AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
265 
1 i . ■■ "V 
Premium Lists. —We shall continue our 
offers of Book Premiums during the present 
month. See page 267. 
. Attention is also called to the advertise¬ 
ment of a “ New Herd Book ” and to an arti¬ 
cle on the same subject on another page. 
We call the special attention of our read¬ 
ers to the address of the American and For¬ 
eign Emigrant Protection and Employment 
Society. We trust our exchanges will help 
forward the welfare of the suffering by giv¬ 
ing the address a place in their journals. 
Park Benjamin, E9q. —This gentleman is 
with his family, spending the winter in New- 
Haven, Conn. Managers of Lyceums and 
others, who may wish to hear any of his 
popular lectures, should therefore address 
him as above. 
A Present.— We suggest to our readers 
that they may make a valuable present to a 
relative or friend, by sending them the Amer¬ 
ican Agriculturist for a year. Such a pre¬ 
sent goes farther than two dollars given at 
one time, since the receiver is. fifty-two times 
reminded of the giver. 
The Fires and Casualties of 1854.—Dur¬ 
ing the last year, there were forty fires in the 
United States where the loss exceeded $100,- 
000, or upwards. The entire loss of proper¬ 
ty by fires during that period is estimated at 
$15,000,000. During the same period, 600 
persons were killed by steamboat and about 
200 by railroad, accidents. 
Hampshire (Mass.) Agricultural Society. 
—We are indebted to Mr. Jas. W T . Boyden, 
Secretary, for a copy of the transactions of 
this society for 1854. It is a large pamphlet 
of over a hundred pages, got up in good style, 
and after a brief examination, we are quite 
pleased with th^ general plan and arrange¬ 
ment of subjects. Such reports, furnished 
thus early, and containing, not a dry routine 
of business, but a description of the methods 
of producing premium articles, are very 
valuable. 
Metropolitan Mechanics’ Institute.— 
The second exhibition will open in the splen¬ 
did new Hall of the Smithsonian Institute, at 
Washington, on the 8th of February. This 
exhibition promises to be a brilliant one, and 
will afford to manufactures, mechanics, ar¬ 
tists, inventors, &c., from all parts of the 
Union, a fine opportunity to display the re¬ 
sults of their labor, skill, ingenuity and taste. 
A schedule of rules, regulations, and any 
particular information may be obtained by 
addressing the Superintendent, Thomas C. 
Connolly, at Washington, D. C. 
We have just received a work entitled 
“ Lilies and Violets,” by Rosalie Bell, and 
published by J. C. Derby, 119 Nassau street, 
N. Y. It is neatly bound in cloth, and will 
doubtless afford pleasure to lovers of this 
style of literature. 
NATIONAL POULTRY EXHIBITION 
In our advertising columns will be found 
a full announcement of the plan, rules and 
regulations, &c., of the forthcoming exhibi¬ 
tion, to be held in this city from the 15th to 
20t.h days of this month inclusive. All in¬ 
terested in this matter will find it to their 
interest to send their address to the Presi¬ 
dent or Secrelery^of the Society and obtain a 
printed list of the prizes, regulations, &c. 
From what we learn we think the exhibition 
this year will be one of the largest and most 
interesting of the kind yet witnessed in this 
country. 
THE AIKIN SQUASH. 
Having received a few seeds of a squash 
from Aikin, South Carolina, last spring, we 
started them early in a hot-bed, that they 
might have ample time to mature. They 
came up well, survived the bugs, and grew 
vigorously enough for the tropics. Three 
specimens of the fruit matured. Their shape 
is like the old-fashioned pumpkin, but the 
skin is smoother, and it is manifestly a 
squash. The largest specimen weighed 
twenty-five pounds. The flesh is coarser 
than the crook-neck squash, and not as 
sweet. It is only a third-rate article in com¬ 
parison with the acorn and marrow squashes, 
and in this climate is not worth cultivating. 
We should like to have our acorn squash 
tried at the south, to see if it suffers as much 
deterioration. If this Aikin sqash is first- 
rate at home, there has been a great falling 
off. 
