1869 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
89 
leghorn Fowls. 
The credit belongs, we believe, to American 
breeders for having discovered among the fowls 
of many colors and styles, imported direct, and 
through England from China, the characteristics 
of a pure breed, early named Brahma Pootra, 
mow known as Light 
Brahmas, (the Dark 
Brahmas having 
been developed and 
“ brought out ” in 
England.) We claim 
also for our discrim¬ 
inating countrymen 
the honor ol devel¬ 
oping from hetero¬ 
geneous materials an 
elegant and useful 
breed, with strong, 
well-marked charac¬ 
teristics ; namely,the 
Leghorns. Our own 
earliest knowledge 
of this breed of fowls 
does not antedate 
ten years. One of 
the first flocks to 
which our attention 
was drawn belonged 
to Mr. J. C. Thomp¬ 
son,of Staten Island. 
They were chiefly of 
his own importa¬ 
tion, and generally had yellow legs, single 
combs, and white ear-lobes, but were not 
alike in many other particulars. As we remem¬ 
ber them, some were white, others of various 
colors, like common dunghills. We remember 
also some flocks of all white, and which seldom 
threw chicks with colored plumage or double 
combs. Yet birds were often sold and bred as 
Leghorns, both white and colored, with broad 
rose combs, pink legs, aud with bodies like Dork¬ 
ings. These, in our 
opinion, were cross¬ 
bred birds, having 
Dorking or some 
other blood; and al¬ 
though rose or 
double combs occur 
in yards whene care¬ 
ful breeding is ex¬ 
ercised, we are in¬ 
clined to pronounce 
against them in toto. 
Pink or white legs 
are of quite frequent 
occurrence in the 
yards of the very 
best breeders, so far 
as we are aware, and 
to throw out either 
class of birds would 
clearly be doing in¬ 
justice to their other 
good points, for in 
all desirable quali¬ 
ties of style and 
beauty, as well as in 
usefulness, we venture to say no difference can 
be determined. Except for the fact that flesh-col¬ 
ored legs are almost regarded as the peculiar 
property of Dorkings, we know no reason why 
the yellow-legged Leghorns should be preferred. 
We have gone on breeding Leghorns. Every 
year they have shown more style, more marks 
of high breeding, and their useful qualities have 
k«pt pace with their improvement in other re¬ 
spects. Importations have been made, and are 
almost every year being made, but without find¬ 
ing any birds approaching our home-bred stock, 
which are now raised by perhaps one hundred 
fanciers. They are bred of several classes, Slates, 
Dominiques, etc., but in no color do we find the 
thoroughbred characteristics of the single-combed 
White. We give an engraving of a remarkably 
fine pair of these, the property of Mr. John 
Salisbury, Jr., of Nyaclc, N. Y. These are pure 
white in plumage, with yellow legs and white 
ear-lobes. The cock’s comb is thin and very 
erect, his ■wattles delicate, but large, while the 
hen’s comb droops. The hens are non-sitters, or 
at least are rarely brood}', and are easily broken 
of the desire to sit. The eggs are above the me¬ 
dium size, and very white; the chickens hardy; 
the flesh tolerably good. They are naturally 
classified with the Black Spanish, Polands, and 
Ilamburghs, and their many good qualities lead 
them to be highly esteemed in comparison with 
the best of these justly favored breeds of fowls. 
Leghorns resemble the Spanish so much that 
they have been called “ White Spanish.” We 
know of no proper White Spanish. Black 
Spanish fowls occasionally moult white, and 
the throwing of white chickens is reported, but 
these are exceptional cases, and no true breed 
has be&i established from them, so far as we 
know. The rose-combed Leghorns might very 
appropriately be called White Ilamburghs, for 
the whole style of the two breeds is similar. We 
see no reason for excluding from the Ham¬ 
burgh class those 
with double combs 
and white legs, pro¬ 
vided they breed 
true. However, the 
style which we fig¬ 
ure has our decided 
preference, and we 
hope to see it rec¬ 
ognized as the type. 
Ayrshire Cattle. 
In the November 
number of the Agri¬ 
culturist, we showed 
portraits of two 
cows, and discussed 
briefly the merits of 
the Ayrshire breed 
as milkers. One of 
the cows engraved 
was Dolly 3d, of the 
herd of S. M. & D. 
Wells, of Wethers 
field, dam of the fmo 
bull, a portrait ol 
which, copied from a photograph, is now ex¬ 
hibited. This animal was past three years old 
when the photograph was taken. He repre¬ 
sents well the characteristics of his race—being 
fine in head, bone, and horn, having a deep 
body, and short, powerful legs,which are fine and 
flat. In color, he is deep red, and white; his 
skin is soft and pliable, the hair abundant, and 
the color of the nude spots—the interior of the 
ears, about the eyes, etc.—of that orange brown, 
which indicates a 
tendency in the 
progeny to give rich 
milk. Stock of his 
get have proved re¬ 
markably good ani¬ 
mals, and on the 
whole, he seems the 
worthy son of an il¬ 
lustrious dam. The 
drawings we fre¬ 
quently see of Ayr¬ 
shire bails exhibit 
few, if an}-, points of 
difference between 
them and Short¬ 
horns. We venture 
to say, no breeder 
will mistake this for 
the likeness of a Dur¬ 
ham bull. Never¬ 
theless, the beef- 
points of the ani¬ 
mal are very good, 
and we do not doubt 
that he, or steers of 
his get would fatten easily and profitably, where 
Short-horns would not. “Aleck Cristie ” is 
owned by his breeder, above named, and is the 
sire of several of the young bulls offered by the 
Publishers of the Agriculturist as premiums. 
There is, probably, no breed of cattle, the 
good qualities of which are more readily en¬ 
grafted upon our “native”—that is, mongrel 
stock,—than the Ayrshire, the best qualities o( 
AMERICAN-BRED WHITE LEGHORNS. 
