30 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Columbine, Aquilegia Canadensis, and several 

 varieties of the lily family, with their beautiful 

 stellated leaves and drooping flowers which adorn 

 our alluvial meadows. 



There are also without doubt other plants equal 

 to those already mentioned, growing in particular 

 localities, and to those wlio liave a taste for the 

 beauties of nature it would afford a delightful re- 

 laxation from the toils and perplexities of every- 

 day life, to take an occasional excursion for the 

 purpose of discovering and collecting such as are 

 worthy of cultivation. 



I intended to add a few remarks on selecting 

 hardy varieties from among the numerous flowers 

 under general cultivation, but I have already cai- 

 ried this article to a sufficient length, and must de- 

 fer it to another time. w. f. b. 



Ashfield, Jan. ith. 



Remarks. — In our fields and forests are numer- 

 ous wild flowers, easily procured and cultivated, 

 that are far superior to the new and old flowers, 

 the seeds of which are annually imported and sold 

 in this country. It is astonishing that some per- 

 sons will buy foreign seeds, and carefully culti- 

 vate tlie plants they produce, when they are in 

 reality inferior to many worthless weeds that are 

 trampled under our feet, or destroyed as cumberers 

 of the ground, while our fine and splendid wild 

 flowers are neglected. We hope that there will 

 soon be an improvement in flouriculture as well as 

 in other branches. If it is not worthy of more at- 

 tention, it is worthy of more judicious attention 

 tlian it has generally received in regard to native 

 and exotic plants. 



For the New England Farmer. 



PROFITS OF POULTRY, 



Mr. Cox,e : — As many of your readers are inter- 

 ested in poultrry, I send you my experience for the 

 last ten months, hoping to add something to the 

 common stock of knowledge, upon this subject. 

 About the first of March, I bought forty hens. 

 Some of these were soon killed for family use, and 

 others were added to them as convenience required, 

 during the spring and summer; so that the old flock 

 did not vary much from forty at any tinie. They 

 laid in March 425 eggs; April; 511; May, 330; 

 June, 280; July, 246; Aug., 134; Sept., 159; Oct., 

 70; Nov., 75; Dec. 204, 



On the Slst of Dec, the account stands thus: — 



Dr. 



64 hens, $31,85; IG doz. eggs, $3,76; 

 34 chicks $4,35. Total stock, . . $39,96 



29 bush, corn, 11 bush, meal, 10 do. 

 oats, 10 do. potatoes, meat, $2,12. 



Total food 39,81 



Making the whole expense, 



. . $79,77 

 Cr. 



Eggs used and sold at market prices, $31,92 

 91 chickens and fowls, " " 33,25 



5 loads of manure, .... 5,00 

 28 blood fowls on hand, . . . 35,00 

 32 common and crosses, . . 15,00 



Deduct expense, 

 It leaves a profit of, 



123,17 



79,77 



$43,40 



The fowls were principally of the common kind, 

 and a cross between the common and the Dixon 

 Shanghaes, perhaps 1-4 of the latter. During the 

 summer, they were confined in a large yard, fur- 

 nished with gravel oyster shells and fresh water. 

 Their roost, in the colder months, was in a bam 

 cellar, and common loam from the fields was kept 

 under them to receive their droppings. These were 

 also occasionally sprinkled with plaster of Paris, to 

 absorb the gases, and perhaps once a month re- 

 moved. Their place was supplied by a new layer 

 of loam and the process of sprinkling with plaster 

 repeated. Charcoal dust, or earth from coal pit 

 hearths, is a much better article to keep under them 

 where it can be had. With proper care and luore 

 earth, I think twice the quantity of manure could 

 have been made, of equal value with that common- 

 ly carried from the barn-yard. The cellar is suf- 

 ficiently open for ventilation, and I have in conse- 

 quence lost but few fowls. 



During the present month, which shows a large 

 increase in the laying, notwithstanding the cold I 

 have fed them freely with small fish, which as they 

 were to be had by the use of a scoop net, in a salt 

 water creek close at hand, I have not set down in 

 the account. These not only furnish them with 

 animal food but the bones must afibrd lime for the 

 shells of the eggs. Wliere fish can be had conve- 

 niently, either from the water, or the offal from a 

 fish market, it will prove a good article of food. 



The poultry has paid tolerably well, though with 

 better management it would have paid much better. 

 I havs learned something in egg and chicken cul- 

 ture, the past year, and expect to learn more the 

 next. A hen, like every other creature of God, for 

 which man has a use, pays its way, just as it is well 

 cared for. If it don't pay it is a safe inference, 

 either that you have no use for it, or that you do 

 not manage it right. Find out the laws of its well 

 being, and observe them in its management, and 

 you will have a healthy and profitable animal. Far- 

 mers, and indeed all who have time and room to 

 care for them, have a use for poultry. Keep them 

 well and they will pay yon. Try it and see. 



Siunington, Ct., Dec. 31, 1850. 



Re.marks. — There is no stock kept in the coun- 

 try that will afford more profit on the food con- 

 sumed than domestic fowls, if well managed; and 

 with poor management, or neglect, there is no stock 

 that produces so little. This should induce every 

 one who keeps fowls to take the best care of them, 

 for without such care, it is better to be without 

 them. 



CAPACITY OF SOILS FOR ABSORBING 



FERTILISING MATTER. 



The property of earths for al)sorhing the pungent 

 gasses and offensive matter in fcetid water, shows 

 most conclusively their capacity for absorbing and 

 retaininglhe fertili.sing ineredicnts mixed with them. 

 Anything which is undergoing decomposition, or 

 giving off putrid odors is immediately rendered in- 

 nocuous by placing a thick covering of earth over 

 it. The stench from a polecat, the smoke of brim- 

 stone, or a decaying carcass, is immediately ab- 

 sorbed and rendered imperccjitible, v.licii brought 

 into close contact with the earth. It is, in fact, the 

 grand deodoriser of nature; and in this capacity, it 



