134 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



good layers, yet, when served for the table, little or no meat is to be 

 found on parts at all desirable. And when we come to the feeding, 

 a Shanghai will at any time match a duck — and it is well known he 

 will eat his value about twice a week. When we see one of these 

 long-legged Shanghac's eating, we are reminded of what a neighbor- 

 ing farmer said to his wife, who had secured a few of these perfect 

 monsters. The husband had a perfect detestation of such interlopers, 

 as he termed them — not so his wife, for in her eyes they were " dar- 

 ling pets." As the husband was passing through the back yard, and 

 seeing his good wife surrounded by her pets, with a large pan of 

 corn under her arm, he said, " Well, my dear, I never heard of a man 

 failing by keeping the like of these, but it was only that he did not 

 keep enough of them." 



Black Spanish. — There were several coops of this breed, which 

 were all choice specimens of their kind. This is one of the hand- 

 somest fowls we possess, and when kept in a large number, without 

 the intrusion of any other fowl, they prove one of the handsomest 

 ornaments to a barnyard or a lawn. Both cock and hen are black, 

 with the most brilliant lustral plumage, and both cock and hen have 

 extra large combs, the former with wattles to match his immense 

 comb. Cock and hen have white faces and cheek pieces to match — 

 this, in shoio birds, is considered an absolute necessity ; and though 

 an abnormal mark, still it is required. The chairman has been the 

 possessor of two trios, each prize coops in England, yet from these 

 he could only obtain two or at most three chicks out of a clutch, 

 showing the entire white face of the parents and fit to meet the 

 requirements requisite as prize fowls. In his correspondence with 

 some of the best breeders on the other side of the Atlantic, he learned 

 that such was the result of their experience. These facts show plainly 

 that the idea, entertained by some, that the want of a white face indi- 

 cates impurity of blood, is not well founded. 



The Spanish are the wildest of all our domestic poultry, and con- 

 sequently the best for a wide range or a large farm, where they can 

 be allowed room to seek their own food, which they will more effec- 

 tually do than any other breed. 



None lay so large or handsome an egg, often giving them of nearly 

 four ounces each, with a clear white shell — though it must be borne 

 in mind that they are not good sitters, in fact, you can hardly find 

 one willing to perform the duty of incubation — daily their time seems 

 devoted to laying, when not in pursuit of food. When served for the 

 table, you find a large sized body of the whitest meat, which is full 

 in the breast, and of the most luscious flavor. 



