20 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
AN INQUISITION FOE STOLEN FKUIT. 
In Mr. Gunning’s Sketcher, a new English 
book, he tells a story of Dr. Ogden, the Professor 
of Geology : 
The Doctor had taken a great fancy to a lad 
who had been in his service three or four years; 
he was much pleased with his management of a 
garden which was attached to his house, and of 
which he was particularly fond. A cherry tree, 
which had been planted some time, and which 
should have produced very choice fruit, had 
constantly failed. To the Doctor’s great delight 
it at last showed signs of bearing, and about a 
dozen cherries after a while began to assume a 
tempting appearance. Returning one day from 
his ride, he missed some of his cherries, and 
accused the boy of having taken them. “ I 
have not touched them,” replied the boy, “ as 
true as God’s in heaven,” (a very common mode 
of assertion among inferior people at that time.) 
“That’s a good lad! sit thee down, and I’ll give 
thee a glass of wine for thou would’st not tell 
me a lie! Going to his closet, he put a pretty 
strong dose of antimonial wine into a glass, 
which the boy drank off, and was preparing to 
leave the room, but his master kept him in con¬ 
versation. At length the boy was making a 
hasty retreat, saying he did not feel well. “ Do 
not quit the room,” said the Doctor, “sit thee 
down; thou wilt soon be better;” and ringing 
the bell, he ordered a jug of warm water, which 
he administered very freely, at the same time 
providing a basin. The cherries soon made 
their appearance, to the great consternation of 
the lad. “Where’s the God in heaven?” said 
the Doctor. “Thou miscreant! get thee out of 
my house!” He quitted it the same day, but 
not until the Doctor had showed him his will, in 
which he had left him £200. 
every possible foreign substance. The particu¬ 
lar circumstance to which we now refer, as 
proving this, was the exhibition to us yesterday 
by John P. Wild, an entomologist of this city, 
of two large indigestible balls found in the 
stomach of a diseased cow. The balls are 
specimens of thirteen such taken from the sto¬ 
machs of two different cows that died near 
Louisville, Ky.—four balls from one and nine 
from the other cow. The largest of these balls 
is almost perfectly globular, and nearly the size 
of the mapped globe ordinarily used in the 
schools, being about 16 to 20 inches in circum¬ 
ference and nine or ten in diameter. The small¬ 
est is more of an egg form, and is, in diameter 
about four inches one way and three the other. 
These balls appear to be entirely composed of 
hogs’ bristles or hair, and were taken into the 
stomach with pasturage from a grass lot where 
bristles from the hogs killed in a pork-packing 
establishment were spread regularly for drying. 
It was not until after one of the cows had died 
from this cause, that the circumstance of their 
swallowing the bristles was known, or rather 
that the lodgment in the stomach, and gradual 
accumulation of so indigestible a substance was 
dreamed of. The compact globular form which 
the bristles assumed is attributed to the con¬ 
stantly revolving movement of the cow’s food, 
during the process of what is commonly called 
“ chewing the cud.” In the hog-packing re¬ 
gions of the West, or in the vicinity of curled 
hair manufactories, where the hair of the hog, 
&c., is steamed and curled tightly into that form 
which fits it for cushions and mattresses,) it 
will be seen that there may always be danger to 
animals from this cause, unless it be duly pro¬ 
vided against. 
ARTIFICIAL CHICKEN HATCHING. 
the occasion on which it was used—of “ Every 
one for himself,” as the donkey said when he 
danced among the chickens—to prevent serious 
doings in that miniature poultry yard. 
The eggs are half embedded in sand, which is 
placed over the tubes, charged with hot water, 
so that it is an under heat which performs the 
hatching. Mr. Minasi informed us, that from 
being thus embedded, the same heat only as 
that of the hen is required ; whereas, in incu¬ 
bators in which the eggs are not so embedded, 
the heat is obliged to be greater, from which 
the chickens suffer in strength. 
The naphtha consumed during the three 
weeks of incubation is about a gallon, which 
may be purchased for 3s. Gd.—Poultry Chroni¬ 
cle. 
Wheat in California. —The Union states 
that since they commenced threshing on the 
ranch of Messrs. Hutchington and Green, on 
Putha Creek, Yolo County, the Superintendent, 
Captain Clary, measured ten acres, forty rods 
square, hauled the wheat to the machine, 
threshed and weighed it. The weight was 
forty thousand and four pounds, which, at sixty 
pounds to the bushel, give sixty-six and two- 
thirds bushels of wheat to the acre. This is 
a larger yield per acre than we have ever known 
taken off the same quantity of land. 
Hon. S. P. Benson, in a letter to a friend, 
says:—That on a very rough approximation, 
the amount invested in agriculture in the 
United States, does not fall short of $5,000,000,- 
000, (five billions,) and that the capital in man¬ 
ufactures and commerce together, cannot possi¬ 
bly be more than one-fifth of that amount. In 
a new volume of the census, I intend an exam¬ 
ination of this matter. 
AMERICAN BRAHMAS. 
We would respectfully inform our English 
friends and readers of the “Farmer,” that the 
idea prevalent to some extent in England, that 
Brahma fowls existed there previous to being 
sent by Dr. Bennett, is a mistake. Mrs. Hosier 
Williams, of Eaton Mascott, near Shrewsberry, 
received direct from Dr. B. the first pair intro¬ 
duced into England, and her acknowledgment 
of the same shows that, at least, she had never 
heard of that breed, nor had she ever seen any 
like them before, although an extensive fowl- 
fancier, and acquainted with all the breeds fa¬ 
vorably known in England. 
