332 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



where they can most easily be procured, no one -will be likely to seek 

 for better articles ; but the Eagle or Worcester ploughs, manufactured 

 by Ruggles, Nourse, and Mason, occupy the most prominent place in 

 public opinion, it appears to us. The oak used at Worcester is pro- s 

 verbially as tough as leather. In addition to the mechanical skill 

 belonging to the establishment, it is believed, that the views of the 

 Hon. F. Holbrook, perhaps the most critically scientific ruralist on 

 this subject in the country, have been adopted by the proprietors ; 

 and to complete their claims to this high excellence, they have re- 

 ceived over four hundred premiums for their ploughs from different 

 agricultural societies in the United States. 



PLUM. The plum is a native of Asia, the south of Europe, and 

 America ; but most of our cultivated kinds are foreign, or descendants 

 from them. It is a small tree, of a rather low spreading form, gener- 

 ally of rapid growth, and moderate duration. The plum is a fine 

 dessert fruit, some varieties being remarkably rich and luscious. It is 

 used extensively for preserves, for which it is excellent. Some acid 

 and austere kinds are used exclusively for this purpose. It is also 

 used for pies, tarts, sauces, and various condiments. In France, dried 

 plums are an important article in commerce. Varieties called prunes 

 are used in this way. Plums well ripened, and used moderately, are 

 nutritions and healthful ; but in excess they are injurious, as they are 

 rich and cloying. The great obstacle to the raising of plums is the 

 curculio, an insect which, soon after the blossom falls, punctures the 

 young fruit, and then lays an egg in the wood. The gum oozes out, 

 the egg hatches, the worm eats towards the centre of the plurn, which 

 falls, often before half grown, and the worm enters the earth, where 

 it remains in a pupa state, some say a few weeks, others say till the 

 next spring, when it emerges to commit a similar ravage on the fruit 

 of the plum tree. As yet no antidotes effectually protect the plum 

 against the depredations of this mischievous insect. 



POLAND HENS. Poland fowls, as they are generally called, 

 were according to English authors, said to be imported from Holland. 

 Their color is a shining black, with a white top-knot of feathers on 

 the heads of both cock and hen. They are not so thickly covered 

 with feathers as some other breeds, and still less so with down. They 

 are quiet and domestic, neither quarrelsome or mischievous, and their 

 eggs of a good size, fine flavored, and thin shells. The true breed is 

 rather above the middling size ; their form is plump and deep, and 

 the legs of the best sort are not too long, and most have five claws. 

 The top-knot of upright, white feathers, covers so much of the head as 

 almost to blind the eyes. The contrast of this perfectly white crest 

 with the black plumage, is exceedingly beautiful ; but the top-knot 

 of the cock differs from that of the hen hers being broad and erect 

 feathers, while his are narrow and hanging down in every direction ; 

 but they must be perfectly white and the rest of the plumage black ; 



