see to it that we receive no
detriment by the long continuance of this home demand without the home
supply. The instrument is in their own hands.

Our farmers must teach their children the potential influence of
kindness to dumb animals and to birds. By it they will conquer what of
viciousness, ugliness, or wildness is often the character of their
beasts of burden; and they will find, by the almost total eradication of
the destructive flies and insects which are the scourge of their crops,
the value of the lives of birds and toads to their farms. Setting aside
for the present the consideration of the moral virtues which are thus
inculcated, and which are so consistent with a proper devotion to this
'benign art of peace,' we mention a few facts which carry the argument
for their worth in themselves.

The birds and toads devour insects, worms, and grubs, and wherever they
are absent, grubs, worms, and insects are greatly multiplied, and the
crops suffer. The harvests of France, in 1861, suffered so by the
ravages of the insects which it is the function of certain birds to
destroy, that the subject attracted the notice of the Government, and a
commission was appointed to inquire into the matter and report what
legislation was expedient. The commission had the aid of the experience
of the best naturalists of France, M. St. Hilaire, M. Prevost, and
others. Their preliminary report gives three classifications of birds:
First, those which live exclusively upon insects and grubs; second,
those which live partly upon grubs and partly upon grain, doing some
damage, but providing an abundant compensation; third, the birds of
prey, which are excepted from the category of benefactors, and are
pronounced to be noxious, inasmuch as they live mostly upon the smaller
birds. If the arrangements of nature were left wholly undisturbed, the
result would be a wholesome equilibrium of destruction. The birds would
kill so many insects that the insects could not kill too many plants.
One class is a match for the other. A certain insect was found to lay
two thousand eggs, but a single tomtit was found to eat two hundred
thousand eggs a year. A swallow devours about five hundred insects a
day, eggs and all. A sparrow's nest in the city of Paris was found to
contain seven hundred pairs of the upper wings of cockchafers. It is
easy to see what an excess of insect life is produced when a
counterpoise like this is withdrawn; and the statistics colle