322 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
feather bed. A third, and very common 
case, is where the feathers appear to have 
been scooped out of the middle in the manner 
of an artificial fish-pond. Such beds always 
remind one of that law of gravitation by 
which all bodies tend to the lowest point. 
A man might as well undertake to sleep in 
an elongated bread-tray. Besides, like cob¬ 
webs in a parlor, they do not add much to 
taste and neatness. A fourth and final case 
is, where the feathers have been poked from 
head to foot, leaving the body in a semi-anti¬ 
podal position. In these circumstances ive 
sometimes find a huge pillow placed at the 
head, as if by way of compensation ; and the 
body after declining six inches in the wrong 
direction, at last comes to a sudden curve 
between the head and shoulders, giving it 
the appearance of a crook-neck squash. 
Such a position tends to create congestion 
of the brain, and should therefore be 
avoided by those who have any. 
Having now laid down the conditions of a 
poor bed, we think it easy enough to deter¬ 
mine those of a good one; and we shall 
therefore leave the subject for our readers to 
expand, contract, or leave alone, as is most 
agreeable. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
CATTLE AND POULTRY SHOW AT BIRMING¬ 
HAM. 
Monk Barns, Hampstead, London, Jan. 1, 1855. 
Our great Birmingham Cattle and Poultry 
Show is just past, and is the largest and 
most imposing gathering of poultry which 
we have had; and the prizes are sought after 
with great anxiety. They vary in value 
from ten shillings to six pounds ; and any 
amateur would willingly spend a large sum 
for the honor of taking one of them. 
Competition this year has been stronger 
than ever, as every member was restricted 
to showing four pens instead of six as for¬ 
merly. Notwithstanding this restriction 
1,745 pens were exhibited. In all these pens 
there were about 1,500 cocks, the united 
crowing of which immense number made a 
most astonishing noise, like the sound of a 
discontented, angry multitude; nor did the 
ducks and geese fail to join the concert. 
The collection of Spanish fowls was the 
most magnificent display of white faced 
birds we have ever had. The Brahmas were 
less handsome than I expected to find them. 
What do you think of these beautiful birds 1 
and what color and comb do you think should 
characterize them! I know none here hand¬ 
somer than some which I had from Dr. Ben¬ 
nett ; but I do not show Brahmas. The only 
fowls I sent to Birmingham were my Sul¬ 
tan’s fowls, and they took a prize. 
Many shows lately have offered, in addi¬ 
tion to the large number of prizes, one or two 
silver cups to the person who shows the 
greatest number of good pens. These extra 
prizes are tried for with great eagerness, and 
make the shows which give them very pop¬ 
ular. 
Most of our agricultural meeting (follow¬ 
ing the example of the Royal Agricultural 
Society of England,) now have poultry as 
well as beasts, and it makes a very pretty and 
amusing variety. The Royal Agricultural 
Society holds its meeting this year at Car¬ 
lisle ; an immense distance for Londoners. 
E. WATTS. 
The milk last drawn from a cow is from 
ten to twelve times richer than the first. 
WORK AND WAGES. 
COUNTRY DEMAND. 
CONDITION, TREATMENT AND PAY OF WORKMEN 
UPON AMERICAN FARMS. 
A circular appeared in the Weekly Times, 
Tribune and American Agriculturist , during 
last September, asking information of farm¬ 
ers with regard to the Wages and Condition 
of Hired Laborers upon Farms throughout the 
country. In reply eighty-eight letters have 
been received, the substance of which is 
below given to the public. The reports of 
ivages have been placed in full in a tabular 
form, for the purpose of giving the exact 
figures used in such return. In this is also 
the cost per week of board in each locality 
where given. In examining the table it 
must be well understood that this last has 
no connection with the wages, in addition to 
which in all cases, board is provided by the 
employer; that is, the laborer is paid the 
price named and found. His only necessary 
expense is for clothing. 
These returns show strikingly the just 
now extremely important fact, that while the 
seaboard cities are full of unemployed and 
depressed laborers, the farmers, even in the 
comparatively immediate vicinity, can not 
obtain the necessary help to carry on their 
operations. Seventy-nine out of eighty- 
eight call for more laborers, and by seven¬ 
teen of these they are pressingly demanded. 
These tables show an averaged of $136 50 
(and found) as the annual wages of an intel¬ 
ligent farm hand when engaged by the year ; 
$13 50 (and found) per month, when em¬ 
ployed in the Summer months only, by 
which has been generally understood the 
term of eight months of active farm opera¬ 
tions, and 75 cents a day, with board, when 
hired by the day. 
