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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



SULLIVAN, N. H., CATTLE SHOW. 



An agricultural society was organized in Sullivan 

 county, N. H., last year, and the following account 

 of their first show, recently held at Claremont, is very 

 encouraging. We copy from the Newport Argus : — 



From what we can learn, it was not expected that 

 the gathering would be largo, or that the productions 

 of agriculture, and other articles brought to the fair 

 for exhibition, would be numerous. But in this re- 

 spect, the society and all were most happily disap- 

 pointed. The assemblage from all parts of the county 

 was exceedingly large, surpassing any gathering, to 

 our knowledge, ever held in the county. A deep 

 interest was manifested in the cause of agriculture. 



The number of cattle brought to the fair was large. 

 In this respect, the people of Croydon took the lead. 

 They had attached to one team seventy- eight yoke 

 of cattle, and a band of mnsic, which excited much 

 attention. Our Croydon neighbors are most clearly 

 entitled to premium No. 1, on long teams. Among 

 the big oxen, we noticed one yoke owned by Colonel 

 E. J. Gliddcn, of Unity, which weighed about four 

 thousand pounds. There were many other largo 

 cattle on the ground, a number of which were from 

 Langdon : their precise weight we did not learn. 

 There was also a good representation of steers, cows, 

 and calves, some of which were very handsome. 



The vegetable department, in which there was a 

 good display, consisted of various kinds of potatoes, 

 pumpkins, squashes, cabbages, turnips, apples, pears, 

 &c., &c. We noticed some pumpkins, raised by H. P. 

 Henderson, and I. Hubbard, Esq., of Claremont, 

 which weighed eighty pounds. Wc also noticed 

 squashes raised by Hon. S. Edgerton, of Langdon, 

 which weighed seventy-six pounds, and some raised 

 by Granville Gilmore,Esq., of Ac worth, four and a 

 half feet long. 



The various kinds of needle-work by the ladies 

 displayed much taste and ingenuity, and was said to 

 be nicely executed. 



The addi-es3 was delivered by Mr. Brewster, of 

 Hanover. Many parts of it were highly interesting. 

 He spoke of agriculture as being the great leading 

 interest in the country — the interest upon which 

 all others rest, and which feeds and clothes the 

 world. 



FEEDING POULTRY. 



Professor Gregory, of Aberdeen, Scotland, in an 

 epistle to one of his friends, remarks on this subject 

 as follows : — 



" As I suppose you keep poultry, I may tell you 

 that it has been ascertained that if you mix with 

 their food a sutHcient quantity of egg-shells, or com- 

 mon chalk, which they will eat greedily, they will 

 lay twice or thrice as many eggs as before. A well- 

 fed fowl is disposed to lay a vast number of eggs, but 

 cannot do so without the materials for the shells, 

 however nourishing, in other respects, may be her 

 food. Indeed, a fowl fed on food and water, free 

 from carbonate of lime, and not finding any in the 

 soil, or in the shape of mortar, which they often cat 

 off the walls, would lay no eggs at all with the best 

 will in the world." 



I have this season kept twenty-three hens and a 

 cock, feeding them mostly on grain, green vegeta- 

 bles, sour milk, and moat ; but as the year is not yet 

 completed, during which my experiments with them 

 are to extend, I forbear entering into a detailed 

 statement of the profit at present, as it cannot be 

 fully ascertained or even approximated. I have 

 found that by giving them meat regularly every day, 

 — the off'al from the shambles, or, when this cannot 

 be obtained, fresh fish, an abundance of which can 



be supplied from ponds and streams, — they will lay 

 continuously, if provided with ashes, lime, egg-shells, 

 or sand, to supply material for the shells. Brick- 

 dust is an excellent substitute for the above ; but it 

 is more expensive, and will rarely be resorted to 

 where lime can be obtained. In August, I commence 

 sotting my hens, allowing thirteen eggs — which are 

 as many as can be well covered or incubated by one 

 fowl — to each hen. Care is had to secure a good 

 nest, where the sitting process will be performed 

 comfortably and without interruption. Some com- 

 mence setting their fowls in July; and when the 

 poultry is wanted for early use or marketing, this is 

 no doubt a better month than August ; but I prefer 

 the profit on the eggs during the preceding months, 

 as I have never failed to have enough poultry for 

 my own use, and a considerable quantity for market- 

 ing, when no chickens have been hatched till the 

 last week in August, or the first or even the middle 

 of the month following. 



As soon as the broods are hatched, the hen is re- 

 moved to a coop, conveniently situated for feeding, 

 and carefully attended for three weeks, when she is 

 permitted to range the fields with her brood — a 

 shelter being prepared for them at night, to which 

 they ordinarily resort voluntarily, and without any 

 trouble or extra inducement being offered after the 

 first night or two. In setting my hens, I am guided 

 by the suggestions of Columella, who wrote nearly 

 three thousand years ago, and who appears better to 

 have comprehended the legitimate laws of poultry- 

 raising than most of our modern authors who pre- 

 tend to great skill and accuracy in the art. He re- 

 marks that all the long-shaped eggs, having concen- 

 tric circles developed on the smaller ends, invariably 

 produce male birds, and those which have not, 

 females. This I have found to be strictly true. When 

 I intend to produce fowls for market or for home 

 consumption, I select the long eggs, as males are 

 heavier and moi'e hardy than females ; but if my 

 object is brood fowls, the shorter and smoother eggs 

 are taken. On this subject I will write you again. 



AGKICOXA. 



Lower Dublin, October 15, 1849. 

 — Gennantown Telegraph. 



WOOL MARKET AT THE SOUTH. 



With a view of keeping our readers apprised of 

 the general progress of the wool business in this 

 country, we present the following article. We have 

 occasionally referred to the extension of wool- raising 

 in the west, and on the highlands in the south, infer- 

 ring from the great interest every Avhere manifested 

 in this subject, and the cheapness of lands west and 

 south, and the facilities of communication, that the 

 greatest competition in the wool market will be in 

 our own country ; and yet this should not at present 

 discourage the wool- grower of the north, as manu- 

 factories are increasing as fast as the increase of the 

 wool-growing business. A vast amount will be 

 wanted to supply the millions of spindles that will 

 soon be in operation. We copy from the American 

 Farmer, published in Baltimore. 



The Wool- Growers* Convention, lately held at 

 Washington, Pa., I hope will have a tendency to 

 draw the attention of the wool-growers of the ad- 

 joining states of Maryland, Ohio, and Virginia, to 

 that all- important staple, and induce them to fall 

 upon some plan, by which the northern and east- 

 ern manufacturer may know where he can find the 

 precise qualities of wool suited to his peculiar manu- 



