VOL. XXIV.
SINDIANAPOLIS, IND., MAY 4,1889.
NO. 18
OUB FEATHERED FRIENDS OF INDI-
ANA-No. 1.
What ls a Bird ?
by w. s. B,
I begin a series of articles on Indiana
birds with the above question. Howmany
of my readers can answer UT You see
birds of various kinds about you almost
every day, and yet bat few of you ever
think of their position among the other
manifold objects of nature. To show that
position, and at the same time to develop
a definition of a bird, is the object of the
present article.
All things making up the universe can
be separated into two great divisions. Division I. is composed of objects made up of
minute cells visible only by the aid of the
microscope. These cells are grouped together into organs or parts of a body, each
organ having a special duty to perform.
The objects of division I. also live and in
time die. They reproduce their kind
They Increase in size from within; i. e. by
taking. food into the body, and then,
ohanging it by various processes,* fit it for
their use. Division II. is composed of objects which are not built np of cells, and
as a consequence have no organs. They
do not reproduce their kind. They do not
live or die. They increase in size from
without; i. e. by the addition of .particles
of matter to the outside. The objects of
division I. are known as
ORGANIC OBJECTS.
The toadstools, roses, flies, oak trees, birds
and man are a few examples among the
thousands of organic ob j ects. The ob j acts
of division II. are inorganic objects. The
Boil, rocks, gold, iron, water aud air are
examples. Birds being organic objects,
we now take np division I. and find that it
is divided into two great kingdoms as they
are called, viz.: Plants and animals. Most
of you will say at once that the bird is an
animal, but why is it an animal? What
are the distinctions between plants and
animalsT There are two chief distinctions:
1. Animals have a nervous system the
possession of which gives them the power
of moving from place to place; of feeling;
and also instinct or will. Plants have no
nervous system, and therefore no power
of voluntary motion, no feeling, no instinct or will. 2. Plants live on inorganic
matter and change it into organic for the
nseot animals. If a plot of gronnd be
fenced oft and all plants removed, nothing being left but the bare soil, and an
acorn be planted it will sprout, and taking from the earth around it, from the
water which falls on it, and from the air
surrounding it, the necessary constituents
for Its food it will in time develop
into the mighty oak. Put a pig, a mouse
or a bird into the same enclosed plot of
ground. Give It all the air, all the water,
all the earth it wants, but nothing else,
and it will soon die, because it can not
gain its food from inorganic matter but
must have organic matter fitted for it by
plants. Hence a bird is an animal for two
reasons. 1. B.ciuse it has a nervous
system; 2. because it lives on organic
food. Bat there are many kinds of ani
male on the earth, each of which possesses
a nervous system and lives on organic
food. We must therefore make the division still farther it we wish to gat' at the
definition of a bird. So taking up the
animal kingdom we find that it, too, is
divided into two great branches, namely:
VERTEBATE ANIM AM,
or those possessing a backbone, spinal
cord, and brain; and Invertebrate animals
Which have no backbone, and neither
cpinal cord nor brain, the nervous system
being made np of little bunches of nervous
matter called ganglions from which nerves
Bpring. To the branch of vertebrates be
long suoh animals-as man, fox, crow,
snake, fish, etc., while to the invertebrates
belong all insects,  the crawfish,  small
earthworm, etc.
As you see there are several kinds of
vertebrates and one more division is necessary before we can fully separate and define the birds. Some vertebrates have
warm blood, that is, their bodily temperature never varies, but Is the same winter
aud summer. Others are oold blooded,
their temperature varying with the
season. Some breathe by gills and live in
water; others by lungs and live in air.