There are 2,500,000 farmers in the United 
States, of whom nearly every one, probably, 
would at this moment give a home and abund¬ 
ance of good food to any man ready in return 
to give«a moderate amount of labor with his 
hands, with the addition of wages according 
to skill and good conduct as soon as the 
Spring sun softens the ground. Millions of 
acres awaiting the plow—wheat twenty 
shillings a bushel—thousands of idle arms in 
the cities—thirty trains a day asking passen¬ 
gers ! 
Common sense seems to say give—not 
soup, but railway tickets to your unemployed. 
Distribute them with careful minuteness, and 
in ten days every willing man may be perma¬ 
nently provided for in places where every 
stimulus is to manhood. For to an inquiry 
made with special reference to the point 
whether these laborers generally become 
proprietors of land, six only say “ rare,” six 
say “ occasional,” while seventy-three say 
“ frequent,”—while eighty-six out of eighty- 
eight report that these laborers sit at their 
employer’s table and are on terms of person¬ 
al equality. To the free and hopeful coun¬ 
try, then, with these idle arms and hungry 
stomachs! They demand work—here it is 
for them and to spare. 
Here follow the tables. It is to be noted 
(1) that these are the average wages for the 
last five years —at present they may be 
counted one-fifth higher; (2) that the em¬ 
ployer provides board and (when by the 
month or year) lodging, and ordinary wash¬ 
ing and mending, in addition to these wages; 
(3) that by “ Summer months ” is meant 
usually the six or eight active farming 
months ; (4) that in the last column the fig¬ 
ures show sometimes the estimated cost to 
the employer of boarding a workman, some¬ 
times the usual boarding-house price of 
board. .The variations in amount in the 
same locality depend on variations in demand 
and on the skill of the workman ; thus, read, 
“Somerset, Me., by the day, 50 cents to 
$1—by the month, $12 to $15,” &c. 
WAGES. 
(Board found by employer.) 
When Hired. 
LOCALITY. .5 ■$ t • 
County and State. 
£ is* 
- >. 
-H ^ 
i:53 
c >> 
HM.O 
8 & 
0 
Somerset_IMaine.. '■ 
SO.50 $12 $.... 
1 00 15 .... 
$. . 
$.. 
$1.75 
Franklin. 
Mass.. | 
LOO 
ib 
i .25 
26 
30 
150 
L50 
Hampshire.... 
.. do.... 
120 
1.25 
New-IIaven 
Conn . 
i .'66 
26 
i .25 
1.50 
39 
39 
180 
bibb 
New-IIaven .. 
..do... 
L00 
26 
1.25 
1.50 
32 
39 
180 
2.00 
New-IIaven .. 
. .do — 
LOO 
13 
125 
26 
125 
1.75 
Fairfield . 
..do... 
50 
62 
10 
14 
1.00 
1.25 
n 
10 
120 
150 
bibb 
Hartford . 
i .66 
is 
L50 
26 
25 
120 
150 
1.75 
2.50 
Middlesex.... 
..do... 
LOO 
12 
13 
1 00 
150 
15 
26 
120 
180 
2.50 
2.00 
Litchfield.... 
. do. ... 
75 
14 
1.25 
26 
126 
2.00 
Madison. 
.. N.Y. 
1.00 
1.50 
is 
26 
30 
120 
144 
i ’ 50 
Wayne. 
, 50 
75 
10 
10 
16 
24 
100 
120 
2 ! 00 
Ontario. 
.. .do.. 
! "75 
i 50 
25 
30 
120 
160 
i .50 
Madison. 
... do.. 
1.00 
20 
1.50 
Onondaga ... 
50 
75 
ib 
15 
1.00 
1.25 
15 
25 
100 
125 
bibb 
Oneida. 
... do.. 
) 62 
ii 
1.00 
1.25 
20 
150 
bibb 
Otsego. 
...do.. 
62 
1.00 
22 
144 
1.50 
Columbia. .. 
...do.. 
62 
12 
LOO 
24 
85 
1.00 
Columbia.... 
» 62 
10 
16 
L25 
20 
25 
150 
1.50 
1.75 
Dutchess. 
... do.. 
( 62 
i 75 
15 
i'25 
26 
150 
2 i 00 
Oswego. 
—do.. 
S 75 
/ 1.00 
12 
14 
1.25 
1.50 
20 
100 
1.25 
1.75 
Dutchess .... 
... do.. 
