DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ALL ITS VARIOUS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



EXHIBITION OF FOWLS, AND CONVEN- 

 TION OF FOWL BREEDERS AND FAN- 

 CIERS. 



On the 15th and 16th of this month, the grand 

 show of fowls, and convention of fowl breeders and 

 fanciers, came off in the public garden in this city. 

 Notwithstanding the lateness in the season, the 

 weather was most delightful, being as bland and 

 bright as the fine weather in May or September. 



The show was extensive both in numbers and 

 variety, far exceeding expectation ; and the remarka- 

 bly fine condition of the fowls was highly creditable 

 to the exhibitors. Those who had taken but a lim- 

 ited observation of this subject were astonished at 

 the great variety, richness, and excellence of the 

 show ; and the many thousands who witnessed it 

 were happily disappointed and highly gratified; 

 and when they saw so many splendid and beautiful 

 fowls, so great a variety possessing peculiar charac- 

 teristics and marks of distinction, and so large a 

 number of intelligent men giving their attention to 

 this subject, and aiming to improve the various breeds 

 and disseminate useful information on a subject of 

 80 much practical utility to all classes, they looked 

 upon this branch of rural economy as assuming great 

 importance, and destined to rank high among the 

 industrial pursuits that contribute largely to the 

 profit and pleasure of the operator, and to the gen- 

 eral welfare of the community, and to rural em- 

 bellishment. 



There were about two hundred lots or coops of 

 fowls, and the whole number of fowls was probably 

 about one thousand. Some editors estimated them 

 at two or three thousand ; but such are doubtless 

 accustomed to counting votes before election. Almost 

 every breed of hens in the country was represented, 

 from the beautiful little Bantam, no bigger than a 

 common pigeon, to the majestic India fowls, as large 

 as turkeys. 



The greatest deficiency was in the common native 

 hens, which wore scarcely seen excepting in crosses. 

 Had the finest natives been selected, they would 

 have added much to the interest and beauty, as well 

 as to the extent, of the show. In fowls as in other 



stock, too much attention is given to foreign breeds, 

 to the neglect of improving the domestic races. Our 

 best natives, judiciously selected and bred by crosses, 

 would rank, in utility and show, with the finest 

 foreign varieties. 



Besides the numerous distinct breeds at this exhi- 

 bition, there were crosses and mixtures of almost 

 every description ; for in stock, as in every thing else, 

 the love of experiment and desire for improvement 

 stimulate Yankees to try every mode, with a view 

 of pi-oducing something novel, excellent, or won- 

 derful. 



BARNDOOR FOWLS OR HENS. 



Bantams. — There were various lots of the little 

 Bantams, of different colors, but mostly white. John 

 Giles, Providence, R. I., had African Bantams. E. 

 B. Little, Haverhill ; Henry Little, Marshfield ; S. H. 

 Peek, Lynn ; A. H. Hale, Rockport ; B. W. Balch, 

 Dedham ; Calvin B. Austin, Danvers ; E. B. Rich- 

 ardson, Brookline ; H. L. Devereau, Boston ; George 

 S. Pierce and Stephen Osborne, Danvers ; and A. 



A. Andrews, Roxbury, exhibited Bantams. Those 

 of Mr. Devereau were white, with top-knots. 



Creepers. — Parker Barnes, Dorchester, and Henry 

 Little, Marshfield, showed Creepers — an old but ex- 

 cellent race. Mr. B. had in his show eggs laid by 

 pullets, which were large for small fowls. He claims 

 for them superior profit, and excellence both in eggs 

 and flesh, in proportion to the food consumed. 



Italian, or Black Spanish, Avere exhibited by Daniel 

 Buxton, Jr., Danvers'; A. White, Randolph; Calvin 



B. Aiistin, Danvers ; B. Shurtleff and N. Coolidge, 

 North Chelsea ; and S. B. Morse, East Boston. Those 

 by Mr. B. were remarkable for their j^urity, beauty, 

 and distinctness. 



Dorkings were exhibited by Dr. E. Wight, Ded- 

 ham ; W. E. Richardson, Brookline ; John Giles ; 

 W. J. Buckminster, Framingham ; Clinton Clark, 

 Brookline ; L. II. Stoddard, Brookline ; George S. 

 Pierce and Stephen Osborne, Danvers ; N. C. Day, 

 Leominster ; J. S. Houghton, North Chelsea ; A. A. 

 Andrews, Roxbury ; Theodore Drew, Plymouth ; 

 John W. Hunt, North Bridgcwater; N.H.Tyrrell, 

 Easton ; T. G. Morrell. Georgetown. The Dorkings, 

 as they were marked, were of various sizes and 



