The Grand Haven news., 1865-05-31

II is well known fact that small birds
subsist largely upon insects. French
men have saten up nearly all The small
birds Of their country, aud i.aisnow said
that France is oyerrun with destructive
insects, and that they constitute seri-
GUS national evil. The birds are mostly
gone, and that portion iof the insect
world which preys upon trees, cereals and
plants, Is left undistutb IN iis destructive
work. Al report has been made upon
this subject, from which we extract the
following Interesting reflections sbs
However inconsiderabie these rava-
ges are, il is surprising that they are not
even greater when the prodigious fecundi-
ty OF these evil species is considered;
and il God, In his wisdom, had not pro-
yidcd q remedy, vegetation would have
disappeared from the face of the earth.
10 fact, against such enemies; man is
powerless., His genius NAV enable him
TO follow the course of the planets, I'd
penetrate mountains or steer ship
against a storm; be can kill or bend to
his will the monsters of the forest; ubut
in presence Of these myriads Of insects,
which, from every point of the horizon,
settle upon his fields, cultivated with SO
much care, his strength is sheer weakness.
His eye is not sharp enough to discover
many of them, his hand TOO slow TO catch
them. And even were he TO annihilate
them by millions, they would reappear
by myriads. From above, from below,
from right and left, they come in legions
innumerable, without relapse. inthis in
vincible army, which advances TO. the con
quest Of the labor Of man, each member
has lis mouth, its day, its season, IFS tree,
its plant; each. knows its own battle
ground, and never mistakes its post. AT
The beginning Of the world man would
have succombed in this unequal struggle,
if God had not given him, 10 the bird,
powerful auxiliary. faithful ally. who
wonderfully accomplishes the task which
man is incapable Of performing" "4ai
This extract brings to mind the value
of birds to the farmer. In wagihg re-
lentless war on these feathered beings,
man depriyes his fields and granaries Of
their natural protectors. 1t is but recent
ly that q systematic persecution Of rocks
was stopped in England, through the dis
covery that that bird was the appointed
enemy of the wire worm. The owl preys
upon field mice and other verniin and in-
sects obnoxious to the farmer. Some
years ago, it is said that iu Hungary
bounty was paid for every sparrow killed,
and the land was soon rid Of them But
it was soon discovered that this bird alone
could successfully contend against. the
cockrcaches and the thousands of winged
insects of the lowlands, and the very tnen
who had given a reward for the destruc-
tion of the sparrow adopted stringent
rules for It's protection and introduction
into the country again. ~
Frederick the Great once becatne exas-
perated at swallows for pilfering his cher
ries, and ordered them killed wherever
found. In two years the swallows had
disappeared; but this was not all; the
cherries disappeared with them; they
were eaten up and destroyed by insects,
mud the great conquerer was glad TO have
the swallows return. Everything Is crea-
ted for purpose, and, doubtless, the We.
ry destructive insects Of which we have
been speaking have their uses, and it is
simply when man disturbs the balance Of
power in The bird and insect world that
they become detrimental to him. IL
would probably be long time before The
scarcity Of small birds would be seriously
felt in this State; but the fact that the
preservation of these birds has now be-
come national care in France, and that
insects and vsrmin are having il pretty
much their own way there, in consequence
of the absence Of birds, should be TO us
a suggestive lesson, at least.--- Western
Rural. el lh