( 62 
) 75 
16 
18 
L25 
20 
24 
130 
144 
Sullivan. 
. 1.25 
14 
1.25 
18 
140 
2.00 
Seneca . 
... do.. 
j "75 
13 
15 
87 
1.50 
18 
120 
150 
1.50 
1.75 
Dutchess .... 
.. .do.. 
75 
15 
1.25 
15 
165 
2.25 
Columbia.... 
.. .do.. 
62 
15 
1.50 
25 
160 
2.50 
Onondaga.... 
— do.. 
l 50 
1 75 
12 
13 
LOO 
1.25 
20 
120 
bibo 
Richmond.... 
< 
I 75 
10 
13 
1.25 
1.50 
14 
20 
108 
1.50 
2 50 
Erie & Niagara .do.. 
( 62 
1 1.00 
12 
15 
1.00 
1.50 
20 
24 
144 
bioo 
Oneida. 
... do . 
) 
12 
100 
1.50 
2.00 
Montgomery. 
_do. . 
\ 50 
t 62 
10 
12 
87 
1.00 
15 
20 
100 
130 
i i 75 
Herkimer. ... 
f 62 
\ 75 
12 
14 
75 
1.50 
15 
18 
120 
140 
Livingston ... 
50 
1 75 
1.00 
1.25 
25 
120 
140 
iiob 
Salem . 
.. N. J. 
1 "87 
12 
1.06 
13 
14 
125 
130 
1.50 
1.75 
Monmouth ... 
... do. . 
| £ 
1.00 
1.50 
100 
120 
2.00 
2.50 
Gloucester ... 
... do. . 
02 
i2 
1.25 
i(i 
120 
1.75 
Crawford. ... 
... Pa. 
5 •••• 
t .... 
14 
15 
”75 
120 
Susquehanna 
.. . do .. 
75 
14 
1.00 
16 
144 
1.50 
Bucks. 
... do. . 
S 62 
\ 75 
14 
16 
i .75 
20 
115 
150 
bibo 
Bradford. ... 
... do .. 
75 
16 
1.00 
20 
144 
1.50 
Lancaster .... 
... do .. 
1 "75 
is 
L25 
20 
150 
1.75 
2.00 
Lancaster ... 
... do. . 
s .... 
1 50 
11 
12 
i 166 
is 
120 
150 
Ferguson .... 
_ do. . 
50 
10 
75 
13 
90 
1.75 
Perry. 
< .... 
} 50 
10 
75 
13 
96 
LOO 
1 25 
Prince George. .Md.. 
! :::: 
libb 
80 
100 
Washington. 
... do. . 
j ”56 
10 
11 
1.00 
2.00 
lib 
1.12 
1.25 
Washington. 
... do .. 
S -75 
ib 
1.25 
2.00 
120 
2iob 
Washington. 
.. Va.. 
( 50 
) 62 
10 
12 
75 
1.00 
ib 
100 
120 
1.50 
2.00 
Anderson .... 
...s.c. 
\ L00 
ib 
L00 
25 
120 
150 
2.00 
Northern Mississippi. 
I (Shi 
12 120 
15 (cl.) 
Bexar, West’n Texas. 
< LOO 
) 1.50 
26 
25 
2.00 
150 
225 
2.00 
3.00 
Clarke, Ky .. 
. (si.),. 
( 50 
) 1.00 
1.00 
100 
(cl.) 
bibb 
St. Josephs. . 
. Mo. 
( 75 
t 1.00 
12 
15 
LOO 
1 25 
25 
120 
175 
bibb 
Cohocton.... 
. Ohio. 
| ”60 
1.00 
100 
120 
bibb 
Belmont. 
( .... 
i .... 
1.00 
1.50 
20 
30 
100 
125 
iibo 
Ashtabula.... 
... do.. 
s •••• 
l 75 
ib 
1.00 
1.50 
25 
iibo 
Highland. 
... do.. 
1 :::: 
12 
16 
120 
150 
Dark. 
.. do.. 
62 
1.00 
ib 
125 
1.50 
Mahoning.... 
50 
is 
75 
130 
1.25 
Crawford. . .. 
...do.. 
( .... 
.... 
15 
75 
LOO 
125 
150 
1.75 
2.00 
Branch. 
. Mich.. 
75 
13 
1.25 
22 
144 
1.50 
Cass. 
. .do.. 
75 
18 
1.50 
200 
1.75 
1.25 
25 
230 
Battle-Creek. 
...do.. 
50 
12 
75 
140 
75 
15 
1.50 
180 