Some are covered with hair; some
with scales, and others have the body
naked. According to their possession of
one or more of these characteristics, vertebrates are divided into five great classes,
namely: Mammals, as cat, man, etc.; aves
or birds; reptiles, as snakes, turtles, etc;
amphibians, as frogs and salamanders;
and pisces or fishes. The aves, or birds,
are warm blooded, lung breathing, vertebrate animals, which have the body covered with feathers. That is the definition
of a bird sufficient to distinguish it from
all other objects of nature. And now as I
have devoted some space to the developing
and as I hope making plain this definition,
I will conclude the present article with a
diagram which will present the gist of
what I have said concirning the position
of birds among the objects of nature.
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F. M   B. A.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
You are requested by this order and the
State Assembly of the State of Indiana, to
publish the folio wing resolutions adopted.
Whereas, the price of binder twine
has been raised exorbitantly by a combination or trust, and the price of wheat
scarcely pays cost of producing and marketing crop with twine at former prices,
and
Whereas, if farmers encourage said
trust by buying their cornered twine,
other schemes of extortion will follow,
taking similar advantage and reducing
our families and friends to destitution
and want, and confiscation of our homes
may result, therefore,
Resolved, We deem It the duty of farmers to devise other methods of saving this
harvest. To hesitate is to Invite threatened evils. I_«. t ns therefore enforce our
cherished motto of equal and exact justice
to all, and special privileges to none, and
to this end we endorse the sentiments of
H. H. Moore and John P. Stelle, Pres. and
Sec. of onr General Assembly, also that of
the Farmers' Alliance recently in session
at DesM( nies, Iova, wherein seven wheat
growing States were represented, and
that of the master of the btate Grange of
Illinois to the effect tbat their membership everywhere make immediate preparations to harvest their grain without the
use of twine.
Resolved, by this Assembly that lt is the
duty of every grower of small grain, and
especially every member of the Farmers'
Mutual Ban.11*. Association, to harvest
their crops withont the use of twine ard
to buy no corneie 1 twine at any price and
further to buy as little ■machiaery as possible that uses twine.    .
W. T. Sttxlwell, Pres. .
' Henry Stkelman. Sec.
The Adult Chinch Bug.
Editors Indiana Farmer.
As the migration of the chinch bug appears to be of sufficient consequence to
entitle the fact to bs placed on record,
with the view of, if possible, learning
whether or not these mltrrations are gen
eral, I give the following with respect to
the spring migration, observed at Lafayette, Ind , I_it. 40°, 27' N. Lon., 85°, 25'
West, April 17lh, 1889.
Temperature 74° Fh., wind varying
trom east of sonth to west of south, velocity i_\4 miles per hour. Adult ohinch
bngs on wing in considerable abundance,
ai a rule traveling towards the northeast.
I would consider it a great favor if
others observing similar migrations would
b 3 so kind as to inform me through tbe
"Indiana Farmer," or through the Indiana Experiment Station at Lifayette.
. F. M. Webster.
Written for the Indiana Farmer.
That Wife of Yours.
BT JOHN M. STAHL.
I doubt if we ever realiy thank anyone
for preaching to or at us, yet a gentle reminder, In a humble spirit, may do good
without creating bad feeling. Thoughtlessness is responsible for far more evil
than are bad intentions. We may truly
love that wife of ours and yet be so
thoughtless as to put on her shoulders
more than a fair share of the burden.
The result is the same as if we were hardhearted.
At this season, when the days are too
short at both ends; when we retire, "done
ont," at night with pressing work undone
and get np at fonr in the morning, tired,
stiff and sore, we are too apt not to reflect
that onr wlves,mothera or daughters have
just as much extra work and are just as
tired as we; and because we do not stop to
reflect that this is so, we put upon them
work that is properly ours.
The beginning is always small but how
fast it grows! You conclude to go to the
field just one morning without filling the
wood box; but the one morning is added
on too regularly. You ask Mary to feed
the calves "jast this once," and Mary,
kind, patient wife or daughter, readily
consents; and Mary feeds the calves every
morning thereafter. Then you're in snch
a big hurry some morning, yon get Mary
to take the cattle to pasture; and every
morning thereafter Mary walks to the
pasture and back and begins her work
tired and worn and with half an hour
lost. On account of this loss she must
hurry every blessed minute of the day,
while likely before nine o'clock you are
sitting oa the fence or plow-beam, talking
to some neighbor and "restingyour team."
