328 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
American 
New-York. Wednesday, February 1,1854. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
The letter of S. R. G. is received; answer will 
be deferred two or three weeks for an article on 
the subject. 
The letter of A. E. M., of Va., is also received, 
and will appear as soon as we have room. 
Answers to L. I). will be given when we get 
time for an article on the subject. 
Z. B. AV.’s items are put into the “ editorial 
drawer,” to be drawn out as wanted. 
II. Y.’s article is under consideration. Ilis 
request to “ publish without alteration, note, or 
comment,” cannot be complied with. We are 
responsible for the style and grammatical con¬ 
struction as well as the matter of our paper. 
We invariably take the liberty'to correct, change, 
or condense all communications sent us. To 
give up this prerogrative would be to relinquish 
our editorial responsibility. We endeavor to 
keep in view the interests of all our readers, and 
cannot give up space to gratify the partiality of 
any individual for his own article. 
We have also a letter on butter-making, post¬ 
marked Iowa. All communications should be 
accompanied with the name and address of the 
writer ; we do not, however, publish the writer’s 
name when specially requested not to do so. 
CHINA PIGS. 
By the arrival at this port of the ship Sword 
Fish , Capt. Collins, from Canton, we have re¬ 
ceived a pair of pure China pigs, sent us by our 
friend Doct. Green, head surgeon of the United 
States’ war steamer Mississippi, one of the fleet 
under Commodore Perry, in the Japan explor¬ 
ing expedition. Doct. Green has sent another 
pair of the same kind of pigs to the Virginia 
State Agricultural Society. He writes us that 
it is exceedingly difficult to procure the finest 
kinds of pigs bred in China, and they can only 
be had by special favor. We shall take good 
care of those so kindly sent us by Doct. Green, 
and if they turn out well, will inform the public 
more about them hereafter. They had a cold, 
rough passage, and it will take them some little 
time to recover from the effects of it. They 
promise now to be a good addition to the farm 
stock of the country. 
-• O •- 
Cocoa-nut Cake. —Grate the cocoa-nut, and 
add an equal weight of pulverized loaf sugar; 
to two pounds of this mixture add half the white 
of an egg. Sprinkle small tins with flour, put 
on in balls one and a half inch in diameter, and 
bake quickly. To be eaten cold; and will keep 
a long time. 
-• • i - 
For the American Agriculturist. 
BRAHMA POOTRA FOWLS. 
I have the largest number of thorough-bred 
specimens of this variety of fowls to be found 
in the United States. They combine the form 
of the Dorking with the constitution of the 
Shanghai, and in plumage “bred to a feather.” 
The breast is white; back and sides, creamy 
white; neck hackles, black penciled; tail and 
wing feathers, black. Tail, wedge-shaped; legs, 
short and yellow; bodies, compact atid well 
feathered. Cocks, at one year old, weigh ten 
to eleven and a half pounds; hens, seven to 
eight and a half. 
I am satisfied that for this climato they are 
by far the best variety of fowl. I have tested 
this by experiment since 1848, commencing 
with the Dorkings, Malays, Polands, &c. you 
sent me. Richard Peters. 
Atlanta , Georgia. 
We have no doubt that the larger breeds of 
fowls do much better at the South than at the 
North. Our climate here is too cold for them, 
and the summer too short for a full, perfect 
growth. Many here differ with us in opinion, 
and continue to keep the large breeds ; but so 
far as our experience goes—and it is not small— 
fowls of a medium size, like the Dominique, 
Malay, Poland, &c., do best, and prove the most 
profitable north of 40 degrees latitude. 
We arc often written to from the South for 
poultry. AYe hope our friends in that quarter 
will read Mr. Peters’ letter, and remember that 
very choice large fowls arc now bred in their 
own latitude and much nearer home. 
- * O 6 -- 
For the American Agriculturist. 
SCHOOL REMINISCENCES. 
I read the article on this subject by the Rev. 
Henry Ward Beecher, on page 276 of the Ag¬ 
riculturist, and note also your prefatory re¬ 
marks, agreeing with him in his recollections. 
I, too, have a “reminiscence” on this subject, 
extending back upwards of seventy years ago 
in good old Massachusetts, and as my experience 
was somewhat different from yours, Messrs. Ed¬ 
itors, and Mr. Beecher’s, allow me to give them. 
The District School-house was nearly like 
that so graphically described by Mr. B., though 
somewhat improved by being sealed with boards 
inside, and having a floor laid overhead to pre¬ 
vent the heat penetrating the room from the 
roof. The chimney was of stone, and occupied 
about one-half of one end of the school-house. 
