The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1857-10-07
farmer s1epartmtnt,
FRUITS. BIRDS AND FLOWERS.


Among the many bounties and bless
iDgs Of Providence, which human beings
do not sufficiently appreciate, may be
mentioned the trio which stand at the
Head Of this article. Fruits constitute
one Of the choicest Injuries, as well a,
one of our most Wholesome and mos
essential kinds of food. Could on
whole population have an abundance Of
good fruit, at all periods of life, from
the cradle'to the grave, we should GER
tainly as a people, have greater vigor
md better health, while we should in
all probability, be comparatively free
from many Of the diseases which now
devastate civilized society at all seasons
of the year, and occasionally, in all
places.
We're our children plentifully suppl
ed with good fresh fruit, and plain bread,
in lieu of fried meats and larded short
cakes, We should hear very little of the
m~ultitudinous bowel complaints, which
in the warm season, sweep the children
to their graves, as though they were
only born to diei and still less the scar.
let fevers and erysipelatious affections,
which as children are now fed, rage
among our infantile population, as though
their little bodies were all unsoundness
and corruption.
Fruits are scarce and dear all over
the country, and in some places scarcely
obtainabie OF any terms. In our cities
theyare the most expensive item in a
proper dietary. But they should be
most abundant and cheapest of ali food.
They can be, and viii be, whenever odr
ag~riculturists take requisite painrto cul-
tivate them. And they will then prove
the most zremuneraiiye product of the
farm. a6aH 1UEITU &
One of the leading objections to fruit
culture isthe liability of the fruit, and
even the tree, to be damaged or even
destroyed by insects. Gardeners and
nurserymen have discovered a regiment
Of enemies to contend with, in the shape
Of some hundreds of bugs, flies, worms,
30, which delight to prey upon their
fruits, flowers, vegetables, plants, shrubs
and trees. And this is, indeed. a form
liable obstacle.
But for all this, We suspect man has
only to blame his own short sightedness
or folly, OIL perversity. He has destroy
ed the birds, the natural protectors of
all things. In the admirable arrange
ments of nature, the feathered songsters
are intended to be the most efficient of
the husbandman's aux;liaries. Not on
~ do theyin the natural order, amuse
MS with their gambols, aud entertain our
mornings and evenings with tho inspir-
ing music of JOY, and the songs of love,
but they destroy, By feeding on them,
the very creatures, which otherwise,
ravage our gardens, our orchards, and
bur vineyards, meadows and groves.
By destroying the birds we destroy
the balance the all wise Creator has
established the animal and the Tegeta-
BILE kingdoms. We have done even worse
than this. We have taught our little
children the wicked sport of killing birds,
thus depraving them, as we'll as injuring
those who never did towards US a single
deed that was not kind and good. Our
boys and our young men have, in the
absence of real game or injurious ami
mails, found a cruel pastime in the bad
habit of ~"gunning," and they have es-
teemedi it a manly enterprise to shoot
the little innocent birds while frolicking
in their rcseate bowers, or singing Oh
the tree tops
Oh man ! tyrannic lord,
How long shall PROSTATE nature groan be
meath Your rage
Verify we have our reward. The bugs
destroy our vines, the vermin revel in
our flowers, the worms despoi1 our fruits.
and the insects prey upon the foliage Of
our shade trees