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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 DOMESTIC POULTRY-BANTAMS. 



Mr. Editor : — The many different kinds of ban- 



tams, if they cannot compete with some of the oth 

 er varieties of domestic fowl in profit alone, cer- 

 tainly can in point of beauty, and to the student 

 of nature they will always be an object of admira- 

 tion. 



The bantam has long been noted for the great 

 bravery and pugnacity he exhibits even when 

 matched with a cock of much greater size and nat- 

 ural advantages. I have seen one engage day af- 

 ter day, with the same enemy, and after numer- 

 ous battles he would show the same ardor to fight 

 with his old adversary, who had been repeatedly 

 his victor, that he did at first. These fowls are 

 even more profitable than they are credited for; it 

 costs less than half as much to keep them than it 

 does the common fowl, and they deposit quite a 

 number of eggs in the course of a year 



The hens are deservedly noted for their mother- 

 ly kindness to their young, and perseverance in 

 sitting ; in fact, I think it almost cruel not to al- 

 low them to sit, even if you could break them, 

 which I could never do in any humane manner. Of 

 the many varieties, perhaps the following are the 

 most worthy of attention. 



The Seabright, has long been considered as the 

 type of his fraternity. They are divided into two 

 classes, viz : The gold and silver pencilled. Of 

 the former, a model cock should be of a brilliant 

 brownish orange color, with each feather tipped or 

 margined with black, a rose comb well pointed be 

 hind, and with legs and bill of a dull blueish color 

 is also indispensable. His weight should not ex- 

 ceed one pound. The hen. should correspond in 

 all particulars. The silver pencilled are of the 

 same size, shape, form, &c, and are only distin- 

 guishable by the ground color, which should be of 

 a silvery white instead of orange. 



The Black Bantam "is a most beautiful exam- 

 ple of a great soul in a little body;" it is even more 

 pugnacious, jealous, and domineering, in propor- 

 tion to its size, than the thorough bred game cock 

 himself. The cock should have a full rose comb, 

 clear and sinewy legs, glossy plumage, proud gait 

 and air, with a flowing tail, and should not exceed 

 twenty ounces in weight. The hen is quite infe- 

 rior in general appearance, although she has quite 

 a trim and womanly manner. 



The common White Bantam, although inferior 

 to either of the former, is a fowl of importance ; it 

 is usually feathered to the toes, and presents rath- 

 er a junky appearance. Many other both useful 

 and beautiful varieties of this fowl might be de- 

 scribed here, but this article has become much 

 longer than I at first intended, and I fear I ought 

 almost to apologize for it. "Agricola. 



Brooklyn, Feb. 27, 1852. 



yet stopped laying, summer or winter, spring or 

 fall, except while they were hatching their chick- 

 ens ; and I am confident, from more than a year's 

 experience, that, by this method, hens may be 

 made to lay the year round. — Dollar Newspaper. 



WINTER BIRDS. 



The Portland Advertiser states that several spe- 

 cies of birds, rarely met with in that vicinity, have 

 appeared there this winter : among others the 

 "great American shrike, or butcher bird," the 

 "pine grosbeak," and the "lesser red poll linnet." 

 The grosbeaks are about the size of the robin — the 

 male being of a rich crimson and slate color, the 

 females slate and dull yellow. The linnets are 

 little smaller than the chirping sparrow — the males 

 having a bright cap of crimson, and breasts of rich 

 pink color, while the female and young have none 

 of the pink color. 



The Beverly Citizen says : 



We are fearful that the extreme cold weather of 

 the past months, and the great quantity of snow 

 that has fallen upon the earth, may have been fa- 

 tal to many of our resident birds. Among those 

 which are most common, are, besides the snow- 

 buntings, that most commonly appear in flocks, 

 the great and little speckled Woodpeckers, the 

 Chickadee, or Black-capt Titmouse, and the Cana- 

 da Sparrow. 



We have not lately heard the lively voice of the 

 chickadee, nor the scream of the speckled wood- 

 pecker, each of which were quite common in the 

 early part of the present season. They may have 

 been driven to other territories ; and they may 

 have perished. The chickadee, though one of the 

 smallest of our birds, is capable of enduring a very 

 great degree of cold, and is one of the most useful 

 of the feathered tribe. This little bird lives al- 

 most entirely upon insects and their larvas, and is 

 indefatigable in his labors to obtain them ; con- 

 stantly exploring every branch of every tree, wind- 

 ing round them in all directions, and devouring 

 every insect and grub that exists on the surface. 

 The speckled woodpecker follows him, with his 

 strong bill; he does more than merely to glean his 

 repast from the surface, he bores into the wood 

 and bark of the trees, and drags out the mischiev- 

 ous grub from his hiding place. 



Poultry and Eggs. — I do a small business 

 raising and putting up garden seeds, and last fall, 

 a year ago, as I was clearing out some reel pepper 

 seeds in my back yard, I threw the shucks and 

 chaff promiscuously about. I soon observed my 

 hens picking them up and swallowing them with 

 great avidity. They soon commenced laying eggs, 



BOOKS. 



The Complete Farmer and Gardener. Saxton : 

 N. Y. — This work was written and compiled by 

 Thomas G. Fessenden, Esq., one of the most dis- 

 tinguished agricultural writers that New England 

 has ever had. 



The Family Kitchen Gardener. By Robert 

 Buist, author of two or three works on Floricul- 

 ture, and a practical gardener. Saxton : N. Y. 



With. these two books before him, with a care- 

 ful reference to their contents, and such inquiry 

 and observation as every one can make, any man 

 may take a farm or a garden and get along with 

 it tolerably well so far as a knowledge of the time 

 of sowing, planting, harvesting, preparation of the 

 soil, &c, are concerned ; and to those of experi- 



though they had laid none for a month before 



fed them regularly, two or three times a week,! ence, they will serve as important helps in many 



since then, with red pepper, and they have neverl res p ec t s . They arc both written by men "who 