The huge-fire place in summer was kept filled 
with green bushes, and fresh wild flowers; in 
winter it sent up a cheerful, roaring blaze from 
the best of old oak and hickory wood, keeping 
us children warm and comfortable in the coldest 
of weather. Our studies were spelling, reading, 
writing, arithmetic, grammar, and geography— 
though not much of the latter, as the people 
were not quite so curious about their distant 
neighbors then, nor could they reach them so 
easily as now in the days of iron roads and 
steamboats. We classed ourselves and chose 
sides, and great was the rivalry of the two par¬ 
ties to excel. Our writing copy-books were 
carefully preserved and compared from year to 
year, and in cyphering all the figures used in 
working the sums were put down in a book 
which was also preserved. We committed par¬ 
liamentary speeches to memory and spoke 
them, also dialogues, poetry, &c. In all these 
things we were examined and encouraged by 
the literati of the town, the clergyman, physi¬ 
cian, and lawyer, as well as the more intelli¬ 
gent portion of the parents; and we looked for¬ 
ward to their visits and examinations with the 
greatest delight and most pleasing anticipations. 
Professional men in those days considered it a 
duty binding upon them, to look after the edu¬ 
cation of the children of the town, not only to 
procure competent teachers, but to sec that 
they did their duty. To show the interest I felt 
in my school, I will relate a circumstance. 
When ten years old, I cut my foot badly with 
an axe, so that I could not bear my weight upon 
it for six week's, during which time I went a mile 
to school upon crutches, sometimes through an 
unbroken path of snow from one to two feet 
deep. We had hard winters then. These were 
among the happiest days of my life, but not 
more so than those under the administration of 
my female teachers during summer. I still re¬ 
member their dress, a short calico gown with 
bright colors, a crimson worsted skirt, linen 
stockings of her own spinning and kniting, with 
her bright, sparkling eyes and sweet expression, 
how could 1 but love her, and the lessons she 
taught me to read. “No man may put off the 
law,” &c. Don’t tell me that these were un¬ 
happy days. Ten years of my life were spent 
in this humble school-house, from the age of 
three to thirteen, from the year 1780 to 1790, 
and I have not lost my fondness for juvenile 
schools yet. 
These school-houses have been the bulwark 
of our nation. But for them we should have 
never had our Websters, Clays, Shermans, and 
a host of others ; and it would be well if some 
of the wise-acres of the present day—those who 
affect to despise these humble halls of know¬ 
ledge—would turn their attention more to the 
formation of the minds of children—little child¬ 
ren if you please—and less to mental specula¬ 
tions, which tend to no profit. I care not how 
handsome and convenient school-houses are 
made and furnished, and I delight to see shrub¬ 
bery, flowers, and neat grass plots around them, 
but rest assured these alone will never satisfy any 
child who has been foolishly indulged by its 
parents at home. 
The backless seats you speak of, were as com¬ 
fortable as the cushion seats of the present day. 
Mine were made of slabs—not planks—from the 
saw-mill, with legs of hickory put in with a two 
inch auger; rough, to be sure, but our pants 
were equally so, being made of coarse tow cloth 
in summer and of thick coarse home-made 
woolen in winter, and the friction of each 
smoothed the other. Your objection to the 
height of the seats is a valid one, but not so 
with that against their being backless. Child¬ 
ren ought not to be bolstered up when lying, 
sitting, or standing. They have muscles and 
sinews like the shrouds of a ship-mast, and the 
more these are used the stronger they become. 
[\Ve cannot agree with our respected and ven¬ 
erable correspondent in this. Children sitting 
in a room six hours a day should have some sup¬ 
port for their backs or they will become round- 
shouldered, ahd their chests will become un¬ 
healthily compressed, and the spine especially 
will become curved. The same reason given for 
backless seats could more strongly be urged 
against having any seats at all; indeed we would 
prefer none to having those not fashioned to pre¬ 
serve the natural figure of the body.— Eds.] 
There is no good reason why schools should 
not be the happiest places upon earth. I know 
a school which fluctuates in numbers attending 
from forty to seventy. From my window I can 
sec the children entering the yard with a hop, 
skip, and jump ; and they are as cheerful through 
the day as the birds upon the grounds about the 
house. And why? Simply because they arc 
well governed, and their studies arc made a 
pleasure to them. No corporeal punishment is 
ever resorted to. If there be one thing lovelier 
