NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



145 



and peaceable. The chickens have been noted for 

 health, and also an ability, as Avell as a disposition, to 

 take care of themselves, for while young they are 

 active and ' self-helping little things ; ' and as proof 

 that they well know how to take care of themselves, 

 I will instance, that though I have taken them from 

 the mother when only two or three weeks old, they 

 have uniformly done well, and throve finely ; as well 

 as any chickens I have ever kept. 



" The hens, very soon after their chickens are taken 

 away, resume laying. In one instance, one of the 

 imported hens laid the fourth day after her chickens 

 "vvere taken from her, (the chicks being two weeks 

 old ;) and she laid between forty and fifty eggs before 

 showing a disposition to sit : not being allowed to 

 sit, she resumed laying again in about a week. 



"I have now five chickens, five weeks old; and 

 notwithstanding the season, December, January, 

 have never known chickens hatched at any season of 

 the year do better than these have. 



"The rooster weighs to-day, Jan. 17, 1850, twelve 

 and a lialf pounds ; the hen that was imported with 

 him, weighs eight and a half pounds ; one of her 

 chickens, seven months old, weighs seven and a half 

 pounds, and is probably as fine a specimen of the 

 Shanghae hen as can be found. 



" Of the first chickens raised from those imported, 

 four pullets were wintered over ; they began to lay 

 the first of February, and they have been either lay- 

 ing or sitting almost continually from that time to 

 this. One has chickens now, five weeks old, two are 

 sitting, and the other still laying. 



♦' Three of them laid forty-four eggs from Decem- 

 ber 24, 1849, to January 10, 1850. I have but 

 two pullets of last summer chickens ; one of them 

 has laid her third egg to-day, and will be eight 

 months old to-morrow, January 18, and weighs 

 seven pounds. The other will probably lay soon ; 

 she is seven months old, and weighs seven and a 

 half pounds, as mentioned above." 



These fowls, so far as they have been bred from 

 the stock of Capt. Palmer's and Fuller's importation, 

 have not fallen off in size or weight. Capt. Francis 

 Alden, of Dedham, Mass., has some thirty Shang- 

 haes, descendants from Capt. Fuller's importation, of 

 great uniformity of size, form, and plumage ; the 

 cocks weighing at eight months old eleven pounds, 

 and pullets of the same age of eight pounds weight. 

 Mr. B. W. Balch, of Dedham, Mass., has a large 

 stock of lied Shanghaes ; several of his pullets weigh 

 nine pounds each. Messrs. Alden and Balch give 

 accounts of the prolificness of this breed similar to 

 that of Mr. Marsh. The appearance of these fowls 

 when young is awkward and ungainly in the ex- 

 treme, not being covered with feathers until nearly 

 six months old. One peculiaritj' of these fowls is, 

 that the cocks do not show even the rudiments of 

 the feathers of the tail until they are more than half 

 grown. 



The flesh of the Shanghae is rich and juicy, well 

 intermixed with fat of a most agreeable flavor ; and 

 for making capons, they are quite ecjual to any other 

 breed known in the New England States. It is very 

 much to be regretted any fowls of impure blood 

 should have been imported, as it has the tendency to 

 cause many persons to condemn the pure bred fowl, 

 which, all accounts agree, is possessed of many desi- 

 rable qualities, and are prolific to an extraordinary 

 degree. 



It is stated in the Massachusetts Ploughman, that 

 Mr. Phillips, of Marshfield, Mass., had a pullet of 

 this breed, which laid one hundred and twenty eggs 

 in one hundred and twenty-five days ; then stopped 

 laying for six days; then laid sixteen eggs ; eeasel 

 laying four days, commenced again, and continued to 

 lay regularly ; showing that tins breed is more pro- 

 lific than any other known in this country. 



In 1847, Capt. Lockwood, of the ship Taitar, of 

 Philadelphia, brought from Shanghae a smaller 

 variety of fowls, which are now in the possession of 

 a gentleman residing at Kensington, Philadelphia, to 

 whom the writer is indebted for the following de- 

 scription : — 



"You are innocently in error with regard to the 

 Shanghaes and Cochins which I have. The small 

 boned, and but slightly feathered on the legs, were 

 brought from the city of Shanghae, by Capt. Lock- 

 %vood, commanding the ship Tartar, of this port, in 

 the summer of 1847. They are pure, or have all the 

 characteristics of a pure and distinct breed ; weigh 

 from fifteen to sixteen pounds per pair ; lay well, and 

 are easily raised." 



He describes the other variety as follows : — 



" The other fowls are in some respects different. 

 They were imported in the ship Huntress, of New 

 York, by Mr. Taylor, in May, 1847, and cost, in 

 Shanghae, ten dollars per pair ; quite too much for 

 fowls to that manor born, which induces me to believe 

 that they belong farther south ; hence, I call them 

 Cochin Chinas. They were landed in the early part 

 of May, were rather sickly in consequence of having 

 been so long from the ground ; and yet, from that 

 time till the following October, the hen laid forty- 

 eight eggs, and hatched out two broods. The last, 

 brought out in October, consisted of twelve chicks, 

 of which ten were raised through the winter. They 

 are therefore prolific and hardy ; think you not so ? 



" How far poultry may be crossed in the East, pre- 

 vious to importation, I have no means of knowing. 

 If they are there preserved pure and unmixed, then 

 I have two distinct breeds ; viz., the unportation 

 (small boned, and comparatively smooth legged, 

 answering very much, in most respects, to some of 

 the thousand and one discording descriptions of the 

 Queen's Cochin Chinas,) per ship Tartar, in 1847, 

 Capt. Lockwood ; and the ktrger fowl, heavily feath- 

 ered on the legs, and weighing, per pair, from eigh- 

 teen to twenty-two pounds, imported per ship Hun- 

 tress, in 1847. Of this latter breed, about one half 

 of the number of cocks come a peculiar Dominique, 

 the rest red, with some black mixed ; the hens always 

 either a Hght or dark bay color. Of the two impor- 

 tations, the laying and breeding qualities are about 

 equal, the chief difference being in plumage, weight, 

 and feathers on the legs." Y'ours, &c., 



S. BRADFORD MORSE, Jk. 



TO WOOL-GROWERS. 



It is my intention to attend the great Industrial 

 Fair at I^ondon, in the summer of 1851. I wish to 

 contribute, on ray part, samples of American wool, and 

 shall do so, whether I go or not. I should like a few 

 fleeces from some of the best flocks in the Union, so 

 that I can make up about 100 lbs. of each sample. 

 The fine wool I want washed as clean as possible on 

 the sheep, and put \ip in the best n^anner. It must 

 be of this clip, as the next will be too late. It will be 

 sorted at the Depot, and duplicates of the sorts kept, 

 so that a proper estimate can be formed, after wo 

 have received a report from the committee who may 

 examine it th ire. It will afford an excellent op- 

 portunity to compare our wool with (Jci-man and 

 other foreign wools, and cannot but bo favorable to 

 the growers. 



Editors of agricultural and other papers are re- 

 spectfully re(iuestod to copy tliis notice. 



T. V,. PETERS. 



Bi'FF.^LO Wool Diirox, Aiiril 1, 1850. 

 — Wool-Groicer. ^ 



Sheep abhor rains and wet in winter. These in- 

 jure them more than cold or dry snow. 



