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AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
their henly reserve, though they accompany 
their lords on all public occasions, and aspire to 
the same celebrity. But I doubt very much 
about the propriety of such an endangering of 
their lienly virtues. I could not help wonder¬ 
ing who was scratching in the barn-yard whilst 
they were absent; if the roost would be in pro¬ 
per order on their return, and surely they could 
not be attending to the duties of their “ peculiar 
sphere” whilst traveling all over the country; 
and I thought I could , see visible signs of a de¬ 
parture from true henly modesty in their man¬ 
ners, to say nothing of their dress, owing to the 
contaminating example of their roosterly com¬ 
panions, who, like all other masculine bipeds, 
corrupt those with whom they associate, every 
where except in the domestic circle; there they 
condescend to conduct in such a manner as to 
exert no demoralizing influence. 
So I cannot add my voice to the multitude in 
approving.of all the features of this convention. 
It is well enough for the roosters to come to¬ 
gether in this public manner. If they should 
become vain and vulgar, or even dissipated, it is 
not so much matter—we do not expect so much 
of roosters. But ruin will certainly overtake all 
the domestic affairs of Hendom, if the same lib¬ 
erty is granted to the female portion of the com¬ 
munity. Having once had a taste of fame, they 
will never more be content to sit quietly upon 
the nest and hatch chickens—brooding them 
will be too monotonous a life, and feeding them 
altogether below their dignity. Only think of 
the ruin it would be to the well-ordered society 
of the barn-yard, if the hens should all become 
roostei’ly in their tastes and employments, and 
go strutting about in fine feathers, what would 
become of the eggs and chickens ? 
No, let the hens stay at home in future; their 
lords certainly make noise enough without them, 
and we should like to feel that the foundations 
of society are not to be utterly subverted ; and 
then it would be proper to make much grander 
arrangements for their reception. In all other 
respects my delight was without alloy, and I 
could give my entire approval of the Great 
Poultry Exhibition. 
ASTONISHING YIELD OF BARLEY, 
We have received the first two numbers of 
the California Farmer, and we are really 
pleased to find that-the agricultural interests 
of the Golden State are already so far developed 
as to justify issuing so large a sheet devoted to 
this subject. It is beautifully got up, and printed 
on most excellent paper—quite equal to our 
own — and it furnishes internal evidence that it 
will be edited with marked ability, and serve as 
a valuable auxiliary to the farmers of that re¬ 
gion. It is edited by John F. Mouse, assisted 
by J. L. L. F. Warner, and published weekly 
at San Francisco, by John F. Morse & Co., at 
$8 a year. 
We clip from the number of January 12, the 
following account of a Barley Crop : 
The most astonishing yield of barley, since 
“Ceres” flrst waved his golden tresses upon 
our fair earth, will be accorded to J. Bryant 
Hill, Esq., on the Salinas Plains, near Monterey. 
Mr. Hill exhibited one sack of barley as the 
sample of the crop of 95 acres. Several dis¬ 
tinguished persons visited this field of barley, 
on account of its remarkable beauty and pro¬ 
ductiveness. They went on purpose to see one 
acre measured, reaped, threshed, cleaned and 
sacked. They selected one acre of equal char¬ 
acter to the whole, remained until this acre was 
sacked and weighed. And the following we 
lay before our readers, and challenge the world 
to pi'oduce an equal. This acre produced one 
hundred, forty-nine and a-half bushels, weigh¬ 
ing 52 lbs. to the bushel. That there may be 
no doubt of the record we make, we have the 
the names of several prominent merchants of 
San Francisco, and also the most prominent 
men of Monterey, who witnessed the crop men¬ 
tioned above, and know and can attest to it. 
It will be noticed that the grain was measured 
and weighed without waiting for it to dry and 
shrink. But after allowing for this, the yield 
certainly exceeds any other on record. 
POULTRY SHOW. 
AMUSING DESCRIPTION. 
The editor of the Albany Register ought to 
have visited the National Poultry Show in this 
city, though,perhaps it is better that he stayed 
away — it would have been too much for him. 
He visited the local show at Albany, and hear 
him: 
“I give it up! I cave! I surrender! — I 
have seen the Elephant, trunk and all, had a 
fair view of the animal and am satisfied.” So 
spoke a friend of ours, six feet four when he 
stretches, up and takes the kinks out of himself, 
as he came dovm from the concert-room of Van 
Vcchten Hall. 
“Here,” he continued, “My friend you can 
take my hat—there’s no bricks in it——Its one of 
Frothingham’s best, and bran new into the bar¬ 
gain.” 
“Why,” said we, “What’s the matter now? 
what’s up there that brings you down in such 
a fever of excitement ?” 
“What’s up there?” he replied “ hens are 
up there, roosters arc up there, Shanghais, 
Cochin Chinas, Chittagongs, Irish game cocks 
with a shilalah growing out of each leg, English 
game cocks, such as Santa Anna staked his 
pile on, Chinese game cocks, and all kinds of 
fighting fowls that ever went into a pit, or laid 
an egg. All kinds of bantams, black, white 
yellow and speckled. Geese are up there, and 
turkeys and pigeons and doves, eagles and owls 
and poodle dogs and rat terriers and guinea 
hens, and prairie chickens, and quails and long- 
eared rabits, and such a crowing, and quacking 
and crackling, and barking, and cooing, and 
gabbling, and screaming, was never heard since 
Noaii opened the doors of his old ark, and let 
out the beasts and birds that went to sea with 
him. That’s what’s up there, and a great deal 
more that a common man never dreamed of — 
Take my hat.” 
