336 
A POULTRY HOUSE. 
climate better. It is yet a mooted question whether 
the Bermuda ripens its seed in this latitude. I 
will examine it carefully this season, and if I find 
matured seed, will send you some. I know not 
where Mesquit grass can be obtained. I send you 
three samples of Bermuda—one of long grass, of 
upright growth from the meadow, just coming in 
blossom—the other from an upland pasture—and 
the third, a stalk that I pulled off the surface of 
the ground, to show you how it spread, and how 
admirably it is adapted for embankments. On a 
piece of good meadow land, this grass stands in a 
solid mat—so close are the stalks, and so thickly 
interwoven are the leaves, that when cut with the 
scythe it very frequently stands erect. I feel very 
confident that it is the most highly nutritious 
grass known to us. From the specimens I send 
you, you will readily understand how such enor¬ 
mous crops of hay are cut from meadows of this 
grass—observe the great solidity and weight of the 
stem. In curing, it loses less weight than any 
grass I ever, saw—and affords three cuttings, 
yielding an aggregate of from five to eight tons of 
hay, from a moderately good meadow. 
I have said enough, however, to convince any 
planter who wishes to form pastures for his almost 
starved stock, or to do away with the necessity of 
pulling fodder, work so destructive to the health 
of his negroes, that he ought at least to make the 
experiment. And as a proof that I am willing to 
aid in spreading this treasure over the naked hills 
of the south, I will willingly forward to any planter, 
who is a subscriber to two agricultural journals , 
one of which is published in the state in which he 
resides , on his applying to me post-paid , a barrel 
of roots of this grass, which would, in one season, 
cover a large extent of ground. To the river 
planter it is absolutely invaluable—there is not a 
levee on the banks of the Mississippi could resist, 
for one hour, the pressure and attrition of the fear¬ 
ful flood now rolling along, but for their being 
bound together by this grass. 
A POULTRY HOUSE.— Fig.62. 
The above cut of a Fowl-House adorns the title 
page of Mr. Bement’s Poulterer’s Companion. It 
is copied from that at Windsor, belonging to Queen 
Victoria and is thus described by the London Pic¬ 
torial Times. 
It is a semi-gothic building, of simple and ap¬ 
propriate beauty. It consists of a centre pavilion, 
used for inspecting the fowls, crowned on the top 
by an elegant dove-cote, and on the sides, of wings 
capable of symmetric extension, in which are 
laced the model roosting-houses, and laying and 
reeding nests of the fowls. The ground, in 
front, slopes toward the Park, and is enclosed and 
divided, by light wire fences, into separate wards, 
for the run, or daily exercise of the birds. In¬ 
side these wards, gravel-walks, bordered by grass 
plots, lead to the entrances of the fowl-house. In 
the proportions, distributions, and fittings of the 
apartments of this house, considerable knowledge 
of the habits, with a corresponding and most com¬ 
mendable regard to the conveniences of their 
granivorous tenants, has been displayed; the 
chambers are spacious, airy, and of an equal and 
rather warm temperature, which accords with 
their original habits, and their nests are made as 
far as possible to resemble the dark bramble-cov¬ 
ered recesses of their original jungles. In this 
particular. Queen Victoria has set a good example 
to the farmers, who too often follow the false 
routine of their fathers, rather than consult the 
habits and obey the natural instincts of the animals 
about them. 
