296 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
lew-Yorfe, Wednesday, .Ian. 17 . 
Our Present Number. —We do not expect 
to furnish a better number of our paper very 
often, than we send out to-day. We shall 
be satisfied if we can get up as good a one 
fifty-two times in a year. Though it will 
cost us much effort, we shall try. We com¬ 
menced this paragraph to point out some of 
the articles ; but there are none that sliould 
be omitted—so please read the whole and 
then judge for yourselves. ; 
Our Lessons in Chemistry. —-Our aim in 
these chapters is to make the subject so 
plain, that boys and girls of ten or twelve 
may understand it, and yet bring out the gen¬ 
eral principles of the science so as to instruct 
older minds. We hope no one will com¬ 
plain of slowness, reiteration, and profuse¬ 
ness of illustration, for we would prefer to 
spend two years in going over the elements 
of chemistry, rather than not to be under¬ 
stood by all for whom we write. It requires 
much more thought to treat a subject in this 
plain way, than it would to compile a trea¬ 
tise for older scholars who study with a 
teacher; and especially is this the case when 
v/e attempt to draw our illustrations from 
everyday objects, instead of standing before 
our pupils with a full apparatus for experi¬ 
ments. 
THE SECOND ANNUAL NATIONAL SHOW OF 
POULTRY. 
We have looked through the cages at Bar- 
num’s American Museum, where the Nation¬ 
al Poultry Show is held throughout the whole 
of this week. We much doubt if there has 
ever before been such a collection of fowls in 
the United States. The larger kinds, em¬ 
braced under the general name of Asiatics, 
comprehending the various sub-divisions, 
known as Shanghses, Cochin China, Brahma 
Pootra, Chittagong, Hong Kong, Malay, &c., 
occupy more than half the entire Show 
Rooms, as we should judge. 
We were gratified to notice an increas¬ 
ing improvement in this branch of our do¬ 
mestic poultry. We do not allude to 
their size, which was always large enough, 
and in any of the specimens rather exceed¬ 
ing the just medium we should assume 
for the standard of perfection, but the gen¬ 
eral improvement in form. Many speci¬ 
mens show increased compactness, round¬ 
ness, and symmetry ; shorter leg, cleaner 
head and neck, fuller and closer feathers, 
&c. If the breeders of these birds will aim 
at these points in their future breeding, in¬ 
stead of over grown size at their expense, 
we think they may be made a valuable addi¬ 
tion to our former stock of poultry, rather 
than an injury, as they have sometimes, 
with seeming justice, been considered. We 
much doubt if they have any superiors as 
early and constant layers ; and they may be 
useful for imparting size and laying qualities 
to many of our dung-hills, which are decided¬ 
ly deficient in both. We could not but ad¬ 
mire their great variety of colors, and their 
various combinations—the most intense 
black—resplendent white, with almost every 
conceivable shade and intermixture. The 
dark greys, labeled “ Dominique,” we par- 
ticularlyadmired, being of medium size only, 
for Eastern fowls, and possessing in a con¬ 
siderable degree the excellencies before enu¬ 
merated. 
The game fowls are shown in large num¬ 
bers and variety, and many of them possess 
high excellence. Some of the rarer kinds 
are to be seen, such as the Java and Java 
Pheasant, the Spanish, the Mexican and the 
Indian Mountain Fowl, none of which do we 
consider of any importance for improving 
our races of economical chickens, being too 
light and leggy for their height. The Irish 
shawl or greys, and the Red English game, 
we deem of decided value, for giving a dash 
of spirit, courage and stamina to our effete 
or drooping flocks. 
The Bolton Greys and the Bolton Bays, 
the latter under the name of Golden Ham- 
burgs, occupy many coops, and though 
of scarcely medium size, are compact, 
beautifully formed and marked, which, ad¬ 
ded to their great reputation as perpetual 
layers, should commend them as general 
favorites. Some beautiful Buff Dorkings 
are to be seen, closely allied to the pure 
white, of faultless forms, and decidedly su¬ 
perior tothe white adjoining them ; also some 
superb speckled. None of the old breed¬ 
ers of Dorkings have sent specimens, which 
accounts for the leanness in this part of the 
show. 
