34 



WINTER SKETCHES. 



in New England, and all throughout New Eng- 

 land the value of farms is decreasing, so that 

 it is only by hard work and strict economy 

 that the farmer is enabled to pay the expenses 

 that this accursed tariff which he is told is 

 kept up for his benefit, entails upon him. 



As the people of Berlin, a little town a few 

 miles south of Hartford, have found that there 

 is no money to be made out of land, they 

 have devoted their attention to the chicken 

 industry. 



If Mr. Rutherford B. Hayes had been my 

 companion, he would have found a great deal 

 to interest him here. All the barnyards, fields, 

 and roads were overrun with birds, by no means 

 of a feather, but representatives of every possi- 

 ble variety of the domestic fowl. The magnifi- 

 cent Shanghai stalked by the side of the little 

 Bantam, and the other breeds intermingled. 

 The Plymouth Rock seemed to be the finest 

 specimen among them all. One old farmer, 

 who looked as if he had really landed on Ply- 

 mouth Rock, told me that on Plymouth Rocks 

 he depended entirely for a living. Although 

 the flocks freely congregate, their owners 

 manage to keep the breeds separate. I rode 

 out of the village at sunset, just as the various 



