NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



355 



and foul air arisinjr therefrom absorbed and neu- 

 tralized. — Maine Farmer. 



For the New Enf^land Farmer. 

 YANKEE KENS. 



I see your correspondent, Mr. Todd, goes in 

 for the Yankee Hens, and like a man who knows 

 what he is about, gives us some of the ^^f owl facts'''' 

 1 was asking for the other day. His memorable 

 twenty-four biddies are certainly the smartest sam- 

 ples of tbat stock we ever heard of. The general 

 average of the laying of native hens, in such ac- 

 counts as I have seen, has not exceeded ninety or 

 a hundred. The average of his twenty-four is 

 137 1-2. I have never had so happy experience 

 with the natives. It has always been difficult to 

 start them in laying early in winter, and they give 

 out very early in the fall. As soon as the moult- 

 ing season commences, their bodies are not large 

 enough to produce both feathers and eggs at the 

 same time. This is also the great failure of the 

 Polands. They cease laying for some three months 

 in the year. Good samples of the Shanghaes or 

 the Chittagongs, that will weigh 18 pounds and up- 

 wards to tlie pair, are large enough to endure the 

 large drain upon the system of moulting, without 

 stopping the manufacture of eggs. At least this is 

 my experience with the Shanghaes, and report 

 speaks as well of the Chittagongs. I have the 

 fowl facts for the former, and at the close of the 

 laying year, shall be ready to report for the edifi- 

 cation of all lovers of poultry. Though they have 

 been moulting for more than a month, the eggs 

 keep coming, and the average already exceeds that 

 of "the right kind of fowls." As to hardiness, my 

 experience is altogether in favor of the Shanghaes. 

 Of the first litter of 11 hatched in March, 10 are 

 now living. Of the last 23 hatched, not one has 

 died. Of the intermediate broods not over ten per 

 cent, have died. I counted myself happy if I 

 raised fifty per cent, of the native chickens hatched. 

 Of the Polands I have lost three out of every four 

 hatched this season. 



The expense of keeping I have not accurately 

 determined, but should not put it so high as Mr. 

 Todd has done. I think that three Shanghae hens 

 will thrive upon the same amount of food that 

 four natives will; that the former will give you 

 more eggs and nearly double the flesh upon the 

 same keeping. But I have not the facts for this 

 opinion. The facts in this region are rather 

 against Mr. Todd's prophecy, that the imported 

 races will run out in ten years. The Shanghaes 

 have been in this vicinity since their first importa- 

 tion in 1816, and are now as large and prolific as 

 when first imported. Careful breeding and good 

 care will procure their good qualities. When 

 the Durhams and the Devons, among the neat 

 cattle, and the Suffolks and Berkshires among 

 swine, run out among us with proper care, we shall 

 look for the degeneracy of the Dorkings, and the 

 recent Asiatic races of fowls that have found a 

 home among us. Meanwhile let us have fair ex- 

 periments and the facts. If any one has a native 

 flock that will average higher than Mr. Todds, let 

 him publish. As there is force in the remark of 

 your correspondent that pocket interest has indited 

 most of the articles on fowls, I feel bound to state, 

 that though I have given away both fowls and eggs 

 of the pure blood quite freely, and sometimes used 



a Yankee's privilege in siraj)ftng, I have yet to 

 pocket the first copper for either fowls or eggs. I 

 have an interest in determining "the right kind of 

 fowls," and hope breeders will give us the facts 

 carefully noted. If Yankee hens will give us most 

 eggs and flesh for a given amount of food, I go in 

 for them. 



Your correspondent, Mr. Dimon, has hit upon 

 the difficulty in the way of solving this fowl pro- 

 blem; it is accompanied "with no little expense 

 and inconvenience to the experimenter." Yet is 

 there any other way to determine the question? 

 Mr. T. says the right kind of fowls are the Yan- 

 kee hens, because they lay on an average 137 1-2 

 eggs annually. Mr. D. says the right kind for 

 eggs are the Black Spanish, but fails to give the 

 facts on which his judgment is made. If we only 

 had these, and knew the costof keeping, we could 

 judge for ourselves between the Yankee and the 

 Spanish. A single experiment, indeed, would iiot 

 determine the matter, but a sufficient number giv- 

 ing the same result would conduct us to right con- 

 clusions. How can a man determine for himself 

 the relative merits of two breeds of fowls when he 

 keeps no account of the expense of keeping or of 

 the eggs and poultry they manufactured. If those 

 who breed for profit cannot be induced to lake the 

 trouble, let amateurs make accurate experiments, 

 and help each other to the right kind of fowls. 

 Nothing would abate the fowl fever more speedily. 



Stonington, Ct., Oct. 13, 1851. w. c. 



THE MILK ESTABLISHMENT OF GEO. 

 E. ADAMS. 



When in the city of Boston a few days since, a 

 friend invited me to ride out to Medford, some six 

 miles distant, and look at Mr. George E. Adams' 

 stock of cows, and at his management of the sarne 

 for the production of milk for families residing in 

 the city. 



Mr. Adams has a well arranged barn, large 

 enough to stable sixty cows, and to hold the hay 

 annually consumed by them. The barn has a 

 floor or drive-way extending through its entire 

 length, with a bay on one side, and on the other 

 side, stables for the cows and a scaffold over them. 

 Platform scales are set in the floor near one end of 

 it, for the convenience of weighing loads of hay, 

 and other bulky substances, and for weighing any- 

 thing else bought or sold. Underneath the barn 

 floor and stables is a cellar, for the making and 

 storage of manure. The cows are made warm 

 and comfortable in winter, and by means of ventila- 

 tors in the loof and upper regions of the barn, 

 pure air can be furnished the cows, without sub- 

 jecting them to currents of cold air. The barn 

 can also be made cool and comfortable in sum- 

 mer. 



The stock of cows varies in number from 40 to 

 60 head; they are mostly bought in the fall, milked 

 8 to 12 months, and then sold to the butchers for 

 beef, at a price about $5 per head less than their 

 cost as new milch cows. Some superior milkers 

 are kept along for three or four years, producing 

 calves each year; but as a general rule, it is con- 

 sidered better economy to sell most of the cows for 

 beefattheend of 8 to 12 months, and purchase 

 new milch cows fresh from the country, than al- 

 low them to be in calf, and incur the expense of 

 keeping thera while dry. 