Some very fine Black Spanish; the Black, 
the Gold Laced and the Silver Laced crested 
Polands; the Gold Laced and the Silver 
Laced Hamburgs; Dominiques, Leghorns, 
Creepers, Rumpless Friesland, &c., consti¬ 
tute the remainder of the medium sizes. 
The little Bantams, however, as if to 
make amends for their superiors, are out in 
great force, and in almost every variety, and 
if any one wants cage birds , they can hardly 
do better than to select from some of the 
numerous specimens to be found at the pres¬ 
ent exhibition. 
Some of the largest and finest turkeys, 
bothjwild and tame, and of all varieties of co¬ 
lors, and one crested, of which we never 
saw a specimen before ; Wild geese, Bre¬ 
men geese, African, Hong Kong, and Chinese 
geese ; ducks of all hues, forms, and ex¬ 
cellence ; peacocks, guinea hens, grouse, 
and a brilliant display of pigeons and singing 
birds—all are to be seen in great perfection, 
and are well worthy the attention of every 
lover of domestic poultry. 
Rabbits are also there representing vari¬ 
ous quarters of the world, of which the Mada¬ 
gascar and the Russian are the most attrac¬ 
tive. 
The show, at the time we write this article, 
is quite incomplete, as coops of fowls are con¬ 
tinually arriving. 
Acknowledgments. —We have received 
several valuable Reports, &c., which we 
have not yet found time to examine. Among 
these are : Transactions of Essex County, 
Mass., Agricultural Society, from John W. 
Proctor, Esq. ; an Address before the same 
society, by Richard S. Fay, Esq.; Transac¬ 
tions of Berkshire (Mass.) Agricultural So¬ 
ciety ; Address of Chief Justice Black, be¬ 
fore Somerset (N. J.) Agricultural Society : 
and that of Thomas Allen, Esq., before the 
Franklin (Mo.) Agricultural Society. 
We would direct the special attention of 
our readers to the circular of the United 
States Agricultural Society, in another col¬ 
umn. 
We trust our New-York readers, and all 
others interested, will bear in mind the forth¬ 
coming meeting of the New-York State Agri¬ 
cultural Society, to be held in Albany, on the 
second Wednesday (11th) of February. The 
official announcement may be found in our 
advertising columns. 
CHEMISTRY 
FOR SMALL AND LARGE BOYS AND GIRLS. 
CHAPTER II. 
Read over the last chapter again if you do 
not remember it fully. 
16. We explained (4.) that in chalk there 
are three kinds of atoms, and in steel two 
kinds—iron and coal. In water there are 
two kinds; both of them different from water, 
and very different from each other. So, 
also, the air has two. Sugar contains three 
kinds of atoms or particles; wood, three; 
fat meat, two or more ; lean meat, four or 
more ; bones, as many as five or six; and, 
in short, nearly all the things we see (ex¬ 
cept the metals) are compound bodies—that 
is, they are made up of two or more differ¬ 
ent substances, just as a cake is made up of 
flour, water, sugar, eggs, &c., and is a com¬ 
pound substance. The chemist can take all 
these things to pieces and find what they are 
made of. 
17. But there are substances which can 
not be thus separated. Iron, for example, 
can not be separated into two other sub¬ 
stances. The chemist may work at it his 
life long, and unless he adds something else 
to it, it will still be only iron. Every small¬ 
est atom of it is an atom of iron still. So 
with the other pure metals, gold, silver, cop¬ 
per, zinc, lead, &c. The same may be said 
of coal, sulphur, and phosphorous. These 
are called simple bodies; that is, there is 
simply one kind of atoms or particles in each 
of them. Brass and steel are not simple 
bodies, because a particle of steel is made up 
of an atom of iron with an atom of coal 
(carbon) and a particle of brass is made up 
of an atom of copper united with an atom of 
zinc or one of tin. Steel and brass are there¬ 
fore compound bodies. 
18. Of all the things we usually see around 
us we have as simple bodies, or those having 
one kind of atoms only, coal, sulphur, phos¬ 
phorous, and the pure metals. There are 
some five others, but they are seldom seen. 
Let it be remembered, then, that every thing 
we see, the air, earth, water, rocks and 
stones, all flesh, all substances that grow— 
in short, all things we can think of, except 
coal, sulphur, phosphorous, and the metals— 
are compound bodies, and are composed 
