AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
85 
ered beauties, but these deformities can 
hardly be considered such. 
The eye should be prominent, round, 
bright, and of a clear pearl color, without 
streak or mud-marks, and also free from 
sere. 
In shape, the neck should be short and 
thin ; the head carried rather backwards ; 
the neck slightly bending; the chest full and 
well thrown out; the back short; the body 
round, and as small as possible ; the flight 
and tail short; their feet small, and the bird 
standing on his toes, the ball of the foot often 
slightly raised from the ground. 
Feather is considered the last property ; 
not but that good plumage adds great beauty 
to the bird, and much enhances the value of 
an otherwise good specimen. The more an 
Almond has of bright yellow, and the clearer 
and more decided the black, so much the 
more is it admired. Yellow, black, and white 
are the primary colors, and the more these 
are intermixed the more they are prized. 
Blue is considered very objectionable.— 
Mottled Tumblers are those of any color 
where the flight and tail are dark and the 
bodies spotted with white feathers. Of the 
markings of Baldheads, Beards, and Mag¬ 
pies, I will write more fully in my next, 
when I speak of flying Tumblers. 
In-and-in breeding (that is, coupling rela¬ 
tions) is of considerable use in reducing their 
size and making them fine and delicate ; but 
caution is required not to carry this process 
too far, or they will become so weak and de¬ 
generate, that scarcely any offspring will be 
raised—and these few worthless. The finer 
and more delicate they are, the more they 
are admired; consequently they exist in an 
artificial state. From their weakness they 
are rarely allowed to enjoy their liberty, 
though, on account of their high-breeding 
and good living, they breed freely, but are 
very apt to leave their young and go to nest 
again before the squabs are capable of keep¬ 
ing themselves warm. To prevent these 
dying, they are shifted to a pair of feeders 
that have hatched later, so as to secure them 
more attention and a fresh supply of soft 
meat (a pap on which the old pigeons feed 
the young at first). These feeders must, 
however, be small pigeons with small beaks, 
or the nurselings may be injured, or have 
their tender beaks twisted or broken in feed¬ 
ing. (I don’t know if it has ever been tried, 
but I fancy the Collard Turtle-doves would 
make good nurses of these tiny pets.) If the 
young tumblers are very fine, or the weather 
cold, it may be necessary to shift them sev¬ 
eral times; thus, several pairs may be 
shifted in rotation, the Almonds themselves 
taking an elder pair of some of their com¬ 
panions. Their loft should be kept scrupu¬ 
lously clean. They are fond of bathing; 
their water must be kept clean and sweet, 
and their food must be of the best quality. 
Each pair should be provided with a separate 
breeding-pen, so constructed that it can be 
closed at pleasure, either to keep in a troub¬ 
lesome gent, or to prevent others annoying 
a weakly one. Earthen pans should be pro¬ 
vided for nests, placed on a shelf in the 
pen, and short straw or fine heath twigs for 
building materials. When the young are 
sufficiently old, they should be placed on the 
floor of the pen to prevent their disturbing 
the old ones when sitting again, or injuring 
themselves by falling down. A registry 
should be kept of all birds, and marriages, and 
many other particulars. A great deal of 
care and attention is necessary to insure 
success. No one will, therefore., wonder, 
at the high prices paid for good birds. 
Poultry Chronicle.] B. P. BRENT.] 
__ ^ » » i - . 
Freak op Nature. —There is a plum tree 
in this village now in full blossom, which 
bore fruit the present season. 
[Woonsocket Patriot, 
SALE OF MR. BOLDEN’S GRAND DUKE BULL 
CALVES. 
September 5th, an important sale of young 
bulls and some pigs of superior breed, the 
property of S. E. Bolden, Esq., took place at 
Springfield Hall, near this town, by the cel¬ 
ebrated auctioneer, Mr. Stafford, of London. 
The bulls, it must be observed, were all by 
the far-famed bull, Grand Duke, (which 
animal was sold by Mr. Bolden in 1853 for 
1,000 guineas) and were all from cows of 
first-rate character and breeding. The celeb¬ 
rity which this breed has obtained, through¬ 
out the country drew together a large assem¬ 
blage of the most noted breeders of stock 
from various parts, and among whom we 
noticed the Hon. Noel Hill, Mr. Sainsbury, 
Mr. Wetherell, Mr. R. Booth, Mr. Sandy, 
the agents of Lord Hill, Lord Balcarres, 
Lord Burlington, Mr. C. Towneley, and Mr. 
Foljambe, several of whose stocktook some 
of the first prizes at the Royal Agricultural 
Show at Lincoln; and among our local 
celebrities were Mr. C. Whalley, Mr. Ellison, 
Mr. John Pritt, and Mr. Carr. The bidding 
in most instances was very spirited, and the 
various lots were knocked off as follows : 
Cavandish, roan, calved Sept. 1, 1852, Lord 
Hill, 50 guineas. Veteran, red, calved Nov. 
I, 1833, Rev. J. D. Jefferson, 40 guineas. 
