112 
DORKING-FOWLS, 
sugar-cane are perpetual in their growth, and 
when once planted, will continue for half a centu¬ 
ry and yield a crop every year. Tobacco is culti¬ 
vated in great abundance, and of the finest quality 
in the world. Three or four crops are gathered a 
year from the same stalks, which renders the busi¬ 
ness doubly profitable to its cultivation in the Uni¬ 
ted States. Two crops of Indian corn are raised 
in a year from the same ground, with no other cul¬ 
tivation than preparing the soil, planting the seed, 
and gathering the crop. By the ordinary mode of 
culture, an acre of land will produce about twenty 
bushels. An experiment was made in this neigh¬ 
borhood, however, the year past by an Irish far¬ 
mer, who adopted our northern mode of tillage, 
and he produced six hundred bushels from twenty 
acres of ground. The ordinary price of corn here 
is about $2 per bushel. When our northern com 
is planted here, the character of its product be¬ 
comes somewhat changed. The ears are not one 
half of the length they usually have in the United 
States, and they are thickly clad with husks. 
They are so rapid in their groAvth that they are fit 
to boil or roast only for a few hours. Some of 
these peculiarities may account for the scanty crops 
produced on the island. 
Another considerable source of industry here, is 
the culture of the yucca , which is manufactured 
into cassavi , and substituted for bread among all 
classes of the inhabitants. Although a deadly 
poison in the crude state, the roots and stalks of 
this plant, when rasped into a pulp, formed into 
discs or cakes about two feet in diameter, and one- 
fifth of an inch thick, and then roasted or baked, 
become a wholesome article of food, resembling 
bread in its character, and is of great importance 
in the economy of this island. But what is of 
still more importance, and upon which nearly all 
the lower classes depend for their chief support, 
is the plantain. It is boiled, roasted, or cooked in 
a variety of other ways, and is often eaten raw. 
It is preferred by the colored population to bread, 
and appears to be equally wholesome and nutri¬ 
tious. It is often eaten by the higher classes as a 
substitute for potatoes. 
Many of our garden vegetables become changed 
in their character when cultivated here. For in¬ 
stance, the tomato does not grow to one fourth of 
the size that it does at the north; but this deficiency 
is made up in the richness of its quality. The on¬ 
ion thrives well, but it loses nearly all of its acrid 
taste and becomes sweet. Hence the people here 
prefer the northern onions to season their food. 
The potato grows small and watery, and runs 
mostly to tops, and is but little cultivated. Sweet 
potatoes ( bonatos) grow in great abundance, and 
are of a fine quality. 
D. J. Browne, Civil Engineer . 
Dorking-Fowls.—(Fig. 26.) 
The Property of Francis Rotch, Esq., Butternuts , Otsego Co., N. Y. 
We here give a cut of a group of Dorkings, from 
the pencil of a gifted amateur, and we hope that 
he will pardon our publication of his little explana¬ 
tory note accompanying it. As for the engraving, 
