NEW SPECIES OF SILK WORM, ETC. 
75 
plants, fed off, where groM n, by animals, and their 
droppings left to fertilise the surface; they must 
be restored by green crops plowed in, as of clover, 
cow pea, or other crops; or they must be manured 
from the cattle yard, or its equivalent in mineral 
and vegetable manures. Each of these modes has 
been often treated of in our preceding volumes, 
and they will continue to be noticed in all their 
varying phases and merits in the succeeding 
ones. 
NEW SPECIES OF SILKWORM. 
America may be destined to give the world 
another staple, in addition to the potato, Indian 
corn, and tobacco, in a new species of silkworm, 
to which Mr. Walsh calls the attention of our 
citizens through the Journal of Commerce. 
He says Mr. Blanchard furnished an extract 
from a paper on acclimatising various species of 
bombyx, which yield silk. Bombyx is a genus of 
nocturnal lepidoptera, the caterpillar of which is 
the silkworm. Blanchard cites various species 
found abroad, which may be acclimatised in 
France, as now proved by successful experiment. 
Among them are some brought from India; some 
from New Holland; some from China; some 
from South America; but the species on which he 
builds most hope belongs to North America, and 
is particularly met with near New Orleans. He 
quotes the Bombyx laocoon, Attacus luna, Attacus 
cecropia, Attacus polyphemus, &c. He regards 
as beyond all doubt, the possibility and utility 
of raising them in France, which can be done as 
easily, and even more so, than with the ordinary 
silkworm. The quantity of silk produced in 
France, is very far below the consumption. It is 
shown how the acclimatising of the American 
species would infallibly prove a new source of 
wealth to the country. Algeria, too, might be 
signally benefited.' It may be well that Louisiana 
should look to her indigenous bombyx, and be¬ 
come acquainted with the methods of profiting 
by those employed in France. 
POULTRY RAISING-.—Wo. 1. 
Having had some experience in breeding poul¬ 
try, I will state a few facts that have come under 
my observation, presuming, however, that they 
will be of little interest in comparison to the 
writings of the able pens that have preceded 
me on this subject. There appears to be felt a 
considerable interest, in regard to the numerous 
breeds of foreign fowls, that now begin to be 
common among us; and the only important 
question is, are they any better than our com¬ 
mon breeds'? 
Allow me to make a few remarks on the 
Poland Fowl , to begin with. Some few years 
ago, I purchased a pair of this breed, for which 
I paid four dollars. They were of a shining jet 
black, with white tufts, or topknots, on their 
heads, of great beauty. I was told that they 
were great layers, and that they never sat for 
incubation, or hatching their young. If these 
facts were true, I considered a great difficulty 
overcome to the successful keeping of fowls as 
a matter of 'profit. In brief, I found that my 
hens of this breed, after a fair and full trial, did 
not lay any more eggs during the year, in the 
aggregate, than our ordinary fowls, that sit once 
in a season, and rear but one brood of chickens! 
Three, and sometimes four eggs a week, per 
hen, were the average number laid by them. 
The chicks were raised under other hens. 
In regard to sitting , it is true that they do not 
sit; but it is rather a disadvantage, since they 
will frequently make a mock attempt at it, and 
cover their eggs a few days, a part of the time, 
render them addle, and leave them. They are, 
also, diminutive in size. Their flesh is of a poor 
flavor, and it is very hard fattening them; and, 
in fine, as a market fowl, or for the table, they 
do not begin to compare with some of our 
domestic breeds, that can be purchased for fifty 
cents or less per pair, the country over. They 
are greatly subject to diseases; so much so, 
indeed, that I think I may safely say, that a 
hundred of them would employ constantly one 
person skilled in the “Materia Medica” of dung¬ 
hill tribes. They are very tender, fit for a 
southern latitude only, one would suppose, from 
the effect of a severe winter upon them. 
I found that, in order to breed these fowls in 
pure blood, they must have a yard by them¬ 
selves, and not even be allowed to see other 
fowls! It is, indeed, a fact, that the mere act 
of witnessing other fowls in adjoining enclo¬ 
sures, will destroy the purity of the breed. 
[This is new to us. Can it be explained 1 — Eds.] 
I crossed the breed with success. I placed a 
Poland cock with a half dozen hens of the 
Dominica , or blue-spotted breed. This amalgama¬ 
tion produced a beautiful black hen, with a close 
coat of feathers, and a fine, black tuft of feathers 
upon the head. The color was invariably a per¬ 
fect jet black in hens, while the cocks were also 
black, but with a white tuft upon the head, less 
full, and more upright than the pure breed. The 
hens were fine, constant layers, seldom wishing 
to sit. Their flesh was well-flavored, and the 
degree of fattening that they attained, when well 
fed on corn, oats, &c., was astonishing. Indeed, 
on one occasion, I had to put them on a short 
allowance, even in the season of incubation, 
when fowls are generally poor, fearing that I 
should lose them through extreme fatness, or 
obesity. 
If one desires a fowl for its singularity and 
beauty, it is well enough to buy Polands; but 
he who purchases in the expectation of finding 
them a more profitable fowl than our common 
breeds, will find himself sadly mistaken. It is 
probably true, that on some occasions there 
have been great layers of this breed; and the 
same of any other kind. If a gentleman should 
chance to get a large number of eggs from any 
single, or specific number of fowls, on some 
particular occasion, it is no criterion of what 
every man may do. They have their years of 
prolific abundance, and they have their seasons 
of sterility. Food and good management in 
the rearing of fowls, have their beneficial results, 
but the same person seldom succeeds alike dur¬ 
ing a series of years. T. B. Miner. 
Clinton. Oneida Co., N. Y. 
