boys’ department. 
35 
Bogs’ JDqjartnunt. 
SILKY FOWL.— Fig. 6. 
Here, boys, you have a funny looking fellow, 
indeed. Mr. Bement, in his Poulterer’s Compa¬ 
nion, says, “ This bird, by modern writers, is con¬ 
sidered a species, rather than a variety. It is of 
good size, and the whole body is covered with 
feathers, the webs of which are disunited some¬ 
what in the manner of some of the feathers of the 
ostrich and the peacock, and appear some like hairs 
and glossy silk. The legs are covered on the out¬ 
side to the toes. Individuals of this sort differ in 
respect to color, as in other varieties; some are pure 
white, and others of a dingy-brown; and all of 
them with dark-colored legs, nor are the legs al¬ 
ways feathered. This bird is indigenous in Japan, 
where it is much prized, and is also found in China, 
where they are frequently offered in cages for sale 
to the Europeans. The skin and bones are said to 
be black, which gives it, when cooked, an unfavor¬ 
able appearance, on which account it is in disrepute.” 
A CHAPTER ON GRASSES.—No 1. 
Things which Farmers’ Boys ought to know .— 
/imong the many things which farmers’ boys 
should be familiar with, not the least important ap¬ 
pears to be a knowledge of the names, properties, 
and uses, of the plants they cultivate; for why 
should they, with eyes to see, and understandings 
to comprehend the wonderful variety and beauty 
of the vegetable creation, which comes under their 
daily notice, be as ignorant of their nature as the 
animals for whose use they are planted and gath¬ 
ered ? It is a bold assertion, but perhaps not far 
fiom the truth, that farming is rapidly advancing to 
the rank of a science ; but if it is ever to be so con¬ 
sidered, it must be by farmers becoming acquainted 
with those sciences, without whose aid they can 
never hope to be more than mere tillers of the soil. 
At the head of these are chemistry, mineralogy, and 
botany. If my very humble efforts in these numbers 
to awaken an interest in the pursuit of natural science 
among the younger members of the agricultural 
community are crowned with the least success, and 
tend to induce some one better qualified for the 
task to continue what I have begun, I shall have 
reason to feel peculiarly gratified. 
Of the natural Order Grammece, or true grasses, 
there are believed to be about 2,000 species, 
or nearly one-twentieth part of the whole num¬ 
ber of flowering plants, known at present to 
botanists. Of these a large proportion are, directly 
or indirectly, useful to man ; and the almost uni¬ 
versal distribution of grasses wherever the human 
foot has trod, seems to warrant the assertion, that 
they are the most important of any known tribe of 
plants—if not more so than all other groups of 
vegetable productions ; the nutritious herbage, and 
the farinaceous albumen of the seeds, constituting 
the chief support of man, and the herbivorous ani¬ 
mals, whether domesticated, or left free to be hunted 
at will, for food or raiment. Generally humble in 
appearance, and low in stature—seldom rising more 
than a few feet from the ground—there is little to 
remind one of their vast importance in the scale of 
organized creation—the bamboos, and a few other 
tropical species, alone rising to the height of trees. 
They grow in every soil and climate—on land and 
in water—in the torrid zone, and the frozen wastes 
of Spitzbergen—and on the rocky declivities of our 
northern Andes, they flourish, almost oil the con¬ 
fines of the region of eternal snow. Under the 
equator they grow, like other plants, singly, or 
nearly so; while in the temperate climes of the 
northern hemisphere, they cover vast districts, to 
the almost total exclusion of every other species of 
vegetation. 
My subject being slightly scientific, I shall 
write in very short chapters, for fear of tiring the 
boys with dry matter and hard names, so this will 
do for the present. In m’y next I shall explain 
what true grass is, and give some account of its 
different varieties. My articles will require some 
study from the boys ; but inasmuch as I intend io 
make them very wise on these matters before we 
get through, I hope they will bear it patiently, and 
continue with me to the end. M. G. 
POULTRY FEEDING FOUNTAIN.-Fio. 7. 
scanty existence from the dung-heap ; and, as for 
water, they do not think of providing it at ah, though 
all the ponds and aqueducts may be frozen up, ren¬ 
dering it impossible for the poor birds to get a drop 
to quench their burning thirst; for thirst they have 
in winter as well as summer—just as much, boys, 
as you. This cut will be explained in our next. 
