OORE’S RURAL WEW-YORKER. 
FEB. 40 
Site f)0ultra-$anl 
HAMBURG AND LEGHORNS. 
P. II. wishes to know the comparative 
merits of those two breeds of fowls. I have 
bred both kinds the past season. I think 
the Leghorns fifty per cent, better than 
Ramburgs. I lam burgs do not mature so 
rapidly. There is no breed of fowls that 
does what it has to do in the way of feath¬ 
ering-up quick and laying early like the 
Leghorns. My April Leghorn pullets began 
to lay early in September, while the Ham- 
burgs, of same ago, are not laying yet. As 
a breed to cross with White Cochins, Light 
Brahmas or any large white fowl, the Leg¬ 
horns are just the thing. 1 have crosses of 
Light Brahmas and Leghorns, hatched in 
May, that began to lay early in October. 
Crossing the Leghorn and Brahma in this 
way makes a very early market fowl. Sur¬ 
plus cooks Of this crosB, hatched in April, 
will market well in August and September, 
while the pullets will pay for t heir bringing 
up, and give a handsome profit for a year to 
come. 
All that class of non-sitters that have 
dark legs and skin, are not lit to cross with 
on any of the large breeds. But by alter¬ 
nate crossing of Leghorns and Brahmas, be- 
ginniug with Brahma pullets and a Leghorn 
cock, and al ter a few years' brooding, i. c., 
crossed together by the use of eocksfromsep- 
arate st rains, a breed may be made surpass¬ 
ing, in my opinion, the Plymouth Rocksand 
many of the so-called flue bred fowls, for 
uniformity of style and color, at least for 
real value to the producer and consumer. 
Houdans have been bred quite extensive¬ 
ly here for the last year. Those who first 
introduced them are closing them out in 
any way to get rid of 1 hem. As a fowl for 
real merit, the Dominique stands as high as 
auy small or medium sized breed. Gray 
Dorkings next,. Were T to go into the chick¬ 
en business on a large scale, Leghorns, 
Brahmas and Dominiques w ould be my first 
choice, breeding the two former as hereto¬ 
fore stated, R. 13. N. 
- *~<r+ - 
MANAGEMENT OF POULTRY SHOWS. 
1 n vp intended writing my thoughts for 
the Rural New-Yorker on the way poul¬ 
try show’s are managed in this country, but 
I find what I believe t o be the case, so nearly 
described in a late number of the London 
Field, that 1 have clipped it out and ask for 
it a place in your columns. I am sure this 
will meet the views of many of the ama¬ 
teurs who have for years exhibited poultry 
in this country. The writer says:—“As 
exhibitions are now conducted and encour¬ 
aged. I am afraid, from w hat 1 read and hear, 
they have become. Lu l he hands of many, 
merely prize-grabbing transactions, at 
which many unfair practices prevail. I 
write this purposely, before 1 am defeated 
at a big show, so that being a disappointed 
exhibitor may not be laid to my charge. 
There can bo no doubt that men of means, 
who like grabbing prizes, cannot well be 
prevented from so doing, as they can buy 
and exhibit, and fairly so, in accordance 
with the rules; and also borrow, should 
there be nothing in t he rules against it. 
Well, this kind of exhibiting has come to 
such a pitch that you may as well keep your 
birds at home as exhibit them if one or tw o 
men are going to show Amateurs, young 
fanciers, etc., in these days have no chance, 
nor any encouragement, and 1 believe must 
eoou give up, unless the rules arc framed as 
they used to be, “that birds exhibited bo 
bond tide the property of the exhibitor,’’ 
or “boon in his possession six mouths” or a 
given time. This would stop the clique 
system L believe at present iu vogue, and 
enoouragement would be given to those 
with small means and young in the fancy to 
go on. I am not for closing competition, 
but 1 think amateurs, etc., should be pro¬ 
tected from professional trimmers and 
other fraudulent practitioners." Neris. 
-- 
POULTRY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Toy Pigeons. — We give herewith an¬ 
other illustration of a variety of the Ger¬ 
man Toy pigeons, which are known on the 
Continent under the name of “Magpies.” 
