162 
boys' debarment. 
healthy fowl, small consumers, very industries m 
seeking to provide for themselves, and, therefore, 
little dependent on hand feeding. They are good 
layers, and steady setters, not being easily alarmed, 
nor disturbed on their nests. As mothers, they 
are very superior to every other varied in their un- 
tiring industry, their light step, th-.i* quick and ac- 
tive movements, their increasing vigilance, and un- 
flinching courage. They are never taken by sur- 
prise, and seldom lose a chicken. I have seen a 
game hen rise ten or twelve feet in the air to do 
battle with a hawk > and when thus met, the bird 
of prey soon incomes shy of the encounter, and 
seeks its fr^ d where there'is less resistance. After 
trie rirsf / ear °f my keeping game fowls, I seldom 
saw a hawk hover" over their feeding ground ! On 
th* table, their meat will be found remarkable for 
Jcs fine, short grain, high flavor, and abundant 
juice. It is, however, generally objected to them, 
that they are pugnacious, and consequently the 
chickens are often blinded, &c, &c. ; but though I 
took particular pride in the purity and high breed- 
ing of my birds, I was never troubled in that way ; 
and I remember to have seen round the barn and 
stables of Mr. * * *, a man of game-cock noto- 
riety, no less than fifteen or twenty stags, (as they 
are technically called,) or yearling cocks, and not 
one of them with a rumpled feather ! 
Birds having a wide range, roosting in different 
places, and not in the daily habit of seeing each 
other, would undoubtedly be more disposed to 
fight than such as are kept more closely together. 
My own objection to them was, their impatience of 
confinement to a yard ; and they were so light on 
the wing, it was difficult to prevent their flying out 
at will. Their hasty tempers will not permit much 
interference, and therefore they are not suited to a 
chicken coop ; indeed, the less you interfere with 
the game hen and her .brood the better; for she is 
fully competent to take care of herself and chick- 
ens without your aid. The marketman prefers a 
larger and more imposing-looking fowl on his stall; 
not so, however, with the consumer, after his at- 
tention has once been called to their superiority on 
the table. 
For the Dorking, I also claim a degree of beauty, 
in its thick, close plumage, formerly of the most 
unsullied white, now speckled, or rather spangled 
with a darker color, sometimes of a rich brown, 
but certainly not comparable to the games and 
some others in its brilliancy. They can, however, 
boast size without coarseness, and are of a large, 
r»und, compact form, full in the breast, broad 
across the pinions, and wide in the saddle, with a 
good thigh and a short leg. For constitution, 
hardiness, and endurance of cold, they are not to 
be beaten : at least, such is my experience of them 
in a climate where the winter range of the thermome- 
ter is frequently, and for days together, below zero. 
My yard is small, and my hen house is a simple 
wooden shed, with a half door to it and one small 
window of four squares of glass. I am the more 
particular on the points of constitution, from hav- 
ing heard complaints of their not being « hardy or 
healthy fowl, which I must attribute to want of 
management on the part of their owners. They 
are with me constant layers : their eggs are large 
and rich ; they are steady and patient sitters ; very 
gentle on the nest; and though large and heavy, 
are not clumsy. The additional, or fifth toe, I con- 
sider a disadvantage, and should soon breed it off 
but that it is a distinguishing feature of this variety. 
I recommend, however, its being taken off, one 
joint from the leg, when the chicken is three or 
four days old, leaving only a rudiment as an evi- 
dence of descent; for, as a breeder, I despise a 
mongrel fowl as much as f do a mongrel animal. 
As mothers, the Dorkings are kind, careful, and 
attentive, naturally quiet and trustful ; consequent- 
ly, much more manageable under coops and else- 
where than the game hen ; but she is neither so 
watchful nor so alert, nor so active in the defence of 
her brood : neither will she make such a fuss, nor 
bestir herself at the ehirp of a stray chicken with 
half the energy of the other high-tempered bird. 
Indeed, her rule over her family is not so strict and 
effective ; but then, you can lend your own aid to 
put matters to rights without endangering a dozen 
others of the little family, or risking your face and 
eyes, which you could scarcely do with a game hen. 
On the poulterer's board, as well as on the more 
hospitable one of the consumer, the Dorkings make 
an imposing appearance from their size and the 
whiteness of their flesh. The light color of the 
leg also tends to give tnem a delicate appearance. 
They are, in England, preferred to caponize, and 
are the epicure's favorite" fowl. They are greater 
consumers than the games ; but then they are a lar- 
ger bird, and fat easier, and carry more of it. 
As a lad, I commenced by keeping Dorkings, and 
now I h*.ve returned to them again. They are, 
with me, subject to no disease : neither gapes, pip, 
roupe, staggers, nor any other of the numerous 
maladies I hear of, affect my chickens ' i raise, 
from fifty to sixty every year for my own table, 
and seldom lose one, excepting from birds of prey* 
against which the Dorking is no match ; though 
not wanting in courage, she is deficient in activity. 
I feed nothing but whole or cracked corn, dry, to 
my oldest fowl, or my youngest chicks, with meat 
occasionally, when they cannot find worms for 
themselves. This simple course of feeding, with 
care to avoid breeding frcm too close affinities, is, 
in my opinion, the sole cause of my success with 
the Dorkings. My nest boxes are so arranged that 
the hen and chickens are by themselves for some 
days; and consequently the latter are not exposed 
to the numerous casualties which beset them in 
removals, or hi being allowed to go forth at the 
will of the h<m. ft. 
Butternuts, N. Y., March loth, 1849. 
BUSINESS FIRST, THEN PLEASURE. 
A man who is very rich now, was very poor 
when he was a boy. VVlien asked how he got his 
riches, he replied : — " My father taught me never 
to play till all my work for the day was finished, 
and never to spend money till I had earned it. If 
I had but half an hour's work to do in R Jay, j 
must do that the first thing, and in half an hour. 
After this was done, I was allowed to play ; and I 
could then play with much more pleasure than if I 
had the thought of an unfinished task before my 
mind. I early formed the habit of doing every- 
thing in its time, and it soon became perfectly easy 
to do so. It is to this habit that I now owe my 
prosperity." Let every boy who reads this, go and. 
do likewise. — WrigkVs Casket. 
