218 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
Classification of Breeds of Fowls. 
The following communication from Jas. H. 
Fry & Co., of New Brighton, N. Y., opens a 
subject of interest to poultry breeders, and upon 
which all will not agree. In the main, the 
classification is doubtless correct. 
“In the production of that great variety of 
fowls which challenges the admiration of the 
public at our poultry shows} the attention of 
breeders has been turned mainly in three di¬ 
rections, viz.: to produce eggs, flesh, or feathers. 
Consequently we have some varieties prominent 
as prolific layers; others which are chiefly valu¬ 
able as table birds; and still others which are 
admired on account of their diminutive size, or 
the beauty of their plumage. 
Among these various breeds, there are still 
other distinctions; some varieties being non-sit¬ 
ters ; others periodically broody; some quiet and 
domestic in their habits, bearing confinement 
well, and never seeking to roam far from home; 
others wild and vivacious, chafing under con¬ 
finement, or if at liberty, roaming far and near, 
from early morning until sunset; some are fail- 
winter layers, others even under the best of 
treatment are almost exclusively spring and 
summer layers; some are hardy, others are 
delicate; some lay large eggs, others small or 
medium sized ones; and there are many other 
minor peculiarities which we have not space to 
notice here. A knowledge of the more prom¬ 
inent distinctions of the several varieties will 
determine the selection of a purchaser of fancy 
poultry. To obtain this knowledge from any 
work on poultry which we have seen, it will be 
necessary to wade through a considerable 
amount of dry detail. We have therefore thought 
it would not be uninteresting to your readers if 
we furnished a condensed classification of the 
various breeds, under the headings suggested 
above. Indeed, the propriety of furnishing this 
information through some popular channel of 
communication has been strongly impressed 
upon us, by the many questions which our cor¬ 
respondents have put to us. We therefore offer 
the following as the result of our present expe¬ 
rience. 
A—Prolific Layers. — Hamburgs, Spanish, 
Leghorns, Polands. 
B—Rapid Flesh Makers. —1. La Fleche, Hou- 
datis, Crevecceur, and Dorkings; these four va¬ 
rieties are the true table birds. 2. Cochins and 
Brahmas; these are more muscular and more 
heavily framed than the four varieties first 
named under this head, and their flesh is not so 
white and juicy, hence we class them as inferior 
in this point. 
C — Ornamental .—Bantams, Silkies Sultans, 
Rumpless, etc. 
1) — Non-sitters. — Houdans, Crevecceur, La 
Fleche, Spanish, Polands, Hamburgs, Leghorns. 
E — Sitters. —Cochins, Brahmas, Dorkings, 
Games. 
F—Domestic and Quiet. —Brahmas and Co¬ 
chins.—These birds are very sluggish in tem¬ 
perament, and can be penned in with a fence 
three feet high. 
G—Active and Vivacious. —1. Hamburgs and 
Games.—A fence twelve feet high will not re¬ 
strain these varieties when startled. 2. Span¬ 
ish, Leghorns, Dorkings, and the French varie¬ 
ties. All of these will require a high fence to 
keep them in, though the Dorkings and French 
fowls being heavy birds cannot rise upon the 
wings as well as the Spanish and Leghorns. 
77— Hardy. —1. Brahmas. These birds seem 
to endure the coldest weather without injury. 
2. Houdans, Hamburgs, Crevecceur, Spanish, 
and Leghorns.—Except that their combs are 
liable to be frozen, the birds under this second 
division bear exposure well in winter. 
I—Delicate. —LaFleche, Polands, and most of 
the Bantams and ornamental fowls. 
J— (1) Layers of Larye Eggs , averaging about 
7 to the pound.—La Fleche, Houdans, Creve- 
coeur, Black Spanish. (2) Layers of Medium 
Eggs , averaging from 8 to 9 to the pound.—Leg¬ 
horns, Cochins, Brahmas, Polands, Dorkings, 
Gaines, Sultans. (3) Layers of Small Eggs , from 
9 to 10 to the pound.—Hamburgs. 
A—(1) Large Birds. —Cochins, Brahmas, La 
Fleche, Houdans, Crevecceur and Dorkings. 
(2) Medium Sized Birds. —Polands, Spanish, 
Leghorns and Games. (3) Small Birds. —Ham¬ 
burgs, Sultans. (4) Diminutive. —All the Ban¬ 
tams and Silkies. 
The positions which we have assigned the 
various breeds in the foregoing classification, 
will, in the main, be accepted by poultry breed¬ 
ers without challenge. The classification will 
necessarily provoke criticism upon some points. 
We offer it simply as an expression of our ex¬ 
perience to the present time.” 
Put in Roots. 
With too many of us roots for cows and 
other stock are regarded as entirely secondary 
to the main crops of grain and potatoes, and so 
are neglected until after corn is planted, if not 
altogether. Swedish, or Russian turnips, as they 
are often called, do not need the whole season to 
grow, and if sowed by the first of July, are in 
early enough, except on some cold, hard soils, 
where full crops can hardly be expected at all. 
On such ground it seems as if Ruta-bagas re¬ 
quired the whole summer to make roots and 
establish connections with the soil, so that they 
may make their great growth in the autumn. 