Brent says, “ iu appearance they offer very 
striking contrasts of color; the wings, lower 
part of the breast and thighs being perfect¬ 
ly white, while the remainder of the plum¬ 
age is colored. The great beauty of birds 
of this breed depends on the purity and ! 
richness of their colors and the accuracy of ! 
their markings; the line of separation be¬ 
tween the colored and white portions of the , 
plumage must be sharply and accurately I 
marked. If the white and colored feathers i 
intermix, such birds are valueless as show 
birds and not to be depended on for stock.” 
Magpies are of various colors, as black, red, 
yellow’, and blue, but those shown in our 
engraving are considered by fanciers su¬ 
perior to other colors. 
A Plea tor Houdans.—W. P., Ovid, N. 
Y., in reply to P. H., Lynn, Mass., who 
EXPERIMENTS OF 1871. 
As carefully oonducted experiments are 
of considerable value to the thinking, ener¬ 
getic and practical farmer, I am led to ad- 
PA1R O V 3VIAGrDlp; PIGEONS. 
wrote us that Houdans were no winter 
layers, etc., say*:—“ 1 now have four or five 
out of eight that are laying, I have raised 
Houdans three seasons. 1 do not find them 
subject to disease. Out of thirty-eight 
hatched in 1870 1 raised all but one, m'l.l that 
was a chick about four weeks old, crop- 
bound. Have not had any sick ones except 
that. With me they are what ‘The Peo¬ 
ples’ Practical Poultry Book ’ says ‘ Bright 
as a flower and upright as a bolt.’ ” 
A Large Duck Egg. — A Mr. Thorn- 
HfLtrOf Crumpanll Green, near Manchester, 
England, contributes to the Manchester 
Guardian the following story of an extra¬ 
ordinary sized duck’s egg. J l\< says he “ re¬ 
cently found one of liis ducks dead upon 
her nest. Hhe had been ailing for some 
months, and could neither oat nor lay. The 
body was opened,and there was taken from 
it an egg, which we have seen, and which 
measures lSjs inches in its greatest circum¬ 
ference, 15% inches at the smallest circum¬ 
ference, and its capacity Is 2% pints of 
water. It contained three yolks, and after 
they had been drawn the shell weighed 
eight ounces. The duck was a cross between 
a Muscovy and an Aylesbury, and was of t he 
ordinary size.” 
Answer to E. K.’h Queries.—8. J. Bes- 
tor, Conn., writes in reply to the queries 
of E. R., in Bur at. New-Yorker of Jan. 
20 , t hat “ the male pigeon is generally thick¬ 
er-set and larger-necked than the hen. In 
courting he makes a merry round, or com¬ 
plete wheel about . The hen, more modest, 
makes but a half round in her courtesy. 
The cooing of the male bird is also more de¬ 
fiant or bolder than the lady bird.” Tn re¬ 
gard t o eggs not hatching he says“ There 
might bo fifty reasons why eggs do not 
hatch.” _ 
Quick Growth of Ducks.—The preju¬ 
dice against ducks, on account of their ex¬ 
treme voracity, is not well founded, for if 
thej’eat enormously when half-grown, they 
increase in weight proportionately. Quick 
growth is one of the things most desired in 
animals of all kinds that are raised for the 
table. If the experiment be tried of rear¬ 
ing chickens and ducks that were hatched 
the same day, iu a flock together, and giv¬ 
ing them all they will eat, the latter will 
outstrip the chickens iu growth. 
Fowls for Name.— E. I). W., Pittsburgh. 
—We are at a loss to say to what breed the 
fowls you describe belong. It. must have 
been one of those queer freaks of nature 
which produced the variety. We eau And 
no description of the fowls yon mention in 
any work published in this country or Eng¬ 
land. We would advise that they be exhib¬ 
ited at your next Poultry Show as a novelty, 
and request that the Judges give them a 
name, if one can bo found. 
