224 
DOUGLAS 5 IMPROVED HYDRAULIC RAM, ETC. 
three days since, quite as large as an ordinary hen 
tqrkey; it was a cockerel about seven months old. 
My experience of their laying and breeding quali¬ 
ties agrees mainly with your statement, except that 
[ should lay still stronger emphasis on their fatal 
clumsiness as mothers, which, 1 am inclined to 
think, is aggravated by their extra toe behind, and 
the great length of their back toes. They frequent¬ 
ly trample to death their chickens during the pro¬ 
cess of hatching, and, in a small coop, they demol¬ 
ish them at a fearful rate. I think they never 
should be cooped with their chickens; but a still 
safer course would be to hatch the eggs under a 
mother of a less rough physique, or perhaps by 
Cantelo’s hydro-incubator.” The only question is, 
how the hen is to be employed when the sitting fit 
comes on, for they are most persevering sitters. I 
have successfully hatched both turkeys and geese 
under Dorking hens. The latter will stand a great 
deal of trampling and kicking about without taking 
much harm from it. Mr. Whitaker, continues, “ I 
have crossed the Dorkings with pheasant Malays. 
The first cross produces a fine bird, which is large, 
though not prolific ; but if you allow the cross to 
"breed with each other, they dwindle to nothing. 
The doctrine of breeding is yet ill understood. I 
am disposed to think that, where you have a real 
variety, breeding in is the natural and best mode 
of procedure ; but that when you cross two tho¬ 
roughbreds, you have no guarantee that the cross 
breed will be good further than the first result.” 
The above remarks are condensed from a highly 
interesting communication, lately published on 
“ Ornamental Poultry,” other portions of which 
we propose to insert in a future number. 
DOUGLAS’ IMPROVED HYDRAULIC RAM. 
This perfectly simple and effective machine may 
be employed for forcing a portion of a hrook, or other 
stream of water, to any elevation or distance where 
a proportionate fall can be applied, for the purposes 
of irrigating lands, and supplying dwellings, gar¬ 
dens, factories, villages, engines, railroad stations, 
&c., with running water. 
Explanation .—H, denotes the brook or stream .; 
Cj ihe drive or supply pipe for conveying the wa¬ 
ter from the stream to the ram ; G, the pipe which 
conveys the water from the ram to the house or 
other point required for use; A, B, D, E, I, the 
ram. 
The simplicity of the operation of this machine, 
together with its effectiveness, and very apparent 
durability, renders it decidedly the most important 
and valuable apparatus yet developed in hydraulics, 
for forcing a portion of a running stream of water 
to any elevation, proportioned to the fall obtained. 
It is perfectly applicable where no more than 18 
inches fall can be obtained; yet the greater the 
fall applied, the higher the water may be conveyed, 
the quantity raised varying in proportion to the 
height, with a given fall. It will raise, say, one 
twelth of the water ten times the height of the fall 
to which it is applied. Thus, if applied under a 
fall of five feet, with a supply of twelve gallons 
per minute, it will force up and discharge, at an 
elevation of fifty feet from the machine, one gallon 
per minute ; and under the same head, or fall, it will, 
of course, raise and discharge a larger quantity of 
water in proportion as the height to which it is 
conveyed is diminished, and so a less quantity a 
greater height. 
This ram is constructed with an adjuster , which 
renders it decidedly superior to anything of the 
kind yet invented, as by this improvement the same 
machine may be conveniently varied in capacity, 
and at once adapted to various-sized streams. 
These machines are composed of metal, and are 
a very neat, compact, and portable article. No. 4, 
the ordinary size, weighs but 35 lbs., and occupies 
only about a cubic foot of space. 
The different sizes are applicable to springs, or 
brooks, which furnish, say, from one quart to 
twenty gallons per minute. If the stream is a 
large one, and a greater supply of water be re¬ 
quired, then the number of machines may be 
increased in preference to having one machine of 
a larger capacity than above named. 
In all cases the article is warranted complete and 
perfect, so as to give the best satisfaction, or it 
may be returned. Prices, from #12 to #18, exclusive 
of pipe. 
Sale of Mr. Prentice’s Herd. —Mr. E. P. Pren¬ 
tice, of Mount Hope, near Albany, has recently 
sold his entire herd of Short-Horn cattle, to Mr. 
George Vail, of Troy. We understand that this 
stock is principally derived from four of the cows 
of Mr. Prentice’s importations from England, which 
he reserved to himself in his great sale three years 
ago. These cows, if we recollect rightly, were all 
very fine in their points, and good milkers. Mr. 
Vail contemplates breeding them to his celebrated 
Bates bulls, and we can but think that the produce 
will be such as to find favor among the stock grow¬ 
ers of the country. 
What is a Model Farm ?—A model farm, if 
true to its name, is one upon which only the best 
practices are pursued; in other words, the beau 
ideal of a farm ; and in order to become a model, it 
must necessarily show a greater annual return, in 
proportion to the outlay, than most of the neighbor 
ing farms. 
