365 
acres may be considered the average with the double-engine plan. All who have used 
it seem satisfied with results, and with the advantage of being able to do so much work 
just at the right time. I have just broken up 10 acres of clover-land which had been 
pastured to sheep since the first week in April,and hope to get it ready for a crop of tur- 
nips this month (June) with but little horse-labor, thus setting them at liberty for 
other work. Therefore, I can only repeat that it has more than justified our continued 
use of it, and what I should do without it I scarcely know. 
Our correspondent, Mr. Wallis, after referring to the fact that the 
writer of the foregoing has had fourteen years’ experience in steam-plow 
cultivation, and further referring to the fact that in this country the 
price of labor is getting so high (alluding more especiaily to the South) 
that resort to more machinery is necessary to allow the raising of crops 
at a profit, says: 
If I had had a steam-plow this year I could have put in at least 200 acres of corn in- 
stead of 50, and instead of 150,000 hills of tobacco, could easily have put in twice that 
number, with the same number of hands and horses. A corn-crop can be put in and 
worked entirely by steam; and in working a crop of corn I should think a 10-horse 
engine ought to plow 20 acres per day easily. 
Mr. Wallis had five years’ experience with the steam-plow in Europe. 
POULTRY-RAISING IN FRANCE. 
The Department is indebted to our Consul at Lyons, France, General 
J. P. Osterhaus, for some interesting statements concerning poultry- 
raising in that country. France feeds 40,000,000 hens annually, worth 
on an average 2 francs 50 centimes each, (50 cents,) or a total of 
100,000,000 franes. The practice of making capons (emasculating the 
males) is very common, and the females are also rendered incapable of 
breeding, being unsexed—the French use in this connection the term 
réformé—and in that condition they are known as poulardes. This gives 
them a tendency to fatten, and is done when they do not promise well 
for laying, or have ceased to be fertile. Pullets of the largest breeds 
are generally selected for this purpose. About one-fifth of the 40,000,000 
hens are so treated, and yield, at the above quotation, 20,000,000 francs. 
Besides the poulardes, 2,000,000 capons are annually sold, yielding 
5,000,000 frances. The 40,000,000 stock hens produce every year at least 
100,000,000 young chickens. If, of this number, 10,000,000 are allowed 
to replace the one-fifth sacrificed to Epicurus, and another 10,000,000 for 
various casualties, there remain 80,000,000 spring chickens, which, sold 
at 1 france 50 centimes, (30 cents,) represent the sum of 120,000,000 
franes. for the sake of accuracy, the enhanced value of the poulardes 
and capons must be taken into the account; this is not. less than 
6,000,000 franes, and raises the aggregate realized annually from the 
sale of the various kinds of chickens to 151,000,000 francs. Estimating 
the other prod acts of the 40,000,000 stock hens at 240,000,000 frances, we 
have a grand total of 391,000,000 francs, ($74,000,000,) which the chick- 
ens of the French farmers annually yield to them. 
Should the number of stock hens be increased to 150,000,000, as com- 
petent persons advise, the yearly earnings would not be less than 
1,000,000,000 francs. 
The Consul adds, that from his own observation the exportation of - 
chickens has become a regular business. The district of La Bresse is 
particularly noted for the quantity and quality of its feathered products, 
and all France and neighboring countries prefer to purchase in that 