The origin of these fowls can never be traced 
farther than has already been developed, true 
or fabulous, and at this late day it is quite use¬ 
less to attempt to arrive at any new facts per¬ 
taining thereto. We profess to know about as 
much in regard to their origin as any one, 
having heard the views and statements of all 
parties from the beginning to the present day. 
We, therefore, are prepared to make the follow¬ 
ing statements, and we challenge any man to 
prove us in error. 
1st. That no Brahma Pootra fowls have ever 
been imported into the U. S., or any other 
country from China or Asia, since the alleged 
importation of three pairs to the city of New- 
York in 1850, from one of which it is alleged 
all the Brahmas have originated, now in this 
country, or in England. 
2d. That no such fowls are known to exist in 
China, or Asia, at the present time. 
When we say Brahma fowls, we do not mean 
grey Shanghaes, as it is quite probable that cer- 
grey fowls may have been imported from China; 
and we refer to fowls with cream-white bodies, 
dark wing and tail tips, and neck hackles of the 
same hue. 
It is of no consequence now how they ori¬ 
ginated, as a knowledge of that matter cannot 
change them in the least; but it is certain that 
a pure Brahma fowl was never seen in England 
till sent there from the United States.— North¬ 
ern Farmer . 
Gurneyism as Applied to Grazing. —About 
two years since the spirited owners of the 
Pinchbeck Flax Rettery, near Spalding, Lin¬ 
colnshire, requiring additional space upon which 
to dry their flax, applied to the proprietor of 
an adjoining arable field of 20 acres for its use. 
Being a thoughtful farmer, somewhat of the 
old school, and a clever man of business, he 
did not forget what “ spreading flax” did for 
land forty years ago; and desiring to retain 
his land, as also to accommodate his neighbors, 
he at length made a proposal which has proved 
advantageous to both. The land was let upon 
lease for 21 years, divided into four equal parts, 
and laid down to grass—the proprietor to retain 
the use of the grass. One of these divisions is 
at all times, and in alternate courses, to be 
cleared for the stock ; and no flax is to remain 
on the ground to dry longer than 14 days, so 
that the drying, clearing, and stocking shall 
proceed as uniformly as possible. In this way 
it frequently follows that more than one part is 
at liberty to receive the stock ; but more gener¬ 
ally three parts are under the flax in its various 
stages, and only one stocked. The great fact, 
however, is this: that, notwithstanding tram¬ 
ways and trampling, laying out and gathering 
in, &c., this field of 20 acres has well and satis¬ 
factorily grazed during the summer no less 
than 267 large, loug-wooled, hogget sheep. 
Surely this is great proof of the value of the 
system ; it ought to be more extensively tried, 
and proper results given, both experimentally 
and scientifically. 
A Singular Danger of Cattle.— Our at¬ 
tention was yesterday called to one of the most 
remarkable dangers attending the pasturage of 
cattle, in the western country especially, of 
which we have ever heard. The facts which 
we will state show the great necessity there is 
at all times for farmers and others to be most 
careful and prudent in providing clean pasturage 
for their animals, and for resorting to all pre¬ 
cautions for detecting in and excluding from 
fodder and provender generally, which is to be 
fed out to or come within the reach of stock. 
We notice in the English papers, that quite 
an improvement on the old plan of chicken 
hatching has been made by a Mr. Carlo Minasi, 
requiring much less attention to the machine 
during the process of incubation than formerly. 
This was the great objection to all previously 
constructed hatching machines. It may now 
go three days without attention; formerly it 
could be scarcely left three hours. 
This new incubator is a very simple contri¬ 
vance, and can, consequently, be constructed at 
about one-fourth of the expense formerly re¬ 
quired. The practical results are equally satis¬ 
factory, for he states that the average number 
of birds produced is eighty out of every one 
hundred eggs. The necessary heat is obtained 
from a naphtha lamp, without a wick, which is 
so arranged that it may be left to itself for two 
or three days together, and yet the process of 
hatching goes on with due regularity and cer¬ 
tainty. The eggs are placed on a series of 
tubes, through which a stream of hot water is, 
by means of the naphtha lamp, kept constantly 
flowing; and, when the chicken comes out of 
the shell, it is placed beneath the same tubes, 
which now perform the second duty of the arti¬ 
ficial parent. After being kept there the proper 
time, it is removed to a compartment more 
suited to its increasing strength, and is ulti¬ 
mately placed in a pen in the open air. 
Mr. Carlo Minasi has not confined his opera¬ 
tions to mere barn-door fowls, but has taken a 
flight into the regions of what may be termed 
scientific natural history, and displays, with sat¬ 
isfaction, as a proof of his skill, a very healthy 
specimen of the barnacle goose, which is to be 
an addition to the Ornithological Society’s col¬ 
lection in the Regent’s Park. The enthusiastic 
pursuit of his art does not allow Mr. Carlo Mi¬ 
nasi to stop here, for his success has excited 
his ambition even to the incubation of the eggs 
of an ostrich, which he feels quite confident he 
could acccomplish. Should it prove so, it 
would be advisable, before the time arrived to 
welcome the little long-legged stranger, to re¬ 
mind the establishment of the old maxim—and 
