•222 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



legs are long and their thighs full and hea-vy, while there is little 

 fulness to the breast. They will be found to have less white 

 meat than any other in proportion to their weight. Taking the 

 Dorking next, we find here nearly the true ideal ; the legs short 

 and breast very full, while the size is as great as is compatible 

 with activity. The hens weigh six to eight, and cocks eight to 

 twelve pounds. 



The Leghorns, Hamburgs, Polands, and their congeners, are 

 deficient in size, the Hamburgs being the best for the table 

 because the largest. The Games, perhaps, come as near to the 

 true ideal as any, the flesh being particularly compact, and the 

 large varieties weighing from five to six pounds each. The 

 Dominiques are an excellent breed for the farmer, combining 

 some of the best points with respectable size. If eggs only are 

 desired, the Leghorns or Black Spanish will probably be more 

 profitable than other breeds — provided, always, that their roost- 

 ing-place in winter is a warm one. The immense size of the 

 combs in the males is an objection. Unless unusual care is 

 taken they will certainly freeze these more or less in winter. 

 We would advise farmers who prefer to keep this breed to cut 

 the combs of the young cocks late in the fall, which will be an 

 effectual preventive against freezing. If combs are frozen 

 during the winter, the fowls so affected are drooping and sickly 

 in the spring. 



The Brahma Pootra fowl is a profitable one in some localities, 

 though deficient in fulness of the breast and too high on the 

 legs. The Gray Dorking is a capital cross with these, though 

 we should prefer the full-blooded Dorking to any other, except 

 where very early spring chickens are desired. It is a very com- 

 mon recommendation of the Brahma Pootras that " they will 

 not fly to any extent," that " a very low fence will keep them 

 in," &c., &c. While this may commend them to those who live 

 in our cities and towns, it may well be doubted whether this is 

 a favorable consideration for the farmer. It is the active races 

 of fowls which will almost get their own living in summer, so 

 to speak, which will be the most profitable for the farmer. The 

 amount of slugs, caterpillars and grasshoppers which these 

 will destroy in a season is much greater than will be destroyed 

 by a sluggish race like the Brahma Pootras. Consequently, the 

 amount of grain consumed by the latter will be greater than in 



