330 
AMERICAN AGE, I CULT UK 1ST. 
Plowing in Guano. —A correspondent of 
the Country Gentleman, in reply to an in¬ 
quiry as to the best method of applying gu¬ 
ano on clay land, says : 
“ I have tried it on clay land which had 
been in grass for five years. On one half the 
field I plowed it in to the depth of about 
seven inches, and on the other half harrowed 
it in, and planted it all with corn, and staked 
off an equal number of hills from each part. 
It all came up equally well, but by the early 
part of summer there was a marked differ¬ 
ence in the two parts of the field, which con¬ 
tinued throughout the season; and upon 
husking, that which had been plowed in, and 
staked off upon planting, produced nine 
bushels, while that which had been harrowed 
in, produced but five bushels, showing the 
advantage of plowing it in, even in heavy 
clay soil. The soil was a slate, and the 
amount used about two hundred pounds to 
the acre.” 
KOHL RABI. 
Increased importance being given in the 
present age to the products of the kitchen 
garden by the progress of vegetarian habits, 
the following remarks are offered on a veg¬ 
etable which is not so much known as it de¬ 
serves. The plant meant is the Turnip- 
Cabbage, Nol-Kohl or Kohl Rabi. My first 
acquaintance with it was in India, where the 
seed is brought from the Cape of Good Hope; 
and I subsequently saw some excellent 
produce from seed sent to England by a 
missionary from the same quarter. I have 
also had seed from Hamburg, but the prod¬ 
uce was not remarkably good. There is 
scarcely a seed shop in London from which 
the seed is not to be procured ; and the 
produce has been of nearly equal quality. 
On making inquiries from an agricultural 
friend, I ascertained that particular attention 
had been given to the cultivation of the plant 
by the Messrs. Sutton, of Reading. They 
grow no great quantity, being only for seed 
to private gardens in their neighborhood ; but 
they profess to take great pains in the se¬ 
lection of kinds. They recommend their 
green and their purple, and the price is 
stated to be 3s. a pound, from which an es¬ 
timate may be made for writing for small 
quantities to be sent by post. It is danger¬ 
ous to presume on tastes ; but to a certain 
extent prices confirm. The dearest, and 
therefore probably the most valued vege¬ 
tables are asparagus, artichokes, and ex¬ 
cept in the height of the season, green 
peas, and these are the only kinds to 
which the Nol-Kohl may not be declared 
superior. Its resemblance is greatest to 
the bottom of an artichoke, and the upper 
half is better than the lower, a fact which 
may be turned to advantage without waste, 
where there are cattle to consume the 
rejected halves. It is recommended to sow in 
February, or as early as possible, and month¬ 
ly afterward till the end of May. The bulb 
should be used before it arrives at its utmost 
growth, as afterward it grows what is called 
strong. It is better to avoid transplanting as 
the plants grow irregularly afterward. 
A Vegetarian. 
Fight Between a Man and an Eagle.— 
One day last week, Mr. H. L. Allen, of North 
Branford, discovered a couple of large grey 
eagles, tearing apart the carcass of a pig, 
near his premises—and taking his rifle, he 
succeeded in shooting one of them, which 
measured seven and a half feet from tip to tip 
of his .wings, 'and weighed lOlbs. Knowing 
that the other would be likely to return, he 
fixed a rude trap, with the hope of taking it 
alive ; and the next morning had the satis¬ 
faction to see his customer in limbo. As he 
approached the trap, however, the bird, by 
violent struggles, released itself, and with 
outstretched wings, and open claws and 
beak, came furiously at Mr. Allen; he caught 
it by the throat with his left hand, into which 
it buried one of its talons, and commenced 
whipping him with its wings, while the other 
talon griped around his left arm. 
After a hard struggle, which he says kept 
him unusually busy, he dragged the bird 
home, where he was soon secured. His 
wings measure seven feet and three quarters, 
from tip to tip, and he weighs 121 lbs. It is 
said to be one of the finest specimens of the 
American eagle which has ever been taken. 
It is seldom one is secured alive. 
New Haven Register. 
Distributing Bread. —The method adopted 
by the Five Points Mission Society of dis¬ 
tributing food among the destitute poor, is 
said to be such that imposition is hardly pos¬ 
sible. Every person who wishes to avail 
himself or herself of its benefits, applies to 
one of the ward or mission visitors, and re¬ 
ceives from him a ticket with name, resi¬ 
dence and the number of loaves to be given 
each day, stamped upon it. This ticket is 
daily presented at the office of the Mission, 
and the applicant, if worthy, receives a sup¬ 
ply of red tickets each of which, may be 
exchanged at another part of the establish¬ 
ment for a loaf of bread. If the applicant, is 
a stranger, or unreliable, he receives yellow 
tickets which may be likewise exchanged for 
bread, but with this difference ; that the man 
who deals out the loaves, breaks each one 
into several pieces as he passes it to him. 
This is because^m entire loaf might be pawn¬ 
ed for rum. Upwards of a thousand loaves 
are distributed every day at the Five Points 
Mission House. 