Constantine, red and white, calved Nov. 12, 
1853, T. Lamb, Esq., 36 guineas. Iron Duke, 
red, calved January 21, 1854, Mr. Foljambe, 
40 guineas. Second Duke of Bolton, red 
roan, calved March 11, 1854, was the subject 
of a very spirited competition, and was 
eventually purchased by Messrs. Sanday and 
Smith for 90 guineas. Second Duke of Cam¬ 
bridge, red, calved April 14,1854, also caused 
a very severe competition, and was knocked 
down at 100 guineas to Mr. R. Bell. Duke 
of Wellington, roan, calved June 1, 1854, 
Mr. Carr, 40 guineas. The average being 
within a few shillings of jC 60 each. 
It was with gratifying feelings that we 
noticed the encomiums bestowed upon Mr. 
Bolden’s cattle generally, and which includes 
a young bull out of a sister to the Grand 
Duke, which Mr. B. is retaining for his own 
stock ; and also two heifers of the Duchess 
breed, and which were especially admired by 
the gentlemen assembled. We were in¬ 
formed that these young bulls averaged 
higher prices than any other lot of bulls sold 
this year. 
ANOTHER NEW PEA. 
During the last winter I promised to give 
you the result of any experiments, either of 
my own or of my neighbors, that might be 
of interest to the agricultural portion of your 
readers. 
If the pea, of which I write, is planted ear¬ 
ly, say with corn, it will produce two very 
heavy crops. This fact I have established 
beyond all question—and the facts which I 
here state will be found to be true by any 
one who will pursue the same course I did ; 
and here let me premise that I am engaged 
in no speculation, nor have I any intention 
of doing so. I have spoken freely to my 
friends in relation to this pea, and have 
promised to supply many free of cost. I say 
this much to stop that eternal cry of “ hum¬ 
bug ” by those old fogies who are ever ready 
to put their heel upon any fact and every 
principle of which their great grand-fathers 
were ignorant. 
About two years since I received from Mr. 
Hardy Walker, near Benton, a few bushels 
of these peas, who told me at the time that 
they would produce two crops from the same 
vine. In other words, if the peas were gath¬ 
ered as they matured, they would continue to 
bear until frost, though I found that vyhat 
might be called the second crop, was so light 
that it was hardly \yorth gathering. Upon 
examination I found that the old stem or vine 
which produced the first crop, would die— 
and a new vine, smaller and less luxuriant, 
would put out and produce new fruit. This 
fact induced me to save the the first crop of 
peas, and cut off the old vine near the ground 
and cure it for my stock; and then see if 
new sprouts or vines would not put out and 
produce a second crop—and this experiment 
has succeeded to my entire satisfaction. 1 
have this year produced two seperate and 
distinct crops of peas from one and the same 
planting, one of which I have already gath¬ 
ered and thrashed out; and the second is now 
bearing very finely and beginning to mature. 
I will now give you dates and figures which 
my overseer and myself both know to be 
correct. 
I had a field of about twenty-five or thirty 
acres, sandy land, every alternate row of 
which was planted in corn and pinders. On 
the 8th day of May the stand both of corn 
and pinders was indifferent. In the missing 
places I planted this pea; at that time we 
were suffering for rain, and got none until the 
17th of May; inconsequence of which the 
peas were slow in coming up. After the rain, 
however, they came up and grew off very 
well. They did not spread over the land as 
do most varieties of the cow pea, but grew 
up in clusters, resembling somewhat the 
bunch squash ; and did not therefore interfere 
with the cultivation of the corn and pinders 
—and on the 2d day of August, before the 
fodder in the same field was ripe enough to 
save, I gathered fifty-three bushels of peas, 
which I have since thrashed out and meas¬ 
ured. I am very confident that if they had 
been planted in a patch to themselves, that 
there would have been no more than four or 
five acres, and this I think is an extravagant 
allowance. After gathering the peas, I cut 
off the vines, about two and a half or three 
inches above the ground, and cured them for 
my cattle. This was all done by the thrash 
gang, and at a time when they had hardly 
anything else to do. At almost any other 
season of the year, I would have found it 
very inconvenient to have gathered the peas 
and save the vines, and this is one of the 
great advantages arising from the early ma¬ 
turity of this pea. I had just finished hoeing 
and plowing, and my fodder was not ripe 
enough to save, so the peas did not interfere 
at all with my crop, either in cultivating or 
gathering it. Some ten days or two weeks 
after this—that is, after the peas and vines 
were taken off, I discovered young vines 
shooting out from the old stubble—this was 
about the middle of August; and to-day, the 
vines are bearing finely, and promise as good 
a yield as the first crop. I am confident 
that by the middle of October, barring frost, 
I will be able to gather another very fine 
crop, which I am detrmined to do, no matter 
how r white the cotton may look, and let the 
second crop of vines remain as a pasture. I 
have been in the habit of using this pea at 
my own table, and find it equally as palatable 
as any other variety of the cow pea, and the 
negroes are very fond of it. My impression 
is that the pea should be planted with the 
corn, at the same time, and they will certain¬ 
ly yield two crops. J. D. F. Williams. 
[Alabama Planter, Sept. 21. 
Potatoes in Ireland. —The Belfast Mer¬ 
cury says : “ The magnitude of the crop for 
1854, is certainly very much beyond that 
ever before known in this country. Taking 
a low average, we should say that the gross 
value of Ireland’s potato lands this season, 
can not be under .£15,000. Ireland contains 
now not more than six millions and a half of 
inhabitants, and the potato crop for the pre¬ 
sent year is estimated to be worth seventy 
millions of dollars, or rather more then ten 
dollars for each man, woman, and child. 