Cliickeu Diseases.—J. D., Guilford Go., tesb,1,on -V *»f burners rt 
N. C., writes us that “all the recipes put cou hty, and perhaps } 
into the Rural for the chicken disease did agree with neither. As 
not do ours any good. I think we lost about composed of drops, you 
500 in two months. IS°w if our corre- drop to the bucket of pu 
spondent will give us the svmptoms of the • ,, 
disease that destroyed so many of his chick- U8e l * uiuver6a - v reconn: 
eus we wiH publish them, and'ask our thou- tenaueed. 
sands of readers to tell him how to obviate As an insect destroyer, 
his loss ill the future. No remedy can be valuable. When spriukl 
given uuless the disease is described. T , ‘ ,^,1 
duce the result s of some of mine for the past 
year, and hope that will be the means of 
leading other Rural scribblers to give some 
of their's t hrough t he favorite modium that 
1 use for that purpose; and T hope they will 
be as unbiased in the favor of any individual 
or firm, as mine are intend to be. An¬ 
other and not an insignificant item in con¬ 
nection with an account of them, is the 
dating of the letter, i. telling the place 
of residence of the writer and the year in 
which the experiment# were conducted, also 
the kind of soil and manner of cultivation. 
If a contributor fails to do this, his contri¬ 
bution is shorn of its most valuable member, 
for an experiment, no matter how carefully 
conducted and accurately described, is of 
little intrinsic value unless wo know the cir¬ 
cumstances connected with it. Neither is 
an experiment made in u propitious climate, 
under favorable circumstances, of much 
practical avail t o any one residing in an arid 
climate and surrounded by less auspicious 
circumstances. With the above vividly be¬ 
fore niy mind T will relate some of my ex¬ 
periments with the highly lauded 
Grafton Mineral Fertilizer. — A min¬ 
eral that was discovered iu connection with 
a gold mine in Lyman, Grafton C'o., N. II., 
some three years ago, mid first used as a 
fertilizer in 18G0. It is found imbedded in 
the earth, in a vein about three feet thick, 
uud widens to about six or eight feet at the 
bottom of the shaft, some eighty feet below 
the surface of 1 be ground. The proprietors 
wrote nie that they were obliged to blast, 
three-fourths waste rook in order to get 
their mineral; that they would sell this 
waste rock iu large quantities at a very 
low sum, and that it hud been powdered 
and sold under tlie name of Lisbon and 
Stevens minerals. 
As the majority of your readers are isolat¬ 
ed from the circulation of local newspapers 
that have frequently described it, I will 
here present an analysis of it as given by 
Dr. TORKus of New York and Tnos. C. RAY¬ 
MOND of Cambridgeport, Mass.: — Silica, 
30.30; lime, 20.60; protoxide of iron, 6.27; 
magnesia, 11,17; carbonic acid, 32.11; total, 
100.45 parts. 
Last spring T purchased a box of the 
mineral weighing one hundred and tliirteon 
pounds, and applied it as a fertilizer to corn, 
potatoes, pulse, crops, garden vegetables, 
strawberry plants and cabbages, both alone 
and mixed with animal and commercial 
manures. On the strawberry plants and 
cabbages I think its use proved remunera¬ 
tive; but OH t he other named crops I failed 
to discover any increase, either in the 
growth of stalks or amount of the harvest, 
where it was applied. When mixed with 
other fertilizers, the growth increased in 
the same proportion that the other fertil¬ 
izers exceeded in quantity the Grafton 
mineral. 
My experience does not corroborate the 
testimony of farmers residing in Grafton 
county, and perhaps yours, reader, will 
agree with neither. As the bucket full is 
composed of drops, you should add your 
drop to the bucket of public opinion, ere its 
use is universally recommended or discoun¬ 
tenanced. 
As an insect destroyer, I consider it very 
valuable- When sprinkled over the leaves 
of plants it will destroy the majority of pests 
found on flower or vegetable plants—such as 
the red spider and green fly on house plants, 
the slugs on rose bushes. Turnip and cab¬ 
bage lice are killed by a single application, 
and it is very efficacious in destroying the 
striped cucumber bugs, but, is more expen¬ 
sive than plaster of Paris, which has always 
made the “ varmints vamose the ranch ” by 
applying it. to the under side of the leaves 
when wet. 
Having annually tested the qualities of 
upwards of 100 varieties of cereal grains, 
agricultural and horticultural seeds, and 
having in my possession nearly 150 different 
kinds at the present time, I think I am en¬ 
titled to “the floor,” while peaking of the 
merits and the demerits of those most uni¬ 
versally cultivated. 