Introduction of New Breeds of Animals 
into France. —A meeting of the society for 
introducing foreign domestic and other ani¬ 
mals into France, and inuring them to its 
climate, took place the other day. The so¬ 
ciety has 550 members. The goats of An¬ 
gora, which are celebrated for their long, 
silky hair, and the flesh of which is consid¬ 
ered by the Turks as far superior to mutton, 
have lately been the object of great attention 
on the part of the society, who have now a 
flock of forty on their way to France, in ad¬ 
dition to sixteen which have been presented 
to the society by Abd-el-Kader, so that the 
naturalization of this valuable animal will be 
tried on an extensive scale, both in France 
and Algeria. The society is also engaged in 
procuring from Peru a flock of lamas, and 
alpacas, the wool of which is found to be so 
valuable. The introduction into France of 
the silk-worm known by the name of Bom- 
byx cynthia has also been the object of great 
attention. 
Sagacity of a Hen. —A Spanish hen, 
which was a great favorite with hermistress, 
was accustomed to be fed with a dainty meal 
every time she laid an egg. Chucky soon 
found this out, and would go to her nest and 
sit there a few minutes, and then come forth 
chuckling as loud as if she had performed a 
great feat, and for a day or two got her usual 
reward; but on no egg being found on sev¬ 
eral occasions, it was suspected that Mrs. 
Chucky was playing false ; and her usual 
feed being withheld, it was found that for 
two or three times together on the same day, 
she would repeat the dodge of going and 
sitt ing for a short time on her nest, and then 
come forth chuckling as lound as she could 
for her expected reward. 
Poultry Chronicle. 
WHO IS VICTORIA. 
Victoria is the daughter of the Duke of 
Kent, who was the son of George the III, 
who was the grandson of George II, who 
was the son of Princess Sophia, who was 
the cousin of Anne, who was the sister of 
William and Mary, who was the daughter 
and son-in-law of James II, who was the 
son of Mary, who was the grand daughter of 
Margaret, who was the daughter of Henry 
VIII, who was the son of Henry VII, who 
was the son of the Earl of Richmond, who 
was the son of Catharine, widow of Henry 
V, who was the son of Henry IV, who was 
cousin of Richard II, who was the grandson 
of Edward III, who was the son of Edward 
II, who was the son of Henry III, who was 
the son John, who was the son of Henry the 
II, who was the son of Matilda, who was 
the daughter of Henry I, who was the broth¬ 
er of William Rufus, who was the son of 
William the Conqueror, who was the bas¬ 
tard son of the Duke of Normandy by a 
tanner’s daughter of Valaise. 
The Royal Baron of Beef. —The baron of 
beef, which from time immemorial has 
formed the principal Christmas dish of the 
sovereign of England, was this year supplied 
by Mr. Minton, of Peascod street, Windsor, 
butcher to Her Majesty. It was cut from 
the carcass of a fine highland ox, fed by his 
royal highness Prince Albert, at the Model 
Farm, in the Home Park. The baron 
weighed precisely 60 stone, or 840 lbs., and 
judges pronounced the meat to be of very 
superior quality. The baron was put down 
before an enormous fire on Saturday after¬ 
noon, and for fourteen hours was watched 
and basted by relays of assistants, under the 
superintendence of the head roasting-cook. 
After the baron is taken up and allowed suffi¬ 
cient time to cool, comes the operation of 
paring and trimming, which materially im¬ 
proves its outward appearance. Placed on 
a dish as large as an ordinary sized table, it 
is then decorated. The royal cipher is traced 
round the edges of the dish; the holly and 
mistletoe apparantly sprout from the out¬ 
side fat of the meat ; the baron is then 
duly placed on the side-board of the dining, 
room of Windsor Castle, where her Majesty 
the Queen and the royal circle partake of the 
Christmas banquet. [London News. 
W'eights of Exhibition Poultry. —Three 
years since the Rev. John Robinson exhibi¬ 
ted a white gander at Birmingham weighing 
291 lbs., Mr. Terry of Aylesburry, at the 
Cambridge Show, a fortnight since, exhibited 
three birds weighing in ordinary condition 
57 lbs. The Hon. and Rev. S. W. Lawley, 
in 1851, at Birmingham, showed Dorking 
hens of 8£ lbs. Mr. Brand’s prize pens of 
young turkeys at Cambridge, one cock and 
two hens in each, averaged 50 lbs. the pen. 
Mr. Mortimer Ford’s Aylesbury ducks, at 
the same show, weighed 221b all but 711bs. 
each. At Norwich, Mr. Cannell’s three old 
turkeys weighed 54 lbs., and Mr. Fairlie’s, 
53 lbs. [Poultry Chronicie. 
A Turkey Story. —One of our subscribers 
in Montague, Mr. Alonzo Payne, w r rites us 
that a turkey belonging to him was blown 
from a tree during the storm of the night of 
December 3d, to the ground, where it was 
buried ten feet under the snow, and there 
remained without food for thirty-three days, 
until the thaw of January 4th, when it was 
enabled to extricate itself from its long con¬ 
finement, and the night following to take a 
respectable seat with its feathered tribe, on 
that self-same tree, about 25 feet from the 
ground. Who can tell a larger turkey story ? 
Greenfield Gazette. 
