact is sufficient for me; whc'lnsr before
the Farmers Club il would predominant over
Ike wri2hIy fact that Il distinguished naiu-
r,list failed to find honey -becs in the st mach
ct King birds, | know not. Perhaps, in the
estimation of n club Of bookih farmers, the
tSpnrir;,rn nf is
not to be received in contradiction Of the
negative experience Of distinguished natu
rtliSt.
Seriously, I protest against this bookish
Turning. We country farmers do not believe
that the man who studies agriculture as he
sits at his parlor window and surveys his
firm. bounded on one sile by city Avenue
and on the other by his neighbours garden
vail, and reports his experience through the
Farmers Club, is u safe counselor. We can
not receive the iysc di,ru Of such farmers, nor
If such club Of farmers. as law for us.
We take pride in farming, and we have
club. Our club meets ut the store or black
smiths shop. 1t always adjourns sine die,
and never flags. except in fair weather.
Most OF the members either take some agri
cultural paper, or-as seems generally pre-
terrcd-somc newspaper with Il wcli-conduct-
cd agricultural column; but emininently
practical are they that they cannot help
',sncczing' WHEN we read that King birds do
not eat bees or that COWS shed their horns
once year. Yours, &C., j. L.
FtenkIin, Del. Co., ~ T., May p, 1854.
REMARKS.
81. p. volunteers as 4 critic, and of course
challenges criticism. He speaks his mind
With entire freedom, which We like, and shall
initiate. If he should happen to feel some
what smaller at the end orthe discussion than
he did ii the beginning, he will know whom
to blame ior the circumstance.
|. An eminent naturalist who has devoted
his life to watching the habits and doings Of
birds. tcstifics that he ne YER saw King-bird
eat honcy-bcc, and has eviscerated many
king-birds without finding any honcy-bee
within them. This is certainly as direct and
cogent testimony as can be adduccd on tia!
side of the question. But J. p. says he has
found honey bees in the stomach of King
blIuS- aHti llti II llltUd silot d NIUE ehu
released from its crop live honey -bce. Now
II. P. will just give the public his name, with
that Of his friend aforesaid, his testimony will
ovcrbear that Of Mcssrs. Bell and Hooper on
the other sidc-that is to say, that two men
hoye found bees in King-bird's crops will
Ovcrbear the fact that other men have opened
many King birds uiikout finding any. Yet
even then we consider it safe to infer from
the fact that naturalist like Mr.. Bell has
watched King-birds many years and never
seen one eat bee. and opened many King
birds without finding a bee that King-brds
are not h0biuui, roraci0Ms Gestr0ycrs of bees.
is it not so! Suppose two astronomers III
the planet Jupiter, armed with telescopes
which enabled them to discern and watch the
denizens Of Earth, were to rcport-one that
he hui seen one man killing another, the Sec
ond that he had watched man through several
years and never witnessed a homic;de-would
it not be the legitimate conclusion Of the
Jupitcrians that, though men did sometimes
Kill each other, yet murder was nevertheless
not habtual and ordinary occurrence7
2. 81. P" protests against ''ths bookish
farming by men who 'sstudy agriculture
from their parlor windows" and whose farm
consists of a city lot or two This, being
avowcdly aimed at the Farmers Club of this
City, We proceed to vcntilate j P.'s igno-
rance, with out regard to his impcrtinence.
OF the thirty or forty gentlemen whom we
have met at the Farmers Club, we do not
know one who is not practical farmer. Prof
Mapes, though but few years a farmer, is
very successful one, and produces more from
fifty acres than many sneerers at ssbook- farm
ing' do from thousand. Messrs. Lawton,
Pcll, Waring, Livingston, &c, are all prac-
teal and many of them extensive farmers.
Scion Robinson is the only attendant of the
Club whom We happen now to recollect as
not at this time engaged in farming; and he
followed the pillow for livelihood through at
least forty of the best years of his life. He
began in New-England, and has experienced
Of all kinds Of Free Labor farming up to that
Of Il squattcr in cabin on a ,:-s,cn prairie:
since which he has travelled and observed