This putting of workon feminine shoulders grows on a man until he does things that
at the beginning he would have contemplated with horror. I have known men to
compel the women folks actually to chop
the stove wood, or to hunt bits of rubbish
for the stove; to pump water for the farm
animals, and to make all the garden! I
am afraid such barbarous, L. Indian,
treatment ot wives and daughters can not
be excused altogether on the core of
thoughtlessness. It would be an agreeable thought that suoh conduct could be
excused on any grounds.
Some of us require a great deal of help.
We can do few things alone. This is a
habit, and like all habits, it started very
small and Topsy-like," j ast growed." Instead of tyln g the team and going to the barn
for something we have forgotten, we call
to the wife or one of the children to "come
and hold the horses a minute." We wait
while they come as long as would be required for hitching of the team. Hence
we gain no time, while they lose several
minutes. Some of us have never learned
to "start a land" without someone to help,
either to drive or hold the plow. I have
seen a man so helpless he could not saddle
a gentle horse without calleng his wife
from the house to hold the horse by the
bridle. Now, such helplessness is utter
foolishness ;lt is even worse. It is an imposition on that wife of yours. Do your
own work yourself; your wife has enough
work of her own. You wonld be surprised
half out of your wits if your wife were so
presumptuous aa to call you from the field
to hold the pretty baby while she
gathered eggs or weeded the onion bed.
If she did £uc.h a thing there wonld be no
complaint of monotony in a certain household for a few minutes and you would
think seriously ot a divorce. Now, be
fair and the next time you have something to sharpen, put a treadle on the
grindstone and do the work yourself.
Quincy, 111.
 »    •    r	
Letter from Central Illinois.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
The fall sown wheat has como through
an almost snowless winter in excellent
condition. This is quite contrary to the
common belief that in this latitude wheat
does better if covered with snow during
cold weather.
The month of March seemed much like
April, with the April showers left out.
Until within a few days, now the third
week in April,the weather has been remarkably mild and dry. The occasional
rains of late are advancing the pastures
rapidly. Ojits is looking well. Plowing
for corn has begun. P<.ach trees are in
full bloom for a week past. The English
sparrow, in full possession all winter, is
now on the warpath protesting against the
return of the blue bird, the robin and th
wren.
It has been quite no tic sable at the live
stock sales this spring that the better bred
animals are the most readily taken and
bring the best prices. At the sale of horses
made by I_. W. Brown & Sons near New
Berlin, 16 grade Percheron geldings averaged $149 37. A lot of over 20 animala
with little or no Percheron blood brought
an average of less than $85 00 each.
Some one is credited, not long since,
with having said that by using full blood
Jersey bulls he has so improved his grade
oows that he now makes donble the
amonnt of butter formerly made in a year, ■
and that he has "no long fancy pedigree
in the way." Excellent testimony this,
for the Jersey bull and not less so for the
dam of the Jersey bull. But for his last
remark that man might stand as a shrewd
observer and successful manager. The
word about pedigree, however shows him
to be a mere stumbler, as liable to go
wrong as he is to go right.
J. Hjbart Warren, of New York, has
taken a membership in the American
Southdown Association and has recorded
his importation of 1888. Hon. L,3vl P.
Morton writes throngh his superintend-
tnt Mr. J. I_. Hope for membership and
for the registry of his entire flock of Southdown sheep. Vol. Ill, of the Record is
full and closed, and will shortly be in the
hands of the printers.
The proceedings of the National Swine
Breeders'Association will go to press soon.
Any member seeing this mention should
ask himself "have I paid my duesT" and
if not he shonld remit at once. New
members admitted at ? 100 each.
Phil. Thbiftoh.