6HANGHAE FOWLS. 61 



The following letter was forwarded to me by Dr. Bennett : 



-___.. GEEAT FALLS, Jan. 9th, 1862. 



BE. J. C. BENNETT Dear Sir : You requested me to give you a 

 description of the Palmer breed of fowls, which I will now endeavor 

 to do. They are very large. I have known some of the cocks to 

 weigh from twelve to thirteen pounds, at maturity, and have known 

 young cocks, less than six months old, to weigh eleven pounds and 

 upwards, and I raised two pullets that weighed twenty pounds and a 

 quarter. My neighbor had one that weighed ten pounds and a quar- 

 ter, which made the three thirty pounds and a half. 



This is no more than their average, and they arrive at maturity 

 earlier than any large fowl I have ever seen. I have known pullets 

 to lay some days less than four months old. The color of the cocks of 

 the original stock was dark-red ; the hens were a liver-color ; some of 

 them had pea-combs legs, green. They are now mostly of the 

 thrush-color. 



They were imported from some part of China, what part I do not 

 know. Their laying properties are good. I have known pullets to 

 lay from 75 to 85 eggs to a litter, missing but few days in the time, 

 and to commence a new litter within eight days. 



Mr. Wood, of Providence, owned nine pullets, of the Palmer im- 

 portation, that averaged more than nine pounds and a half apiece. 



S. H. AUSTIN, 



Great Falls, N. H. 



Dr. McClintock Las some fine specimens of both the " Per- 

 ley " and "Palmer " importations, said to be magnificent fowls, 

 portraits of which have been taken by an artist of distinction 

 in Philadelphia, and sent to me for insertion, as follows : 



