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AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
355 
some of his time to the poultry-yard, I would 
recommend the Dorkings. They are great 
favorites in England, and bring the highest 
prices there, both among breeders and in the 
market. They have more white meat than 
any other breed—resembling the partridge 
very much in their long, plump bodies. 
They are good though not great layers, and 
capital mothers. I prefer the grey to the 
white variety, as they are larger, hardier, 
and fat more readily, yet the flesh and fat of 
the white has more of a tendency to yellow¬ 
ness. 
Next to the Dorking I place the Black 
Spanish. They are better layers than the 
former, but not as large-bodied nor as good 
meated-— although they are by no means bad. 
Their eggs are perhaps larger than those of 
any other fowl’s. The Black Polands are 
great layers; but from their never being in¬ 
clined to set they would answer the fancier’s 
turn better than the farmers. 
Last, though not least—in size—comes the 
Shanghai. As layers, they are unequaled, 
laying in the coldest days of winter, as well 
as in the finest days of spring. Notwith¬ 
standing their great egg-making powers, I 
very much doubt whether they are as profit¬ 
able as some of the other breeds, it being a 
conceded point that it takes much more feed 
o keep them. For the table, they are infe¬ 
rior to all the above-mentioned. They are 
a breed which is capable of being much im¬ 
proved, and should remain two or three 
years longer with the fancier or professional 
breeder. 
Now, as to the management and raising of 
chickens : When first hatched, if very choice 
ones, I feed them for the first day or two on 
hard-boiled eggs, chopped fine ; if not, I give 
them bread-crumbs ; then cracked wheat, 
then whole wheat, and then dry cracked 
corn, which, with an occasional feed of wet 
Indian meal together with onions or onion- 
tops chopped fine and mixed with it, I con¬ 
tinue until they are able to eat whole corn. 
A few meals of cooked fresh meat, cold, is 
also serviceable. I much prefer cooked to 
raw, as raw meat, I fancy, makes them more 
inclined to fight and pick each other. They 
should have by them, at all times, clean, 
fresh water. I raised over two hundred 
chickens last year, and did not lose one out 
of that number with the gapes. I consider 
the great preventive of that malady is dry 
feed, with plenty of clean, fresh water. 
_ T. R. s. 
Depth vs. Drouth. —We freqently come 
across facts with a bearing on this case. Mr. 
Hall, of Bradford, at the first Legislative 
agricultural meeting in Boston, said he visi¬ 
ted a New-Bedford nursery last summer, 
and found the young trees, particularly the 
pears, in a remarkably thrifty state, large 
and vigorous. He asked the proprietors if 
they did not manure highly, and was told 
that they did not; but instead, double trenched 
all their ground. It is an expensive process, 
costing $200 per acre. A few weeks since 
he again saw one of the proprietors of the 
nursery, and inquired about the drouth in his 
vicinity. He said it was very severe, but he 
could not perceive that it had injured his nur¬ 
sery much if any. Rural New-Yorker. 
LADY BEBK AN® SSR ISOBET. 
BERKSHIRE PIGS, 
The property of L. G. Morris, Mount Fordbam, N. Y. 
The boar, winner of the first prize in his 
class, as “large breed,” at the New-York 
State Show in 1854. 
The sow was on exhibition with ten pigs, 
and received commendation from the com¬ 
mittee. 
The Berkshire swine, such as I have im¬ 
ported, are of as large a breed as this or any 
country should desire; possessing great 
length and rotundity of body ; very prolific, 
and a skin and hair well calculated to stand 
any climate. They are very hardy and 
easy keepers, and will weigh, when matured, 
in proportion to keep, from 400 to 600 lbs. 
L. G. MORRIS. 
GUANO AT THE SOUTH. 
Dr. Cloud, in the American Cotton Planter, 
gives an excellent method of applying guano 
to cotton and corn, which we copy below. 
We, however, prefer that of our southern 
correspondent, which we published at page 
•290, January 17th, of the current volume of 
our paper. It would undoubtedly be still 
better, at least for corn, to spread the guano 
broad cast upon the land in November or 
December, and plow it in six to twelve inches 
deep, and then replovv in the spring just be¬ 
fore planting. But we know this double 
plowing, or even so deep plowing, will be 
looked upon as perfectly absurd by most 
planters, so we will not press that question on 
any except the “ fancy few.” 
I have thoroughly tested guano for the last 
ten or twelve years on every variety of crops 
that we cultivate at the South. Its analysis 
sustains this position had we no experience 
in its use. The best mode of application 
that I have found for using it is, first, to pul¬ 
verize it, then add to it gypsum (sulphate of 
lime) in the proportion of one pound gypsum 
to two pounds of guano. For small grain, 
200 pounds of such compost harrowed in 
with the grain after thoroughly plowing the 
land, produces a good crop. A heavier appli¬ 
cation will greatly improve the crop. For 
corn, 250 to 300 pounds drilled along in the 
row, and then two furrows listed on it, and 
when you get ready to plant, open the ridge 
with a scooter and drop the corn and cover 
as you desire. Thirty to forty bushels will 
be the produce per acre on land that without 
the guano might produce 10 to 15 bushels. 
For cotton I have found it best to apply it in 
this way—first run off the rows and then 
ridge with two scooter furrows by running 
round the row, upon this ridge scatter 300 to 
400 pounds of the compound, guano and gyp¬ 
sum, and then bed out the rows with turn 
plows, then when ready plant your seed. 
Much of the success of using guano depends 
upon applying it early in the season, that it 
may become incorporated with the soil pre¬ 
vious to the growing season. It may be ap¬ 
plied equally successful without the gypsum 
—the gypsum, however, being cheap, can be 
used to advantage with it, as its application 
is perhaps always valuable. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
COUCH OR TWITCH GRASS. 
There have been several articles in the 
American Agriculturist, on the subject of 
what constitutes “ Couch or Twitch grass.” 
A Philadelphia correspondent, “ R. R. S.”, 
says it is the Triticum repens of botanists, 
while others say that it is of the Agrostis 
family. The fact is, several plants are 
known, among different persons, by the same 
name, and the same plant is known under 
several names. I have known this same 
Triticum to have, in different localities, the 
names of Couch grass, Tivitch grass, Quack 
grass, and Bitch grass ; and have also known 
at least two or three different grasses known 
by the name of Quack grass, all of which 
spread, like the Triticum, by creeping root- 
stalks. 
The plant most commonly known (I think) 
in central and western New-York, as Quack 
grass, is not a Triticum. It seeds less abun¬ 
dantly than plants of that genus, but multi¬ 
plies as rapidly by the roots, which are creep¬ 
ing and very tenacious of life. The stolons, 
or creeping root-stalks, have often a light 
pink or reddish tinge. I can not give the 
botanical name, but think it the Agrostis 
alba var. stolonifera. It grows best on moist 
grounds, and thorough draining is said to ex¬ 
tirpate it. 
The Triticum repens is the “ Couch or 
Twitch grass” of all our standard botanists 
It grows of various heights, from a few inch¬ 
es to two and a half feet, according to the 
