396 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ABOUT KEEPINQ "A CKOWER." 



Mr. Editor : — I take peculiar pleasure in pe- 

 rusing the communications to your valuable pa- 

 per, and am sometimes amused at the queer no- 

 tions put forth in some of them. For instance, in 

 a letter in the June number, signed "Warfield, 

 Vt.," the writer states, "I do not keep a crower, as 

 I save the cost of keep, and besides, what is a 

 greater advantage, the hens may set several days 

 longer on their eggs without spoiling them for 

 use." What does he mean by the term "a crow- 

 er ?" Is it a crow of the comparative degree ? 

 Crow, crower, crowest — or is it an animal that 

 crows and does nothing else ? But joking aside. 

 I cannot agree with "Warfield" at all, respecting 

 the economy of not keeping a "crower." If the 

 hens are not worth the cost of keeping a crower, 

 besides their own keep, they are a poor set ; be- 

 sides, it is very ungenerous to deny them the 

 pleasure of a companion, while the fancier takes 

 all the eggs he can get from them. 



The bird in question, call him what you may, 

 is of great consequence in a hen-yard. He talks 

 to the hens, helps them to select their nests, sym- 

 pathizes with them in all their troubles, settles 

 all their differences, calls them to breakfast and 

 dinner, protects them from their enemies, &c. 

 How is Warfield to keep up his stock or improve 

 it ? He must be totally dependent on some one 

 else who is liberal enough to keep a crower, or 

 else he will be in a bad fix. Again, as to the eggs 

 keeping sound while sat upon. He must be a 

 half-and-half hen fancier who does not take in the 

 eggs every day. I never have any stolen nests in 

 my establishment. I keep eleven hens and a 

 crower, and can tell to which hen every egg be- 

 longs, when I take it from the nest ; besides, I 

 should like something more than mere assertion 

 to convince me that a fertilized egg will not keep 

 as well as the eggs from "Warfield's" hens. I 

 would recommend him to get a crower and raise 

 half a dozen pullets every summer in order that 

 he may have a continuous yield of eggs, and be 

 enabled to put away the old hens after they have 

 passed their prime. 



I would recommend the Black Hamburg as the 

 best kind of fowls for general use, and they 

 would suit "Warfield" to a nicety, as they never 

 want to set. They are good layers, the eggs are 

 nearly as large as those of the Black Spanish — 

 and the fowls are handsome and well propor- 

 tioned, not so long-legged as the Spanish. They 

 have large rose combs which droop prettily on 

 one side, and are hardy and easily kept. With 

 these few remarks, I will close, hoping that the 

 opinion that seems to prevail in the States, "that 

 a crower ought not to crow," will shortly be ex- 

 ploded. CoCK-A-DoODLE-DOO. 



Halifax, N. S., July 8, 1861. 



this matter of the weather. If this article ia 

 carefully studied, it may excite a taste for further 

 reading and investigation upon this important 

 topic, and, with some one, may result in furnish- 

 ing the world with a philosopher who shall prove 

 a blessing to his race. 



Remarks on Climate. — The attention of the 

 reader is called to an article on the subject of our 

 climate, which may be found in another column 

 of this number. To us, it is very interesting and 

 instructive — and we call the attention of young 

 persons especially to it, that they may see what a 

 field of interest lies continually before them in 



For the Ncte England Farmer. 

 THE CAPITOL AT "WASHINGTON. 

 All our readers will remember the vile letters 

 that were sent from Washington some time ago, 

 stating that our soldiers who were quartered in 

 the Capitol were ravaging the rooms, defacing 

 the pictures and statuary, and defiling the car- 

 pets. Our correspondent — whose place of busi- 

 ness is in the Capitol — was passing a few days 

 with us when these reports were received, and we 

 requested him, upon his return, to write us the 

 facts in the case, and his promise is fulfilled be- 

 low — for which he will please accept our thanks. 

 Our soldiers were sent, as he well says, to protect 

 the Capitol, not to desecrate it, by destroying the 

 rare works of genius and art which it has cost 

 millions of treasure to supply. Such conduct 

 would have been in keeping with the vandal spir- 

 it of the rebels, who have destroyed the most 

 costly and useful works with ruthless and vandal 

 hands. The persons who accused our soldiers of 

 such wanton destruction are little better than the 

 rebels who have occasioned the immense sacri- 

 fice of life and property which has already taken 

 place. 



Washington City, July 14, 1861. 



My Dear Brown : — You probably remember 

 that when I last saw you at "River Cottage," I 

 promised to write you on my return to this city, 

 about matters and things here. Then, I supposed 

 that I should do so immediately on my return, 

 but alas ! alas ! humanity is prone to procrasti- 

 nate ; we think to-day that to-morrow, certainly, 

 we will do this, or that, or the other thing. To- 

 morrow conies, and it rains, or the weather is hot, 

 or it is cold, or we don't feel exactly right, or — 

 well, we may as well own up — a person who has 

 no disposition to do a thing, who is, in fact, lazy, 

 can always find plenty of excuses, and so "to- 

 morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow" comes 

 and goes, and the intended thing to be done, re- 

 mains undone, perhaps forever. I do not, 

 however, intend that the fulfilment of my prom- 

 ise to you shall be deferred quite to that extreme, 

 and so, on this cold, cloudy, unpleasant morning, 

 with the wind east, and the mercury at 62°, I sit 

 down, in my idler loneliness, at my library-table, 

 to endeavor to interest you, and perhaps your 

 readers, for the space of fifteen minutes. 



One of my promises, I remember, was that j'ou 

 should know certainly how much injury those 

 pesky soldiers did to the Capitol, for there was 

 no stint of disgusting description of the way they 

 carried on in that stately edifice, where you and I 

 have passed so 'many happy hours. One lady — I 

 do not believe a lady ever wrote it, unless it were 



