1877 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
59 
f. 
Fig. 3. 
MAGGIE STEWART. 
Boydeu Farm, Irvington, N. J., which was said to 
have milked 6,500 quarts in 347 days. The es¬ 
cutcheon of this cow, given in figure 2, is taken 
from a sketch made at the time she was exhibited. 
At figure 3, is given the escutcheon of Maggie 
Stewart, a prize Ayrshire cow, imported from Scot¬ 
land by Mr. Wm, Crozier, Northport, N. Y., whose 
portrait was given in the American Agriculturist of 
January. This cow milks 26 quarts when fresh, 
and, if permitted, will continue to milk until she 
calves. We have found 
many other good es¬ 
cutcheons upon first class 
cows, but many more first 
class cows having es¬ 
cutcheons that do not 
come up to the standard. 
In grades, the failures 
are most numerous, and 
while the truth of Mr. 
• Guenon’s theory may be 
conceded to some extent, 
as regards cows of a pure 
and distinct breed, yet as 
regards cows of mixed 
blood it is doubtful. On 
the whole, it may perhaps 
. be safe to conclude that if 
the escutcheon is possessed by a cow having all the 
other marks of a first class milker, it is to be taken 
as additional testimony as to her capacity, but the 
escutcheon alone, in the absence of other marks, 
cannot be depended upon. Nor is a cow, that pos¬ 
sesses all the other marks of good character, to be 
rejected solely because the escutcheon is not of the 
first class or order. Those who would study this 
subject, which cannot be presented in full or in 
convenient form in a journal, are referred to M. 
Guenon’s book, with the title above given. 
Plan for a Poultry-House. 
The plan here given, for which we are indebted 
to J. M. N. Heed, Erie, Pa., is arranged for keeping 
two different breeds of fowls. The elevation is 
shown at figure 1, and the ground plan at figure 2. 
It is 8 x 20 feet on the ground, 10 feet high in front, 
and 7 feet in the rear; it is divided into two roost¬ 
ing and laying rooms each 8 ft. square, and a room 
for sitting hens and collecting eggs, 4 ft. by 8. 
These apartments are separated from one another 
by slatted partitions, and communicate by means 
of a door placed in each partition, just over the 
boxes, the top-board of the nests being used as a 
step to the door. The open work partitions al¬ 
low the free passage of air to all parts of the house. 
There is a window in each roosting-room, of six 8 
x 10 panes of glass; a small sliding door opens 
from each room into the yards. From the sitting 
room there is a door two feet wide, opening to the 
middle yard, where the young broods are confined. 
This yard should be made close, to prevent the 
chicks from getting out; it should also have laths 
foot wide, with strips tacked on the edges, project¬ 
ing two inches above the upper side of the board, 
Fig. 2.— PLAN OF POULTRY-HOUSE AND YARDS. 
to catch the droppings, thus securing a clean place 
to feed the fowls in winter, and for them to scratch 
The nests consist of two boxes, each 8 feet 
Fig. 3.—ARRANGEMENT OF NESTS, 
long, 14 inches wide, and 18 inches deep, and di¬ 
vided into 8 nests. These are placed along each 
partition inside of the sitting-room. Figure 3 shows 
the manner of constructing the nests; a board nine 
inches wide is placed along each side of the box, 
leaving an opening 9 x 11 inches on each side of 
every nest, one opening into the layirig-room, the 
other into the sitting-room, one of these is always 
closed by means of a sliding door. When the hens 
are all laying, the nests are kept open towards the 
laying-room, but when a hen broods, the door of 
the nest she occupies is changed to the other side, 
thus separating her from the others without dis¬ 
turbing her. Eggs are collected from the sitting- 
room by raising the door of each nest. This man¬ 
ner of constructing the nests is an excellent one, 
although not new. 
A Useful Forage Plant—Durra—Sorghum. 
