GROUP OF SHANGHAE FOWLS. 



weighed six pounds, and the largest cock ten pounds, at one year old. They produce 

 more eggs than any fowls we have ever kept. The hens often commence laying in less 

 than three weeks after -hatching a brood, and continue laying every day regularly, at 

 the same time taking care of the chickens until they are able to care for themselves. 

 We made a present of a pair of Shanghae fowls to a gentleman well known to all agri- 

 cultural and horticultural readers. After a few weeks, happening to be at his place, we 

 inquired how the fowls prospered, and was told that the hen had not layed. Thinking 

 this strange, we asked to see what eggs they had, when we found between two and 

 three dozen of the eggs laid by our pullet, "which we readily recognized. On pointing 

 out her eggs to our friend, he remarked : " My wife has several times observed that the 

 hen that layed the yellow eggs, layed more than all the others." He had some half 

 a dozen in all. 



They are good mothers, but lay a large number of eggs before wanting to sit — gener- 

 ally from forty to sixty. The young chickens are very hardy — much more so than 

 any others we know of. In several cases, when raising very late or very early chickens, 

 we have had broods part Shanghae or Cochin China, and part common chickens, and 

 lost nearly all the common without loosing one of the others. 



The eggs of pullets the first year are small. Indeed, these fowls do not arrive at full 

 maturity in less than eighteen months. For this reason we think it would be better to 

 raise crosses to kill in the fall. "We killed a dozen crosses last year, at about six months 

 old, the smallest of which weighed six pounds dressed. They were from common hens 

 and Shanghae cock. We also killed several Shanghae and Cochin China chickens at 

 about the same age, taking a little pains to test the quality of the flesh, and disre- 

 garding the scripture injunction to call in the " halt, the lame, and the blind," invited a 

 few of our friends who are good judges of what a fowl should be, and they were unani- 

 mously pronounced fii*st rate, and no difference could be detected between the flesh of 

 the crosses and pure bloods, as to fineness or flavor. There is some satisfaction in carv- 

 ing from a chicken that weighs from six to seven pounds. 



The engraving of Shanghae fowls given in this article, were taken by an artist m our 

 own yard. They range from six weeks to six months old. The Cochin China fowls 

 are portraits of G. P. Burnham's, of Massachusetts ; and they bear such a striking 