Com.—As corn is cultivated in so many 
latitudes, no one variety is, or can be uni¬ 
versally cultivated. I consider depth and 
whltli of kernels, plumpness of the chit and 
smallness of the size of the cob, prime re¬ 
quisites in making selections of varieties, 
and length of tho ears and fodder of second¬ 
ary importance. Last spring I purchased a 
variety of Hon. Levi Bartlett 1 hat is well 
adapted to our soil and climate. [Why did 
you not name it?— Et»>. Rural.] 
The Sweet Varieties that rank in the fol¬ 
lowing order:—Extra Early, Dwarf Sugar, 
(received from Bliss & Son,) Darling’s 
Early, Asylum Sugar, Narragansett, Red 
Cob Narragausott and Eight-rowed Sugar. 
The Narragansett is a very late variety, and 
no doubt will bo a valuable acquisition to 
the list in ft warmer climate, also for fod¬ 
der. The Judson Joint Branching variet ies 
require “more genial climes and sunny 
skies” than it is New Hampshire’s lot to 
boast of, in order to arrive at maturity. 
For stock feeding, the cultivation of 
Roots are every season gaining ground 
with our most intelligent farmers, and this 
seems to be a movement iu the right direc¬ 
tion, when corn can be purchased for a dol¬ 
lar or less per bushel. Having several times 
endeavored to select the best; among the 
many varieties, and having tried tho most 
popular in arid as well as wet seasons, and 
having failed in mat uring a crop, owing to 
late sowings and the ravages of the turnip 
lice, I prefer Carter’s Imperial Green Top, 
Yellow Hybrid, to either his Purple Top, 
Ycllow-Ilardy Swede, or tho Yellow’ or 
Stone. The louse works less on tho dark¬ 
leaved varieties than it does on tho light 
green (with a bluish tint), and lionce I pre¬ 
fer those varieties- g. r. d. 
Pittsfield, N. H.. 1872. 
®hc Norseman. 
NOTES FOR HORSEMEN. 
Do Not Burn a Horae's Hoof.—The 
Mirror and Farmer says:—Never have a 
redhot shoe put on tho foot of a horse, to 
burn it level. If you cun find a blacksmith 
that is mechanic enough to level the foot 
without redhot iron, employ him. The 
burning process deadens the hoof and tends 
to contract it. If you do not believe it, try 
a redhot poker on your nail, and see if it 
does not affect the growth. 
Training the Mane of a Horae.—A 
.Jefferson Barracks, Mo., subscriber asks, 
“ How' can I make the mane of my colt grow, 
or lay, on the same side of liis nock'i”' Her- 
hert, in his “Hints to Ilorse-Keepers,” 
says: “ When it is desired to make the mane 
He on the opposite side from that towards 
which it naturally grows, it should be wet¬ 
ted and combed several times a day. This 
will suffice, if it is not very short end bushy; 
iu such case, some of the hair may be pulled 
out from the under part, on the side toward 
w’hioh it is desired to make it grow; this 
will generally cause it to fall easily. If this 
does not suffice, the rnaue shoul 1 be plaited 
in eight or ten braids, the end of each being 
loaded with a bit of lead.” 
Worms in Colts.—N. M. P., Castle Rock, 
Minn., asks for a remedy for worms in colts. 
It is the opinion of many veterinarians that 
worms are usually connected with indiges¬ 
tion -that is they produce ill health when 
the digestive organs are disordered. Dr. 
Dodd recommends giving: White mustard 
seed (whole), powdered mandrake, sulphur, 
powdered worm seed, (chcnopudtum an- 
th cl m Iv if rum,) poplar bark, salt, ginger and 
charcoal—of each two ounces; mix and give 
one ounce night and morning in the feed. 
The following often brings away large quan¬ 
tities of worms;—Castor oil, 12 oz-; oil of 
worm seed, 1 oz.; oil of tansy, 3 drachms— 
to be given on an empty stomach, followed 
by mashes of fine feed or shorts well sea¬ 
soned with salt. It should be I'epeated un¬ 
til the bowels respond. 