THE TURKEY CROP. 
This is getting to be one one of the princi¬ 
pal farm crops in eastern Connecticut and 
Rhode-Island. Turkeys from this region 
have a high reputation, both for size and 
quality, and command about two cents extra 
price in the market. They seem to be har¬ 
dier, and grow more rapidly along the sea¬ 
board. About seven tons were carried off to 
the Boston market, for thanksgiving, by a 
single dealer in Stonington, Conn., and prob¬ 
ably as many more went through the same 
hands for Christmas. This is but a small 
part of the birds raised in this town alone. 
Almost every farm is stocked with them, and 
they are raised in large flocks, from twenty 
to a hundred or more. The season having 
been dry has been unusually favorable, and 
a finer lot of poultry never went to market. 
They would average over ten pounds, and 
some of them went as high as twenty-five 
pounds dressed. > 
They are purchased by the quantity at the 
farmer’s door for a shilling a pound, and re¬ 
tail in the villages for fourteen cents. They 
are principally cared for by the women and 
children of the household, and frequently 
bring in a cash return of one hundred dol¬ 
lars, which is a very handsome item in the 
income of the year. Where there is a wide 
range of pasture or wood-land for the flocks 
to run in, they are raised more cheaply than 
other kinds of poultry, as they stroll farther 
from the house, and pick up a large share of 
their living They are great devourers of 
grass-hoppers and other insects, and in this 
respect they must be of great advantage to a 
farm. There is no good reason why this 
crop should not be far more generally raised 
than it is. It costs no more than pork, and 
yet commands nearly double the price in all 
markets. 
SMITHTIELD CATTLE SHOW. 
This great annual show of fat stock in 
London, came off as usual early in Decem¬ 
ber. The Short Horns and Devons were 
pronounced an improvement on preceding 
shows, while the Henfords had retrograded 
on this occasion. Sheep and pigs were un¬ 
commonly fine. The Mark Lane Express 
is very eulogistic on the first prize Short 
Horn ox. It says : 
“ The Duke of Rutland’s ox was almost 
generally pronounced to be the best beast 
ever entered at the Smithfield Show ; he was 
in fact so perfect in form, and so evenly fed, 
as scarcely to look like a fat animal—at any 
rate, a very different sort of fat animal to 
what has been shown, and even distinguished 
here. It was a common cause of regret 
that, he had not been kept for breeding pur¬ 
poses, as he would, no doubt, have made an 
excellent cross for some other strains, com¬ 
ing as he does from so good a sort on one 
side, as that of Sir Charles Knightly.” 
We shall give a full account of this shovv 
from one of our exchanges next week. 
Correspondence of the American Agriculturist. 
FRENCH HORSES, 
Paris, France, Dec. I3th, 1854. 
There is nothing here which shows the 
distinction between the aristocrat and the 
common people so much as the horses. The 
cart horses are immense, and almost univer¬ 
sally a light iron grey—or more properly 
speaking, white speckled with black, with 
feet as large as dinner plates ; and such a 
profusion of mane and fetlock, and all buried 
under such ponderous harness as to excite 
great curiosity. 
The riding and driving horses of the gen¬ 
try are very graceful; with clean, delicate 
limbs, and arched necks ; so nicely groomed 
and broken, especially for riding, as to make 
me wish we had such in New-York 
The fashionable color is a cross between 
an iron grey and a brown—a most peculiar 
color. I never saw the like before. 
Another color is also much used for sad¬ 
dle horses, which is between a cream and 
sorrel, near akin to a dark salmon. The 
mane and tail are a shade or two darker 
than the body, and are very beautiful accord¬ 
ing to my fancy. You will see troups 
of these handsome creatures, backed by 
Frenchmen, in the fashionable quarters, as 
gay as so many popinjays. 
There are many beautiful varieties of the 
heath which I see in the markets andstores. 
I wish these could be more cultivated in our 
country. We scarce find them except in our 
green-houses, and only a few even there. 
The Crystsl Palace is rapidly completing, 
and is a magnificent building. I hope Amer¬ 
ica will be well represented here. C. E. W. 
