230 
KEEPING FOWLS IN WINTER.—EGGS HATCHING AFTER TRANSPORTATION. 
That these properties, if possessed by the breed? 
must be imparted to their progeny in a far greater 
degree than would be the ease from any horse 
selected as a stallion from our own mixed stock, 
even if he possessed them all in a superior degree, 
must be evident to any one acquainted with the 
true principles of breeding—from the fact that they 
have been kept a distinct breed for ages. To you 
I need not enlarge on this important fact. I could 
add a great deal more about the fine condition in 
which these diligence horses are always kept in 
spite of hard driving and worse grooming—about 
the great age they sometimes attain; the rarity of 
spavins, windgalls, or other blemishes of the limbs, 
but you might think I was coloring too highly, and 
besides I should never get to the main part of the 
story—the importation. 
“On my next visit to France, in the winter of 
1838 and ’9, I set about making the necessary in¬ 
vestigations in regard to purchasing, shipping, &c., 
and sometime in the month of April I had collect¬ 
ed at Havre two stallions and two mares; one of 
the stallions on examination did not please me and 
I got rid of him at a sacrifice. The remaining 
stallion was a fine animal of two years old, as I 
had been informed by my agent that stallions over 
that age could not be exported. It appeared after¬ 
ward that the Jaw to that effect had recently been 
repealed, an error which I had reason to regret, as 
the stallion died on the passage, from a cold which 
fell on his lungs, owing probably to his having been 
too tenderly raised. When I got my horses on 
board the ship, I could not procure a suitable per¬ 
son to go with them and was obliged to hire one 
of the Swiss passengers going out in the vessel 
who said he had been accustomed to horses. Not 
feeling satisfied with this arrangement, I deter¬ 
mined on the eve of the vessels sailing to go out 
with them myself. The horses all took cold from 
a sudden change in the temperature, and required 
much attention, the stallion dying before the end 
of the voyage which lasted thirty-six days. The 
mares remained a few days in New York to re¬ 
cover from the effects of the voyage, but as I did 
not consider them in a fit condition to travel to my 
farm, I sent them on by the railroad. The next 
day I had the mortification to learn that one of 
them had her leg broken by the giving way of the 
bottom of the car. So that after all my trouble and 
expense I had but one mare left. Determined not 
to give the matter up—in three weeks from my 
arrival in New York I was on my way back in the 
Great Western to look up another cargo. I ar¬ 
rived in good time for the Fair of Guibray, one of 
the principal fairs in Normandy, and purchased 
four more, two stallions and two mares. This 
time I was not obliged to go out with them, as I 
procured an excellent fellow to take charge of them. 
The horses as before were all sick, but by strict at¬ 
tention to the directions he had received from the 
veterinary surgeon and his great care of them, he 
carried them safely through. The loss of one of 
the mares, which died of apoplexy a year ago, is 
the only additional misfortune I have to record. 
Everything goes on as well as I could wish. Dil¬ 
igence pays his way handsomely and his oldest 
colts which are a year past, are of excellent 
promise, and I feel no regret in the retrospect of 
the difficulties encountered nor of the money ex¬ 
pended. If I should receive no further reward, the 
battering notice of my horse Diligence by your so¬ 
ciety, and the uncommon patronage he has re¬ 
ceived from my neighbors the three past seasons, 
will always be remembered by me with the great¬ 
est satisfaction.” 
All writers whom we have read on the subject 
of the Norman horse, agree as to his merits; and 
there can be no doubt that it is one of the hardiest 
and most useful breeds to be found. Some of their 
Canadian descendants, however, are not so small 
as generally represented. We have often exam¬ 
ined with much satisfaction, a grey Canadian stal¬ 
lion now standing on Long Island, 1.5^ hands (62 
inches) high, weighing about 1200 lbs., that can 
trot a mile in 3£ minutes, walk 5 miles easily in 
an hour, and is of great power at a dead pull. The 
portrait of Diligence above would be a very good 
one of him, save that his grey is not so handsomely 
mottled, and he has much less hair about the legs. 
We hope that Mr. Harris’ horse will be well pa¬ 
tronised, for he deserves it; at the same time, we 
think there is now and then a Canadian, and what 
is commonly called the Poney Dutch breed which 
are highly valuable, and should be sought out and 
extensively used as improvers of the hardy, endur¬ 
ing horse of all work. 
KEEPING FOWLS IN WINTER. 
I have had a large number of eggs the past 
winter, from following in part the advice I have 
seen in your and other papers. I have kept my 
fowls in a warm place, have given them as much 
grain as they wanted, always keeping it where 
they could get it when they wished ; having also a 
box containing gravel, lime, and ashes, which they 
could pick at or roll in, and furnishing them with 
graves or scraps, which is a substance obtained 
in large quantities from the melting association of 
this city. Of this substance they are extremely 
fond, and it made them lay prodigiously. An¬ 
imal food appears to be so essential to fowls while 
laying that I shall never pretend hereafter to keep 
fowls" in the winter without it. 
Henry A. Field. 
New York, June , 1844. 
EGGS HATCHING AFTER TRANSPORTATION. 
There is a general opinion that eggs carried any 
distance, especially over -water, will not hatch. 
The experience of a neighbor of mine this spring, 
proves it to be erroneous, if the eggs are fresh. 
In the beginning of April he brought from New 
Jersey, fourteen hen’s eggs, packed in a basket 
with oats. He came up the Hudson river in a 
steamboat to Albany, and thence by railroad to 
this place. A week after his return, he put them 
under a hen, and each egg produced a chicken, 
all but one of which are now living. 
Charles H. Tomlinson. 
Schenectady , 6th June, 1844. 
