POULTRY RAISING.-NO. 4. 
75 
others; and experience proves there is very j 
little necessity of a double track. 
The figuring up of western farming looks 
well on paper—the reality is hardly ever equal 
to the figures. These words are quoted from 
Mr. Ellsworth, in speaking about wasting ma¬ 
nure on the Wabash lands: “I was surprised 
to find hundreds of loads carted at an expense 
of 12£ to 20 cents, and thrown into the river to 
get it out of the way.” / 
That remark was madd in 1846, when he 
first emigrated from the poor lands of Wash¬ 
ington, and previously from the gravelly hills 
of Connecticut, where manure is the main stay 
of the farmer. In 1849, Mr. Ellsworth said to us, 
“ I have got well cured of my Yankee notions 
of hauling manure four miles from town to put 
upon my prairie land—it won’t pay. I have 
fallen into the common mode of hauling it to 
the river and sending it on a voyage to the 
Gulf of Mexico.” That the time will come when 
all the now fertile lands of the west will pay 
for an application of manure cannot be doubt¬ 
ed. 
What will some of the log-cabin boys of the 
west think of this Englishman’s knowledge of 
building the almost universal habitation of all 
new-country settlers. He says: “The first op¬ 
eration is cutting timber suitable for building. 
Having fixed on a site near a spring, for the 
house, the operation of building is begun. To 
build a log cabin is a very simple matter. 
“ Set posts in the ground, (if yellow pine is 
selected it will last for many years,) nine feet 
above the surface, in front, and seven in the 
rear. Stout poles or split logs, flattened at the 
ends, placed horizontally, and one upon the 
other, should be spiked or pinned to these posts 
all around; the upper ones in the front and 
rear laid on the top of the posts, in which a 
notch should be cut to receive them, taking 
care that they are sufficiently stout to bear the 
roof, which is to be formed of poles laid one end 
in the front and the other in the rear of the 
building. These poles should be covered with 
inverted sod, then earth, and sod again, surface 
uppermost. The openings between the side 
poles or logs must be filled up with clay, and a 
snug, weather-tight cabin is at once made. A 
comfortable floor may be made of lime, or clay 
and marl, taking care to have the ground on 
which the building stands a little rising. A 
chimney may be constructed in the usual way ; 
that is, with logs and clay; or, if a stove is 
used, which is better, the pipe may go through 
the roof, giving the part which is exposed to 
j the weather a coat of tar and sand, both inside 
and out.” 
Has anybody in America ever seen such a 
cabin as here described ? If so, he has seen a 
sight that never dawned upon our vision in 
fifty thousand miles of travel in nearly all the 
states and Canada. 
POULTRY RAISING-.—No. 4. 
In the October number of the Agriculturist, 
I remarked that the in-and-in breeding of any 
particular variety of the foreign breed of fowls, 
(now so highly extolled in some interested 
quarters,) where one would wish to keep them 
very extensively, would ultimately destroy the 
purity of the breed. Of the truth of this asser¬ 
tion, you seemed to have considerable doubt, 
and ask me to show my facts. Happily for my 
reputation as a truthful writer, you bring for¬ 
ward the proof yourselves, in the November 
number, p. 332, reading thus: “A portion of the 
fowls belonging to Constant Clapp, Esq., were 
formerly of the 4 downy ’ breed, but this variety 
so strongly marked had run out and entirely 
disappeared for eight years.” This being the 
result of in-and-in breeding, as the article states, 
it freely corroborates my statement. [The cir¬ 
cumstance to which our correspondent here 
alludes, was doubtless caused by crossing the 
“ downy ” breed with some other varieties, and 
the re-appearance of the down was what is 
technically called “ crying back.” In breeding 
in-and-in, if due care is observed in selecting 
healthy, and perfectly-formed animals, with the 
males not too nearly related to the females, our 
word for it, this mode of breeding will not very 
“ soon produce their ruin.”— Eds.] I consider 
that such a result must inevitably occur where 
there is no opportunity to change a portion of 
the fowls at periods of from three to five years, 
for others of the same pure blood from other 
fowl yards. 
Laying Ability of Fowls, etc .—In keeping fowls 
as a matter of profit, the principal, desideratum 
is, to procure those-that will produce the greatest 
number of eggs annually; at the- same time, 
consuming a moderate quantity of food, and 
being easily fattened, and the flesh of good 
flavor. As I have before said, the newspaper 
accoiints of particular cases of very productive 
laying, are not to be relied on as being what 
can be effected generally. All the various 
statements made in different parts of the coun¬ 
try by persons keeping from 20 to 200 fowls of 
the average number of eggs laid by each fowl 
per annum, where sitting is not allowed, may 