We didn’t take our friend’s hat because his 
head is a little bald, and we thought he needed 
it, but we passed on up into the concert-room 
and there — well, like our tall friend, “ we give 
it up, we cave, we surrender!” We had seen 
some tall chickens in our day, or rather we 
thought we had. We were mistaken, we had 
seen no such thing. We are not very tall, but 
we measure five feet eight in our stockings and 
a good way round, and we saw a venerable 
Shanghai, that we’ll bet could stand on his tip¬ 
toes, and eat corn off the top of our hat, if 
we’d let him. We can beat him in weight, 
thank fortune, and are, therefore, a leetle ahead 
of that rooster yet. His voice is like the roar 
of an escape pipe, and he lifted it up like three 
hundred trumpets, and crowed like thunder. 
Such a fowl isn’t safe in a barn-yard. He’d 
pick up all the little pigs, and eat his corn in 
the ear. And then there were the bantams, 
two dozen of which a motherly Chittagong took 
under her wings and brooded over them in mis¬ 
take for a nestfull of her own chickens just 
hatched. Then, the turkies, and geese, and 
ducks, and the little poodle dogs, and rat catch¬ 
ing terriers and all the other feathered and 
haired, and crowing, and cackling, and barking 
and quackling things, they were all there, every 
mother’s son of them, ready to be seen and 
heard, and together make one of the most com¬ 
ical shows of the season. 
Moral .—What have Scotch terriers and Poo¬ 
dle dogs to do at a poultry show? 
POULTRY RAISING. 
At a recent meeting of the Concord (N. II.) 
Farmers’ Club, the question being, “ Is the 
raising of poultry profitable?” Mr. James P. 
Brown said he had entertained the opinion that 
the raising of poultry could not be made profit¬ 
able among the farmers. His sons, however, 
having a different opinion, a year ago he pro¬ 
posed to sell them all his poultry, and purchase 
•of them what eggs and chickens he wanted for 
the family, upon the condition that they were 
to keep an accurate account of expenses and 
make a true return to him at the end of tMe 
year. 
•Before coming in to the meeting he had called 
upon them for a return up to this time, the 
period including nine months, and the following 
is their statement-: 
Had on hand, March 1st, 1852, 
26 fowls, valued at $10.00 
Cost of keeping, consisting of 
corn, meal, potatoes and 
meat, 19.65—$29.65 
Rec’d for 32 spr. chiles, sold, 28.03 
For eggs up to Dec. 1, 19.31 
Have now 82 fowls, worth 33 
cents each, 27.33 — $74.67 
Expenses, 29.65 
Profit in 9 months, $45.02 
He had seen from day to day how the fowls 
had been taken care of, and after reading this 
statement, had changed his opinion, and now 
believes that poultry may be profitably raised 
by bestowing upon it the same attention that is 
given to other farm-stock when well taken care 
of. These fowls were plentifully supplied with 
such food as is accessible to all who usually 
keep them — corn, oats, potatoes, and occasion¬ 
ally fresh meat, such as the plucks of sheep, or 
the flesh of young calves, many of which are 
killed at the age of three or four days by those 
who are selling milk. 
Mr. Jacob B. Farmer said a few years ago he 
thought he knew something about fowls, but 
recently had almost come to the conclusion that 
his knowledge was not to be relied on. He had 
often found as much clear profit from a single 
hen though winter as from a cow. Had fre¬ 
quently got $1.50 per bushel for the grain fed 
to them, and had received as high as $2.40 a 
bushel. They should be kept, lie said, in a dry 
warm place. During the last year liis fowls 
had been diseased, and he had received no pro¬ 
fit from them whatever. When he had made a 
profit it was from the native breed. 
Mr. O. W. Goodnow said he had been think¬ 
ing of Mr. Brown’s profits on a single hen, and 
that they would be about 500 per cent, on the 
investment. He thought Mr. B’s opportunities 
for keeping fowls very advantageous; his own 
advantages were not so good, but he thought 
they afforded a fairer opportunity to get at the 
actual profits than where they arc running on 
the farm. He had only an acre or two of gar¬ 
den, and was obliged to keep his fowls within 
somewhat narrower limits than the farmer does 
his. By careful experiment he had ascertained 
that each hen requires one bushel and a third 
of grain in a year, which he thought would not 
be at less average cost than $1.33 a year; — 
then how shall he find his profits? Would she 
afford him twelve dozen eggs a year ? if so, she 
would pay cost, but nothing more; in all his 
experiments, which had been many, he had not 
been able to derive a profit from them, beyond 
the keeping of some eight or twelve, which 
number would provide mostly for themselves 
while the ground is open. 
Mr. Simon Brown related some experiences 
in which he had realized larger profits from the 
