388 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Certainly, before they attended the sale, they had greatly 

 needed to have taken the same worthy gentleman's advice to 

 Roderigo, wherein he often counselled, — 



"Put money in thy purse, I say — put money in thy purse." — Shakspeare. 



But such prices are an unnatural inflation, and must collapse. 

 Who can possibly imagine that a Shanghae cock, or any other 

 biddy in all cockdom, is intrinsically wt)rth $250 ? " Thou tor- 

 turest me, good Tubal," said Shylock; "it was my turkois. 

 I would not have given it for a whole wilderness of monkeys." 

 But fancy and fashion both run into wild extremes ; and, as long 

 as purchasers will pay such prices, there will never be wanting 

 sellers who will be willing and even glad to accommodate them. 



For ourselves, we do not believe that the fancy poultry in- 

 troduced within the last ten years is so vastly superior to the 

 native stock when well cared for. The truth is, that when a 

 man has, at a great expense, bought a flock of these high-priced 

 birds, he cannot afford to neglect them as he may, and almost 

 always does, neglect the common fowls of the dunghill. He 

 bestows extra pains upon them. He gives them better shelter 

 and better food, and better results are the natural and obvious 

 consequence ; and then, " behold ! he boasteth great things " 

 of his fancy stock. Yet we venture the assertion, that, were 

 better food and shelter given to the native birds, they might be 

 improved to the extent of giving as favorable results, both in 

 flesh and eggs, as any foreign stock ever imported. We do not 

 mean to disparage the latter; there are many excellent varie- 

 ties and beautiful birds among them; and, to our thinking, none 

 are before the Black Spanish, the English Dorkings and the 

 Bolton Grays, of all which three varieties we had capital sam- 

 ples at our fair. These are all good layers, naturally healthy. 

 of tender, and juicy, and sweet flesh, and a valuable acquisition. 

 Cocks of these varieties introduced among the common fowls 

 of the farm yard would greatly improve the stock. Indeed, a 

 crossing between any foreign cock and the Barn Door (that is, 

 the fowl, so called, not the door — "the thing of life," not the 

 thing of hinges) is manifestly much better than in-and-in-breed- 

 ing. In fact, it is this continual in-and-in-breeding that has 



