116 THE HISTORY OF * 



Show in 1852, three Cochin-Chinas were sold at, 

 a pair of Grey Chittagongs, at $50 ; two Canton Chinese 

 fowls, at $80 ; ' three Grey Shanghae chicks, at $75 ; 

 three White Shanghaes, at f 65 ; six White Shanghae 

 chickens, $40 to $45, etc.; and these prices, for, similar 

 samples, could have been obtained again and again. 



At this time there was found an ambitious individual, 

 occasionally, who got "ahead of his time," and whose laud- 

 able efforts to oustrip his neighbors were only checked by 

 the natural results of his own superior "progressive" 

 notions. A case in point : 



" Way down in Lou'siana," for instance, a correspondent 

 of mine stated that there lived one of these go-ahead fellows, 

 who had been afflicted with a serious attack of hen fever, 

 and who was not content with the ordinary speed and pro- 

 lificness in breeding of the noted Shanghae fowls. He 

 desired to possess himself of the biggest kind of a pile of 

 chickens for. the rapidly augmenting trade ; and so he had 

 constructed an Incubator, of moderate dimensions, into 

 which he carefully stowed only three hundred nice fresh 

 eggs, from his fancy fowls. 



The secret of his plan to "astonish the boys" was Un- 

 ited to the knowledge of only two or three friends ; and — 

 thermotoeter in hand — he commenced operations. With 

 close assiduity and Job-like patience, our amateur appljed 

 himself to his three weeks' task, by day and night, a,nd: at 