When Swedes (ruta-bagas) are to be grown, 
the early part of June should be devoted to pre¬ 
paring the land by manuring and deep plowing, 
and such thorough harrowing and tillage as shall 
kill at least two crops of weeds. A Shares’ 
harrow will be found a very efficient tool for 
preparing a mellow surface. Between the 20th 
of June and the 20t,h of July, according to cir¬ 
cumstances, mark out the land in drills 30 inches 
apart, and sow, in the drills, by hand, about two 
barrels of good superphosphate to the acre. 
This should be sifted and free from lumps, and 
sowed evenly, a little scattered. Then, with a 
hand seed-drill, sow the seed at the rate of one 
pound to the acre, that is, use as little seed as pos¬ 
sible. The early part of the month is not too late 
to get a fair crop of carrots and parsnips, and a 
moderate one of mangels or sugar beets on rich 
soil. We can hardly urge the cultivation of 
roots too strongly. No crops pay better on milk 
and sheep farms. Near city markets, where 
ruta-bagas can be sold, the late-sowed ones 
which do not get so large bring a better price. 
Cough and Heaves in Horses. —A western 
physician of our acquaintance, who keeps seve¬ 
ral horses finds sunflower seed a valuable reme¬ 
dy for cough and heaves. So useful does he 
consider it, that he is careful to keep a good 
supply of it always on hand. He claims to have 
cured a marked case of heaves by feeding a 
quart or two of the seed daily, and when any 
of his horses or mules show a disposition to 
cough, a feed of sunflower seed is given at once, 
and continued until relief is afforded. 
It is said that on the prairies where Rosin- 
weed ( Silphium terebinthinaceum ) is abundant, 
that horses never have the heaves—and that the 
resinous leaves of the plant are dried and fed in 
moderate quantities with beneficial results. 
The Preparation of Tobacco Land. 
- o - 
The most important requisite in attempting 
to raise a tobacco crop is a rich and well tilled 
soil. As to quality, aside from manure, any soil 
iu a tobacco region which would rank as first- 
class corn ground may be adapted to tobacco. 
The amount of manure which may be profitably 
applied can hardly be estimated. We have never 
known tobacco land too rich, though too much 
of guano, and perhaps of other concentrated 
manures, is disadvantageous. It would, perhaps, 
be safe to say: let the manure applied be worth 
half what you expect to realize from the crop. 
The best manure is doubtless barn-yard manure, 
which has been made from well-fed, mixed 
stock, and which has lost nothing by fire-fanging 
nor by water. Ashes, leached or unleached, are 
always valuable. Salt, plaster, and lime are 
uncertain in their effects. Peruvian guano, su¬ 
perphosphate, bones, etc., are always useful in 
moderate quantities. 
The yard manure should be spread and 
plowed in deep, then hand manures sowed on 
and put under the surface with a Shares’ harrow. 
Then, as soon after the middle of the month as 
possible, mark out the field as for corn of small 
growth, and set out the plants on the first rainy 
day, selecting the largest first. Water the seed¬ 
beds thoroughly before moving the plants, and 
give them a good application of liquid manure 
after taking out those needed the first day. 
The plants are set out precisely as cabbage 
plants are, but not so near. The rows are usu¬ 
ally 3 1 1 2 feet apart, and the plants are about 2‘| 2 
to 3 feet apart. If the grub or cut-worm de¬ 
stroys any, or if any die from whatever cause, 
replace them at once. The tillage should be 
like that required by cabbages, but no hilling up 
around the plant of any account should be done. 
Prize Essay on Making- and Packing- 
Butter. 
BY MRS. M. A. BEANE, FARINA, FAYETTE CO., ILL. 
Management of the Milk. —The advantage gained 
during the hot season by the rapid and complete cooling 
of milk as soon as it comes from the cow, can hardly be 
over-estimated, as recent experiments show that the 
milk, thus cooled, will keep sweet much longer and yield 
its cream more readily and more abundantly ; and, as all 
experience has proven that the quantity of butter made, 
depends greatly upon keeping the milk in such a state 
as to secure all the cream. A saving of labor is effected 
by this process, as the milk, when cooled to the required 
temperature (G0°), may be set in deeper vessels, thus di¬ 
minishing, greatly, the number of vessels required, and, 
consequently, the labor of cleansing them. 
In a large dairy, the washing and scalding, of the shal¬ 
low pans so much in use, is always a laborious and te¬ 
dious process. There are many methods, more or less 
simple, for cooling milk. Patents have been granted for 
various plans, and many enterprising dairymen are test¬ 
ing ingenious devices of their own, with excellent suc¬ 
cess. If it is not convenient to procure a cooler, the 
milk may be cooled by setting some large pails into a 
trough or box, partly filled with very cold water, and 
pouring the milk into these pails as fast as it is drawn 
from the cows, allowing it to stand until of the required 
temperature; if necessary, renewing the water. 
The Fails used in milking should be made of tin, never 
of wood. It is very difficult, almost impossible, to cleanse 
wooden pails so perfectly that they will not impart some 
degree of acidity to the milk, though it may be an insen¬ 
sible degree. Owing to this fact, some factories make 
it an absolute requisition that only tin pails shall be used 
by those who furnish them with milk. 
The Dairy-Room .—Much of the success of butter-mak¬ 
ing depends upon the fitness of the place or room where 
