INTRODUCTION OF THE COCHIN-CHINA FOWLS. 
149 
It is a most gratifying thing to me that the steady 
devotion of L. F. A., to the best interest of the far¬ 
mer, has been honored with the presidency of the New 
York State Agricultural Society. I hope he will be 
continued in office until he works some needed 
reforms. 
Ice Houses. —Your remarks upon the construc¬ 
tion of this useful appendage to a farm, in the 
southern portion of our country, are very good. 
Though instead of a frame, with posts a foot thick, 
two light frames, one within the other, w T ould he 
better. Perhaps the “ balloon frames” spoken of 
by Mr. Robinson, would answer a good purpose. 
I wish, Mr. Editor, that you would publish a cut 
and description of the old “Virginia ice house.” 
[Will try to do so one of these days]. 
Hints for the South .—Mr. Abbey disputes Mr. 
Peacocke’s facts, about raising meat; but, unless, I 
am misinformed upon this subject, Mr. P. is far 
nearer the mark than *Mr. A. As to Mississippi 
being the “ best region in the west for raising beef,” 
Mr. A. must surely be mistaken. Beef cannot 
well be packed in such a, warm climate; and be¬ 
sides, nor'shern beef is always esteemed the best. 
If Mr. A. has a breed of negroes that will not kill 
off the pigs, however well fed, they are certainly 
different from any that I have ever met with in my 
travels. As to Mississippi being a good fruit coun¬ 
try, I fully believe in that; but as to its yet being 
put to the test, to any important extent, no man 1 
who has spent so much of his life there as I have, 
can credit it, unless, indeed, it has wonderfully 
altered since I was in the state, five years ago. 
Yankee Farming — No. 1 . —Well, now, I like 
originality, and here it is in all its parts—name, 
place, and style. But unless I am most deucedly 
mistaken in my “ guess,” at the author, he will be¬ 
lie his name, or the character of his profession—the 
great body of them not being noted as very near 
relatives to the Sergeant family. But never fear, 
Sergeant, for your case, I will not divulge while 
you are engaged in the same cause that 1 am ; but; 
if you will guess shrewdly once, and then ride over 
to my house some day, you shall meet with a most 
hearty welcome from a Corporal of your old com¬ 
pany. In the mean time, I expect to be often de¬ 
lighted by your too-true description of New-Eng- 
land farming. I don’t think you can be accused 
of being personal ; for I have already heard 
you charged with meaning more than twenty 
different individuals, for “ Uncle Sim.” The only 
difficulty in the way, is, that none of these uncles 
have a neighbor Goodell. But I have suggested 
to them, that the Major is entirely a fictitious cha¬ 
racter; but this they are unwilling to believe, “he 
seems so natTal like,” and the oxen more so. “Wal! 
Wal! I guess there is something in feed arter all.” 
Monographs of Fruit. —Your correspondent need 
not call upon. Hercules to perform this task; for 
however much the old giant might do with his 
club, Mr. B. is quite as powerful with his pen, 
which I am right glad to see is enlisted for the Ag¬ 
riculturist. 
Taplin's Horse Power. —There is an error in this 
engraving, or in the machine itself. Nothing ap¬ 
pears to support the wheel upon the side opposite 
the pinion ; but it would rather appear to be sus¬ 
pended by the' centre shaft. If that is the fact, it 
will soon get to wabbling so as greatly to endangei 
it or other parts of the machinery. It should run 
upon four hearings [it does so, but these unluckily 
are not shown in the cut], and if the segments 
were put on top, or on the rim of the wheel, it 
might run within two inches of the ground. The 
whiffle tree could be raised to any desired height 
by a standard, supported by a hack stay. 
Dressing Wounds .—Although this article was 
intended for animals, its advice is equally good for 
human wounds. Nine times out of ten, a wound 
will heal quicker, if done up in its own blood, than 
in any other way. As for a burn, whatever will 
entirely exclude the air the quickest, is the best. 
Cotton will do this. So will oiled silk, if stuck 
down at the edges by any kind of sticking salve. 
Put nothing on a bum to heal it. Nature will soon 
do that, when the air is excluded, and the pain will 
almost immediately cease. 
Hints to Mothers .—If that “Farmer’s Wife,” at 
Onondaga Hill, doth practice as she preacheth, pray 
commend me to her as an instructress to my daugh¬ 
ters : though thanks to the example of their good 
mother, I think them pretty useful girls already. 
If this farmer’s wife will continue her contribu¬ 
tions to the Agriculturist, she may assist in teach¬ 
ing farmers 1 daughters how to make housekeeping 
easy; and I will assure her that her articles shall 
be touched with a most gentle hand by your 
Reviewer. 
INTRODUCTION OF THE COCHIN-CHINA 
FOWLS. 
We are informed, through the Massachusetts 
Ploughman, that Mr. J. C. Bennett, of Plymouth, 
Mass., has been pre-eminently successful in rear¬ 
ing this celehrated.breed of fowls from a pair, which 
he imported in July, 1846. One of the cockrels, 
of last May’s brood, weighed 8|- lbs. when ten 
months old, and a pullet of the same brood and 
age, weighed 6^lbs. The latter commenced lay¬ 
ing about the first of January last, and on the 19th 
of February, she hatched out a fine brood of her 
own. The mother of this pullet laid 84 eggs with¬ 
in the period of 136 days, between the 31st of 
March, and the 14th of August last. 
Mr. Bennett states that these fowls are no more 
expensive to keep than the common breeds: while 
they are about twice as large, better layers, less de¬ 
structive to gardens, more docile, very careful of 
their young, and their flesh fine and highly flavor¬ 
ed. Therefore, he considers them, in all respects, 
better and more profitable to raise, than any other 
breed. For a description of this species of fowl 
see pp. 36, 153, of our sixth volume. 
Scarecrows. —Among the various contrivances 
employed to frighten crows from newly-planted, 
corn, small pieces of looking glass, or little bits of 
shining tin, suspended about the field, by pieces of 
strong twine on short poles, four or five feet above-; 
the ground, will prove as effectual, perhaps, as any 
other means. A line of white twine strung 
around the field and supported by stakes, will 
also have a similar effect. The crow, in all 
old settlements, is too suspicious a bird to ap¬ 
proach any such contrivances, for fear of being 
caught. 
