New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-05-26
THE SPRING IN CENTRAL NEW YORK.

xindv weather more than il would have been by In-
oarir, s,ou. in this respect bsaps out the general
.,n4,iet &c of farmers this region. weather has
however been unusually favorable for outdoor labor
and the "Sprng work Of the country mas been nearly
~ cu;,e month in advance Of such late % asons a.
that Of 1857 go tbs. if the present cold weather her
mometer last night as low 34o yields to warm sun
ard raips, we are likely to have prosperous year,
agriculturaly.
To country resident, the comparative progress OF
tie charge from Winter to Summer, through that
"deba.sbIe land" Of mingled warmth and cold when
passes under the name Of Spring, is matter o. con-
slant interest look ever every year rough ana u
regular record Of the weather which have Kept ior
about twenty successive seasons and compare the cur
rent month with that f the previous year. or the aver
age Of tie predecessors. The opening OF our lake
seems a fair test of the general character OF both
Winter and Spring as it is governed both oy tne
nmoubt or thickness Of the ice which represents the
Winters cold, and by the sunshine and warm WINS
which gradually prevail over this sccum alaton.
notice on inspecting my record that since 1889 the
disappearance of ice from the Owabgens is noted nine
teen tmes The dates vary from March Il I'm lei2 70
April &c ION which day the lake opened in lS43, lS41
and 1856. The average is April Is. LAST year the
waters were free on the 9h and this year on the 3D.
live regard the arrival of migrating birds as test
of the forwardness Of Spring, l find the average
appearance Of the familiar buebrds and robins with
whom the blsckbrds song-sparows and meadow
arks are cloeely associAeo TO be about the 18th Of
March. This year, they first showed themselves on
that day. Their arrival is sometimes delayed until the
ID Of April las in 1885, or even the 9Th ss in lS43
They make their appearance, however, with great IL
regularity, and occasionally in scanty numbers
even during the last days Of February.
The birds whose Winter quarters further south
display more regularity in their movements. The
white bellied swallow varies only from April to April
To- if we leave out the exceptional season of 1885,
when they delayed until April 26.
The bobolnk and the orioe more pun otual than
any others. Those cheerful little people make them
selves heard from our tall ocusts from the scattered
trees in our meadows-amost always together, ap-
pea,ing to be cons.an. travelling companions. The
clear whistle of the ard inglDg song Of the other
are heard as my memoranda chow not earlier than
the Sd nor later than the 9th Of May and may be re-
garded as notice that the grass 10 high enough to
turn cattle out to pasture. The regularity Of these
last arrivals is easily explained by the weknown fact
that the variation in weather and vegetation after May
is but little in different seasons compared with that
in the weather of March and April; consequently, the
birds who accompany the later Spring are more regu-
lar than those who govern their movements BY the
first mild week.
Many Of our vernal associations are connected with
the movements of less favore forms Of life than the
feathered bipeds The voice Of the "spring peppers
or frogs among the best known and longest remem
bered of all April sounds and recalls at once memory
the dull dark wet evenings and mild rainy skes under
which these vociferous little smphibia make them
selves 60 widely heard, their damp and chilly lives
and loves revive together from Winter .orpdity. BY
the way the Identification Of these evening musicians
is not an easy matter have been able TO detect
one in the act Of song any Of rustic popula
ton enlghten to what species of frog is The
concert may 90 vigorously all around, yet the sound
10 90 uncertain in its direction, and the performers are
90 suddenly silent near approach, that their per-
sonaty is yet matter Of general doubt. One might
put the question TO a crucial experiment by detsining
in captivity frog two of each species but it is
quite satisfactory to leave unsettled and have one
little mystery haunting the shadee Of our Spring even
ings.
The appearance of our tulee ia also feature OF the
season. in the fret sunny days they back in glitter
ing rows upon floating logs. II not hitherto as pleas
any described the famous old tortoise OF Seborne,
they are not likely TO rest much longer IN obscurity.
From the gay little painted tOrtofe to the ferOcious
and bulky srspping.turle, their biography is TO be
writ en-, not only from the egg but from its primer.
dial CELL up to the mossy age allotted TO the veterans
Of their race. The scslpel and pen Of Agassz are
busy with these strangely formed felowcresues Of
our., and 800 copies Of bulky volume devoted to
their growth and characteristics dispersed through
the country. Let US hope that all the soid men Of
the country bankers, merchants lawyers and Others,
Who the proud consciousness Of patronzing Science
and in the pleasing expectation Of having en- their
center tables splendid book on Natural History
e. Agassz's great work, you know, have been pre-
vailed on 10 subscribe, will not be too much disap-
pointed When, instead Of q volume Of gay pictures
like the Congressional Reports Of Japan the Pacific,
Railroad they turn over three four hundred pages
of accounts of the Matching Of turtles eggs and Of the
mesoblasts, ectebssts and yolk cells therein devel
oped and examine micre scopio drawings Of the pro-
g1ess of Testudo from mere embryonic do. to full
sized Chelydra Serpentina.
At least, let them 60 through with their ige Ike
men, and lot permit to be verified the sarcastic sugges
ton in the April Westminster Review, that though
their "subscrpton list has asonished the world the
dollars may not be forthcomirg!'
They will find som .thing which can be Understood in
Madison square among all the details Of development
with which the book sbounds and csn at least CLEAN
from ii material about which 10 talk the theologico-
scientific conversation which the books of Hugh Miller
and others have introduced in the Cultivated circles
The views Of the author are well known that the orr.
gin Of our race, ike that Of our fellow creatures Of
lower grade w~ not from single pairs, but that the
10 swarms, fshes in shoals, men in nations posi-
.~-l,z IL -