, 1858-12-17
TERMs-INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.
Rates OF subscriptiOni
AgficuItuts.
Poultry.

We make few extracts from Bennetts
aAmerican Poultcrcr's Companion" which
is full of valuable hints:
"a writer in the Cottage Gardener says: !:
eLookipg at the chicken merely as ma
chine for the conversion Of cheap materials
into o costly article Of animal food, the point
to be considered by those who have this OBJ
iect in view, and would be guided by motives
Of economy in their selection, is not which
machine will consume least of the raw ma
tcrials employed, (for in any case the equiva-
lent in the manufactured article will be in
fixed proportion to the amount Of materials
cmployed) but which will manufacture the
article most expeditiously, and give the
Quickest return Of serviceable food; here !
think il will not be questioned that the Co.
chin breed possesses this property in pc
eminent degree. s
The question then naturally arises, which
Is the most rolitable breed to kept The
answer must be, that which feeds best al an
early age at the least expense, and that which
possesses those properties most valued for
food. Where every article of food has to
be purchased, and no range can be permitted
beyond limited yards and inc osures, there
must be sales at fancy prices, and moreover
great skill to reinuneratc the outlay but
wherever poultry has been kept as regular
item in the economy of a farm-yard, or even
labOrer's cottage, We fully believe that q
good breed OF Dorking or Cochin China
fowls, properly managed, will justify our
present opinion Of their merits as early lay
ers, as also for their flesh.
"For beauty the Dorkings surpass the
larger kinds. They have short legs, small
bones, full breasts, beautiful white flesh,
quite equal in that to any breed; they fat
ten quickly-indecd, if well fed, need no
cOoping for the table.
ain spite Of their high price, in spite of
the prejudice which exists against the Cochin
China for the table, and the quantity Of corn
they are accused of consuming, we do most
assured,y believe them to be tho best fowl
for the poor man and the farmer, considering
them not as fancy, but only as productive
stock. fE gFa
Though most farmers keep fowls and
raise their own eggs, there arc many who
have not learned the difference there is in
the richness and favor Of eggs produced by
we'll fed hens and those from birds that have
been half starved through our winters.
There will bc some difference in the sze,
but far more in the quality. The yolk Of
one will be large, fine colorcd, and of good
consistence, and the albumen or white, clear
and pure; while the contents Of the other
will be watcry and meagre, as though there
was not vitality or substance sufficient in the
parent fowl to properly carry out and COM
pletel the work that nature had sketched.
In order, therefore, to have good eggs, the
fowls should be well fed, and also provided
with gravel during the months they are un-
able to come to the ground, that they may
be able to grind and prepare their food for
digestion. nH HI
"The following rules may be safely given
and they are useful ones moreover, in
many other matters besides those Of which
we are now speaking: Never keep poultry
without thinking it worth your while to give
1t fair share Of your attention-without
satisfying yourself If your time is other
wise employed, that il has the attention Of
your servant. Never keep persons for that
purpose who do not show, by activity and
fOre;hought, that they are fond Of this en-.
ployment and who think of II at other times
beyond the periods in which they are actual
Iy engaged about it. When you arc forum.
ate enough to find these various qualiGca.