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THE GENESEE FARMER. 



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F ; but both are composed of precisely the same elements, the only difference being in 

 the relative proportions in which they enter the plant. There arc some ten inoi-ijanic 

 elements of plants, and four organic ones. The inorganic portion is derived wholly from 

 the soil, the organic originally wholly from the atmosphere. The difference in the rela- 

 tive proportion of the inorganic elements required by different crops, is not sufficient to 

 account for the benefit which experience proves is derived from a judicious rotation of 

 crops ; but when we look at the organic requirements of different ci'ops, we see at once 

 the v?luG of rotation. Thus, to grow wheat, we require a very large amount of the 

 organic elements nitrogen and hydrogen, which the atmosphere is capable of supplying 

 for a small crop only. On the other hand, clover, turners, peas, <fec., are most amply 

 provided with nitrogen and hydrogen, by the natural supply of the atmosphere. Their 

 consumpti*n on the farm by cattle, or by plowing them in without first passing them 

 through the bodies of animals, furnishes an artificial supply of nitrogen and hydrogen 

 for the wheat and other crops which require more than the atmosphere can naturally 

 supply them. 



It is mal-practicing the art of agriculture, that is a suicidal policy, and is altogether 

 unnecessary. It is possible to exhaust the soil sooner by a rotation of crops than other- 

 wise, simply because it increases the yield and the quantity of the elements of plants 

 yearly exported from the farm ; but a judicious system of rotation and feeding not only 

 increases the crops, but at the same time preserves the soil in more than natural fertility. 



POULTRY — THE "HEN FEVER." 



By reference to the premium list of the State Agricultural Society for past years, it will 

 be seen that no premium has ever been offered for any of the ^'^ fancy' breeds of fowls. 

 The only premium offered for which these fowls could compete, was that offered for 

 " the best lot of Malay or Chittagong fowls." The present year is'the first that any of 

 the '■'■improved'''' kinds have been mentioned, when an offer was made for " the best lot 

 of Shanghae, Chittagong, or Malay fowls." Notwithstanding the evident intention of 

 the officers of the Society to discourage the breeding of improved varieties, or their 

 refusal to acknowledge them as constituting distinct varieties or breeds, yet nine-tenths 

 of all the fowls exhibited at Utica were of this class — showing that the framers of the 

 premium list have labored in vain to stay the popular current. Editors of several of the 

 agricultural papers, too, have exerted all their powers of ridicule, having drawn largely 

 on their imagination for portraits of what they call in derision Shang-A^yA fowls, and 

 exhibited at once their wit and their folly. We have invariably observed that those 

 who have kept the Shanghae and Cochin China, speak in their praise ; and those who 

 so freely pronounce them a humbug, and no better than the common barn -yard fowl, 

 know nothing of them by experience. 



We have received something like a dozen inquiries, during the last two or three 

 months, as to the merits of these fowls, and their superiority over the common fowl, 

 some of our correspondents expressing the belief that the "hen fever is all a humbug, 

 got up by speculators for the purpose of obtaining money under false pretences." In- 

 stead of answering each inquirer in our " Answers to Inquiries" we shall endeavor to 

 satisfy all in this article. Having kept '■'■ fancy''' fowls, and fowls that are not considered 

 '■'■fancy^'' for several years, we shall only give the teachings of our own experience. If 

 any of our readers differ in opinion, and will give us the facts on which their opinions 

 are founded, we will gladly make them public. 



The Cochin China and Shanghae are much larger than our common fowls, probably 

 averaging three times their weight. Of about fifty we raised last year, the smallest hen 



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