376 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
American 
New-York, Wednesday, February 22,1854. 
NEW- YORK HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Tms Society held an adjourned meeting on 
the evening of the 13th instant, and concluded 
to give up the project of a Spring Exhibition. 
We arc sorry they came to this decision, and 
hope it may yet be changed. The public mind 
has little to occupy it at this season, and is 
therefore more ready to patronize any chance 
exhibition of this kind. There is also a stronger 
yearning for rural sights than at a later season. 
Next autumn we shall have the State Agricul¬ 
tural Society Show here which will monopolize 
the public interest; and between this, the Amer¬ 
ican Institute, and other exhibitions, and the 
satiety of fruits and flowers felt by those who 
have spent the summer in the country, the Hor¬ 
ticultural Society will have a poor chance of suc¬ 
cess. If the Society is not able to get up a good 
exhibition for want of present funds, we would 
respectfully suggest advising with Mr. Barnum 
on the subject. As President of the Fairfield 
County Agricultural Society, he has made its ex 
hibitions very successful for several years past. 
Perhaps he might be able to give some hints on 
Horticultural exhibitions which would prove 
highly advantageous to the Society. 
While on this subject, we will respond to the 
complaint made at a recent meeting of this So 
ciety against the press, viz., that the weekly 
meetings had not been reported to the public as 
not have been aimed at us, for we have given 
reports at much greater length than any other 
paper; but we confess we have sometimes 
grudged the space because the subjects discussed 
have not been of a sufficiently practical charac¬ 
ter to interest the general reader. Roses, Came 
lias, and Azaleas have formed the chief topics of 
discussion. A wider range of subjects should 
have been gone over, especially one embracing 
the cultivation of some of the more common ar¬ 
ticles of consumption. Most people must eat, 
and they are awake to any thing that may be 
profitably cultivated for their own use or for 
sale. A few only, and these generally of the 
wealthier class, can spend much time in culti¬ 
vating flowers. Let it be known that this So¬ 
ciety takes up and discusses the best mode of 
raising useful fruits and vegetables, and their 
meetings will be well attended and more fully 
reported. 
Query.— Will a cow with four teats 
more milk than one having but three ? 
give 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, ADDRESSES, REPORTS, &c. 
We return our thanks to Rev. A. G. Comings 
for a copy of his able and interesting address be¬ 
fore the Connecticut River Agricultural Society. 
We have also received the list of Premiums 
awarded by the Brookfield (H. Y.) Agricultural 
Society , and the Report of Committees of the 
Massachusetts' Horticultural Society for 1853, 
with Schedule of Prizes for 1854. 
Some friend has also sent us a copy of the 
Address of John W. Proctor , Esq., before the 
Farmers and Mechanics of Hillsborough County , 
H. H. We have been much pleased with a 
hasty perusal of this. 
We have received and examined with much 
pleasure, the Transactions of the Windham 
County {Conn.) Agricultural Society. This is 
an admirable report, both of the transactions of 
the Society, and of the annual address delivered 
by Wm. S. King, Esq., editor of the Journal of 
Agriculture. The typographical execution and 
the excellent paper of this pamphlet of 80 pages, 
is an honor to the Society, which, as we know 
personally, is composed of a class of enterprising 
and thorough go-ahead men. 
In addition to the above, we have received a 
copy of the address of Wm. S. King before the 
Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden (Mass.) 
Agricultural Society. The address gives very 
good answers to the two questions, “ Will farm¬ 
ing pay?” and “ How may it be made to pay ?” 
Journal of the United States’ Agricultural 
Society. —Through the kindness of its editor, 
Mr. King, we are in receipt of Nos. 3 and 4 in 
one volume, of nearly 300 pages. Its principal 
articles are a complete account of the great Na¬ 
tional Horse Show at Springfield, Mass., last 
autumn, and the speeches and reports elicited 
by the exhibition; stallions, their breeding and 
management, which was copied in No. 20 of our 
paper; the fecundity of mules, which we intend 
to copy hereafter; stable economy, &c.; thirty 
nine articles in all, forming an excellent variety 
of reading on the general subjects of agriculture. 
Many of these articles are written with marked 
ability, and we recommend the Journal to the 
attention of our friends. The United States’ Ag- 
. - ui which tms journal is tlie 
organ, holds its annual meeting at "Washington 
D. C., on Wednesday, the 22d instant. Success 
to its proceedings, which we hope will not be 
marred by the officiousness of politicians. 
