348 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
HOW ABOUT THAT D10SC0REA BATATAS ? 
Mr. Editor : Can you give me any account of 
the present prospects of the Chinese Yam or Dios- 
corea Batatas'! I planted twelve “tubers” last 
Spring, (which cost me $10.) Can it be that being 
natives of China they have started for home! I 
certainly have not seen any thing of them on this 
side of the earth. Your afflicted subscriber, 
P. I. 
Sing Sing, New-York. 
We cannot answer our correspondent as to his 
Dioscoreas. We planted some last June that cost 
us much less money, and dug two of them on 
Thanksgiving Day. One was 21 inches long, and 
the other 24—and it would doubtless have been a 
good deal longer, but at that depth it struck a 
stone and “flatted out.” Our largest yam was 
about the diameter of the lore finger. From 
what was said of them last spring, we don’t see 
any use in planting them, for who can be at the 
necessary expense of digging! Our artist has il¬ 
lustrated that matter above.— Ed. 
WINTER CARE OE POULTRY. 
The sharp frosts of December are upon all 
the tenants of the poultry-yard, if perchance 
there be such a yard upon the farmer's prem¬ 
ises. Too often, poor biddy has no particu¬ 
lar spot where she may rest the sole of her 
foot. Useful as she is acknowledged to be, 
the sure harbinger of omelets, custards, pies, 
and cakes, she has no snug territory she 
can call her own, where dogs and hogs are 
banished, and chanticleer struts the undis¬ 
puted lord of her affections, She is left to 
shift for herself, to roost in the hovel, or sta¬ 
ble, or possibly to watch the stars upon an 
apple tree. The consequence of this neg¬ 
lect is, that, she stops laying when the snow 
comes, and the farmer's visions of high liv¬ 
ing at Christmas and New-Year’s are not 
always realized. Sensible bird, she has her 
reserved rights, like other bipeds, and in the 
last extremity backs down upon them and 
cuts off the supplies. 
She pleads precedent, and finds the world 
full of argument upon her side, from the 
days when “ bricks without straw,” were 
required, to our own. The fact is, Gentle¬ 
men and Ladies of the poultry-yard, it is not 
in hen nature to bear up under neglect, 
abuse, and freezing, without making some 
demonstration of their sentiments. “ Hens 
don’t aller’s lay,” as Mrs. Bunker says. 
But they can be made to lay in the win¬ 
ter months, and be kept with more profit 
then, than in the summer. Eggs always 
bear a high price in the three months that 
are before us—two, three, and four cents a 
piece, by the quantity. A first essential to 
good laying is a warm, well ventilated, and 
well kept poultry house. - It should be on the 
south side of a hill, if there be one, half of it 
under ground, with well glazed windows 
looking out to the sun. Here in clear days 
the hens can lie in the sun, and roll in the 
dirt and ashes, after their summer habits. 
No snow or wet can reach them. If this 
retreat adjoins the swill room, and can have 
a little of its artificial heat as well as its 
provender, it will be all the better. Hens 
belong to a warmer climate than ours, and 
warmth is essential to successful laying. 
Such a house, too, will be a good hospital 
for the late hatched broods that will almost 
always happen, like mistakes in the best 
regulated families. The sheltered sun 
beams will 
“ Revive the languid chick, and warm the blood 
“ Of cold-nipped weaklings of the latter brood, 
“ That from the shell just bursting into day. 
“ Around the yard pursue their venturous way.” 
These doubtless are not very profitable 
stock, but when once hatched, humanity 
pleads for them, and they must be cared for. 
But a poultry house will not take care of 
itself. It needs a little oversight of the 
owner every day or two, even with the best 
servants to manage the details. It is very 
essential that their droppings should be re¬ 
moved, or treated with deodorizers, so that 
ammonia will not escape from them. This 
powerful gas is evolved in large quantity 
from the excrements of well fed fowls, and 
is, we believe, more frequently the cause of 
disease among them than anything else. It 
affects the eyes, and leads to terrible swel¬ 
ling about the head and throat. It affects 
the lungs, and leads to sudden deaths. Plas¬ 
ter of Paris, muck, charcoal dust &c., are 
good absorbents, and should be frequently 
scattered in the roosts. Ashes or lime should 
never be used. j 
Now for the feeding. Let it be generous, | 
frequent, and varied. Hens must have some 
animal food in order to do their best in win¬ 
ter, and also some green food. Butcher’s 
offal, or the refuse of the fish market will be 
just the thing. Cabbage leaves, or turnips 
chopped fine and mixed with the meal will 
answer for the vegetable diet. Boiled po¬ 
tatoes, mixed with meal, and given warm 
every morning will soon make the combs 
redden, and the eggs will follow. Broken 
oyster shells, or old lime plaster should al¬ 
ways be kept within reach. They also want 
a variety of grain, and the more the better. 
We have used the sweepings of grain stores 
for years for this purpose, a mixture of 
wheat, rye, oats, and corn. It has always 
done well. 
Fowls treated in this way will lay eggs 
abundantly all winter, and will pay a large 
profit. The only reason why they have so 
poor a reputation upon some farms is the 
fact, that they are grossly neglected. Treat 
the fowls well, and they will show their 
gratitude in nests heaped high with snowy 
white eggs.— Ed. 
TM BUNKER ON HORSE-RACING. 
Our cut illustrating an “ Orthodox Agri¬ 
cultural Exhibition in 1857,” appears to have 
touched the right cord. We are glad to 
learn that it has met with such favor among 
our orthodox subscribers in Hookertown, 
and vicinity. We give Mr. Bunker’s letter 
entire. 
Hookertown, Nov. 12, 1856. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
I am not much used to writing letters of 
any kind, much less letters for Che papers. 
But I see you are reporting considerable 
many of my sayings in your paper, and I 
thought if you were bent upon having my 
notions circulated, you might as well have 
them direct from the fountain-head, as to 
have them come in a round-about-way. I 
just want to say that there is nothing come 
out lately, that has struck the fancy of the 
Hookertown people like that cut of the 
horse-race, in the last paper. At first I did 
not know but you was coming out in favor 
of these fast colts and “whurraboys” at 
our fairs, and I begun to think I should have 
to drop the paper, if that was the case. You 
see horse-racing is an institution agin which 
Connecticut people are dead set upon prin¬ 
ciple, and it is no kind of use to attempt to 
revive that old engine of the enemy in this 
enlightened age, even under the cover of an 
agricultural fair. 
We have got a great notion of the County 
and State Societies, and of the Fairs that 
come off every fall. They please our vani¬ 
ty somewhat, and are doing a heap of good, 
in waking folks up to a better kind of farm¬ 
ing. All sorts of folks come to them, and 
the better part of the community especially. 
It seems as if we had got one thing that we 
could all be agreed on. There is a consid¬ 
erable split on religion, and politics always 
stirs up a deal of bad feeling, especially such 
an exciting election as this we have just had. 
Now it seems to me that these fairs are just 
what we want to draw all kinds of people 
together, and to keep up good neighborhood. 