The plant we are about to describe is far 
from being new to this country, but it is quite 
as important to point out a new use for an old 
plant, as it is to introduce an entire novelty, 
and we hope at the same time to clear up some 
Fig. 1.— VIEW OF POUl,TRY-HOUSE. 
over the top, to prevent cats from getting in. Two 
roosts run the length of each roosting-room, and 
two others should be placed low down in the sit¬ 
ting-room, out of the way of the doors, these latter 
roosts which are not shown in the plan, are for the 
young chickens to roost on before they are old 
enough to be put with the other flocks. About 
gix inches below each roost is placed a board one 
of the confusion of 
names by which it has 
become surrounded, 
in part the result of 
accident, and in part 
by persons who would 
sell an old plant under 
a new name. As 
the most appropriate 
among the several 
common names of the 
plant, we select Dur¬ 
ra, for reasons to 
be given present¬ 
ly. Botanically it is Sorghum tulgare, prob¬ 
ably a native of Africa, but it has been in 
cultivation, especially in Eastern countries, so 
long, that its origin is not certainly known. 
Sorghum vulgare is a remarkably variable spe¬ 
cies, nearly as much so as Indian Corn—indeed 
in some respects more variable, For though 
the Maize differs wonderfully in size and color, 
its uses are the same, while Sorghum, having 
been long cultivated for quite different pur¬ 
poses, presents distinct races, that are grown 
for distinct uses. Thus in Africa, and parts of 
India, it is cultivated for its grain, which is 
largely consumed as food, and some tribes or 
communities depend largely upon it for suste¬ 
nance. It has also been cultivated for food in 
southern Europe, and other warm countries, as 
“ Indian Millett,” and under other names, and 
a number of grain-bearing varieties, differing 
in the size and shape of the head, and color of 
the seed have been the result. In China, and 
Cochin China, where rice forms the chief fari¬ 
naceous food, Sorghum was little needed for its 
grain, but attention being directed to the sweet 
juice of its stalk, it was cultivated to develope 
its saccharine qualities only, to the neglect of 
the grain, hence several sugar yielding varieties 
were in time established, the number of these 
increased still more in the islands of the Pacific, 
and in Africa also several of these sweet stalk¬ 
ed varieties are known. A number of these 
sugar, or rather syrup-yielding Sorghums, have 
been introduced into this country, and are still 
more or less cultivated as Sorghum or Sorgho. 
Still another race, or set of varieties, valued for 
neither their grain, nor their sweet juice, but 
solely for the long, fine, elastic branches to the 
flower cluster, are known as Broom-corn. In 
the grain bearing Sorghums, the branches of 
the panicle or flower-cluster are but little over 
an inch long, and these are stout and thick, to 
bear the weight of seeds, while in the finest 
broom-corn, these reach a length of 20 inches 
or more, and very slender. Where the selec¬ 
tion and cultivation with a view to develop this 
peculiarity first commenced, is not well known, 
but this country has done much to improve it, 
and the Broom-corn of the present day is great¬ 
ly superior to that of 50 years ago, a marked 
change having been wrought in the plant 
within the observation of many now living. 
Many of our readers may find it difficult to 
conceive that the Indian Millett, the Sugar Sor¬ 
ghum, and Broom-corn, are all forms of one 
and the same plant; botanists have endeavored 
to separate them, and to make three or four 
species; there is much confusion in regard to 
them in the older botanical works, for the rea¬ 
son that there are no good distinctions by which 
to separate into several species what are really 
but one. It is true that the three races are un¬ 
like, perhaps more in uses than in appearance, 
but not so much unlike as the kale, cabbage, 
cauliflower, and kohl-rabi, which people gener ¬ 
ally accept as being merely forms of the sapie 
plant. Leaving the Sorgho and Broom-corn 
varieties out of the question, we would call at¬ 
tention to the grain producing form, which be¬ 
sides “ Indian Millett,” has also been called 
“ Great Millett,” “ Guinea-corn,” “ Negro Gui¬ 
nea-corn,” and “ Chocolate-corn,” for English 
names; it has also a set of African names: 
“Durra,” “ Doora,” “Doura,” “Dora,” “Da¬ 
na,” “ Jowaru,” and “ Jondla.” As the plant 
is likely to attract some attention, we prefer— 
among all these names—to call it Durra. There 
are already two well known millets, which 
make confusion enough with the name, with¬ 
out adding a third. “ Guinea- corn ” has already 
been confounded with “ Guinea-grass,” a re¬ 
lated, but entirely different grass. “ Durra,” 
either by itself, or “ Durra-corn,” is a name al¬ 
ready known for the plant in some localities, 
and one to which we see no objection. We pre¬ 
fer simply Durra to Durra-corn, as we can see 
no need of two names when one will answer, „ 