THE GREAT NATIONAL POULTRY SHOW, 
PRACTICAL HINTS. 
In our last we gave a brief notice of the open¬ 
ing of this splendid show of the gallinaceous 
tribe. We visited the exhibition several times 
during the week, and each visit increased our 
admiration of the collection of fowls gathered on 
this occasion. We are quite sure we express 
the unanimous opinion of nearly all, if not of all 
the multitude of visitors, when we say that the 
display far exceeded that of any other similar 
show ever held in America. This superiority 
relates not only to the variety and number of 
fowls, but also to the general excellence of the 
specimens. Every class was well represented, 
including the several families of the Shanghais 
or large Asiatic breeds, such as Chittagongs, 
Brahma Pootras, &c.; the different classes of 
Poland fowls; game fowls, &c.; turkeys, ducks, 
geese, swans, pea-hens, guinea-hens, pheasants, 
partridges, quails, pigeons, &c., &c. Where 
there were so many exhibitors and so many 
good specimens of so many varieties, it would 
be unjust to make invidious distinctions, and too 
tedious to describe the whole particularly. In 
another place we have given a complete list of 
the premiums awarded. 
One practical result of the exhibition is, that 
it has shown how much may be done to improve 
a single class of useful animals, by giving distinct 
attention to the subject. Who would have 
dreamed a few years ago that so great and so 
beautiful a variety of common farm-poultry, 
could now be produced in the Northern States? 
This exhibition showed that very great improve¬ 
ment has been made on a large scale, and that 
where the right sort of enterprise prevails, it is 
generally practicable. There is little doubt that 
a large amount of the animal food of our flesh¬ 
consuming people, may yet be profitably pro¬ 
duced in the poultry-yard. Shanghai steak, as 
has been humorously suggested, may yet be¬ 
come, in a great measure, a substitute for the 
“universal beefsteak." The larger and more 
valuable varieties of poultry are becoming widely 
diffused, and the high prices these have hitherto 
commanded on account of their scarcity, will 
soon be reduced to a proper level. 
The conversational meeting held on the fifth 
day was pleasant and profitable. We have sel¬ 
dom attended a similar gathering which excelled 
this in amount of practical information brought 
out. The debates were lively, and the speeches 
short and to the point. 
The value of the poultry-yard, as a means of 
giving pleasant and profitable employment to 
children and to the female part of the household, 
was alluded to by several gentlemen. A num¬ 
ber of breeders gave their experience in regard 
to the best kind of poultry-houses. The essen¬ 
tial points in these were agreed to be pure air, 
proper temperature, cleanliness, and above all 
freedom from vermin. The outside ornaments 
of the poultry-house may safely be left to the 
taste and wealth of each individual. 
It was universally agreed that the perches 
should be placed low, and so arranged that no 
cicruou oi tne wings should be required to 
reach them. The most feasible plan is to ar¬ 
range them in the form of an inclined ladder, 
with the rounds near together, and reaching 
within six inches of the ground. This gives the 
fowls an opportunity to exercise their choice in 
regard to high or low perches, and prevents 
injury in reaching or leaving them. 
As to cleanliness, one successful breeder pre¬ 
ferred to burn the boxes used as nests, each 
year, and replace them with new ones. An¬ 
other thought it sufficient to burn the straw in 
the box, so as to char the inside thoroughly. 
Another deemed it sufficient to frequently give 
them a thorough whitewashing. The expe¬ 
rience of all seemed to show that the greatest 
care is necessary to protect fowl from vermin, 
and that neglect of this is a great squrce of loss. 
We suggest whether it would not be well to 
thoroughly paint and varnish the coops and nest- 
boxes, and treat the latter frequently with scald¬ 
ing water. But one of the best preventives we 
have ever tried, is a heap of bleached ashes or 
fine dust for them to wallow in at will. This 
should be renewed occasionally. 
In regard to the more common disease, the 
pip, Mr. Newell, of Rochester, N. Y., had found 
the most effectual treatment to be anointing the 
head of the fowl with a mixture of equal parts 
of lard and spirits of turpentine. He also ad¬ 
ministers two or three of Lee’s Anti-bilious 
pills. Other gentlemen used castor oil with 
good results. One gentleman had found the 
best treatment for bad cases of this disease to 
doctor them as the Dutchman did his dog, cut 
off the tail just back of the ears. 
Dr. McClintock, of Philadelphia, one of the 
oldest and formerly the most extensive breeders 
