pc |(mltrj)-|arir. 
AMEEICAN POULTEY CONVENTION; 
iVliy Were lltn Sumatra Plicaannc Game 
Fowls It ejected by it ? 
Looking over the “ American Standard 
of Excellence” as found in No. 15 of the 
Rural New-Yorker, in regard to points 
and classification of tiie “ Sumatra Pheasant 
Game,” I was surprised to find that they 
were rejected. What the reason is that they 
are not worthy of classification, the judges 
fail to state. Having had some fifteen years’ 
experience with the different breeds of fowls, 
among which are Hie Brahma, Cochin China, 
Earl Derby, and Sumatra Pheasant Game, I 
flatter myself that I am capable of judging 
of tlieir comparative merits, and as the ex¬ 
cellence of the first three breeds is estab¬ 
lished, in justice something should be said 
of the fourth that the public may judge of 
their value. 
The President starts out with the ques¬ 
tion, “Shall the Sumatra be classified with 
the Asiatics? ” Now, it seems to me this 
displays ignorance of those birds, for the 
Sumatras possess no points in common with 
any known breed from Asia; and their na¬ 
tive place being the Island of Sumatra, 
should preclude their being classified with 
Asiatic fowls, One of ibo judges—Mr. Hal¬ 
stead —then makes an assertion which he 
does not and cannot Substantiate, namely, 
that they certainly should not go with game. 
] am not so much surprised that they failed 
to classify them, after they were excluded 
from the game class. The gentleman above 
referred to seems to be ignorant of the Su¬ 
matra, for he makes inquiry in regard to the 
excellence of the bird. Still he claims they 
are not games. 
Again, this gentleman asks what kind of 
comb they have. Thq President answers, 
“a sort of pea comb,” then Halstead says, 
“ Why not put. them with the Hamburgs?” 
conveying the idea that because they have a 
pest comb that they should lie placed with 
the Hamburgs, when in fact, there is no more 
resemblance between these two breeds than 
there ishetween Brahmas and Hamburgs. 
Now, if there is such a class of game the 
Sumatras surely belong to it; and all reliable 
poultry books and breeders that describe 
them, place them with the games. 
The following are some of the reasons 
why they are game:—First, Because they 
possess unflinching courage, yielding to 
death only. This I say knowingly, as many 
instances have come under my observation. 
Second, They surpass ail fowls in beauty 
and brilliancy of plumage, ami are the most 
compactly built, possessing less offal than 
any other breed. Third, They are hardy 
and strong, and quite disposed to wander. 
Taking the above points into consideration, 
ought they not to be classed ns game? As 
the standard gentlemen gave no reasons 
why they should be ignored, I will give the 
following why they should not:—First,, They 
are good layers. Second, For beauty and 
symmetry, and elasticity of carriage, they 
are Unequalled, being as ornamental as pea 
fowls. Third, They are small eaters, and 
the hens, ns mothers, have no equals; 
neither hawks, nor indeed any small animal, 
will disturb the chicks when the mother is 
imconflned, and as table fowls they surpass 
itll, being tender and juicy; skin golden-yel¬ 
low color. They are more like~wild than 
domestic table fowls. I am cbnfideht that 
when bolter known these birds will lake the 
high place among fanciers Which they merit. 
W. H. Tucker. 
Plymouth, O., 1871. 
----♦♦♦-- 
POULTEY NOTES AND QUEEIES. 
C'hittniroMK Fowl*. 
W. H. C., Union Springs, N. Y.—We do 
not know where you can find Chittagong 
fowls, nor can we find in any entries of Poul¬ 
try shows in this country that they have 
been on exhibition for past years. 
Fotvln Emilia Feathers. 
0- B., Mishawaka.—If you will feed your 
fowls more animal food two or three times 
<l wee k. it will have a tendency to break 
•hem of the habit of plucking out each olh- ‘ 
ers feathers. Undoubtedly the feed and care ‘ 
yon give them is “all right,” to keep them i 
m good heart. The water-run in the yard 1 
ts no detriment to the brood. 
_I 
1 ito - on«’ Eirg* Unproduct! vp. 
Mrs. S. T„ Waverly, N. Y.-It is no new | 
""g that pigeons’ eggs prove unproductive, 
even if they (the females) “do receive the 
' sl care.” We should advise yon to 1 
c 1 uige the cock bird and place one of an¬ 
other family with the female. Peas are about 1 
, lK ‘ sl fml -V.o'i etui give your birds to keep 
them in good health. 
Ega-b»uii<| Ileus. t 
.. ^ FNn . Ohio. There is no difficulty hi ’ 
relieving your egg-hound hens. The best * 
S U ; . l,eat lhem is '<> take a wing feather, ! 
l'l*ed m sweet oil, and pass it gently down , 
e gg-passage until it meets the e-™ i 
This latter moves as soon its the feather 
touches it—the passage being thoroughly 
lubricated the egg finds an easy exit. It i» 
not necessary for you to assist nature in this 
matter other than as directed, for if you do 
futul results may be the consequence. 
PEOFITS PEOM A MAPLE GROVE. 
Number of Hon* with u Cock. 
New Subscriber, Oneonta, N. Y.—The 
number of hens to allow to a cock differs 
with different breeds, according to the vigor 
of the cock. As a general rid e, from four to 
six or eight hens is sufficient. 
Golden Plicnsaut Fowls. 
Your correspondent, L. M., asks your 
opinion of the Golden Pheasant fowls. If 
he will look at Lewis’s or Wright's Poul¬ 
try Book, under the head of Golden Span¬ 
gled Ilamhurgs, he will find a description, as 
Lhe latter variety is identical with the first, 
named. They deserve all the praise he ac¬ 
cords them.—J. Clarence Sidell, Engle¬ 
wood, N. J. 
Groat I.oms of Chickens on Long Island. 
We learn from the Brooklyn Eagle that 
there is a fearful epidemic raging among 
fowls on Long Island, Kings Co., N. Y. It 
is said to be precisely analogous in its effects 
to the late horse disease, and has exhibited 
itself in an alarming manner, in different 
parts of the Island. A Mr. Bennett of Bay 
Ridge lately was dispossessed of. some 300 
chickens by its ravages, and .Tno. F. Ta ndry 
of Gowanus, of fifty or sixty. The fowls are 
said to drop dead off the roost immediately 
after infection. 
Feeding Chicken*. 
I have been very sucessful In feeding 
chicks this year, none of them being troubled 
with roup or other disease, I run satisfied 
that in feeding wheat screenings as obtained 
from the mills, they should always la: soaked 
in water eight or ten hours, or at least 
washed, before feeding, to sofieii\lie white 
caps,swell tiie shrunken kernels and destroy 
the poisonous dust. Corn meal should al¬ 
ways he mixed with boiling water fur chick¬ 
ens. Onions, tops as well as hot lotus, should 
he cut fine and fed daily. They are very 
stimulating, and superior to many medical 
preparations recommended for sick chickens. 
I believe adally feeding of onions lends great¬ 
ly t<> ward off disease. The truth is, too 
little attention is paid lo having dry and 
warm quarters for fowls generally, though 
no animal pays better for good care than 
fowls. Without, it, even fair results cannot 
be expected.— Lock port. 
What Chiimcm my (thick* to Die? 
I would like to know the cause of mv 
chicks, which were hatched in Juno and first 
of .Toly, dying. They seem to he slrongand 
healthy when first hatched hut soon drop 
their wings and die. 1 commenced selling 
hens 1st of March, eggs hutched well and 
chicks grew fast, and in raising two hundred 
chicks did not lose from all causes live tier 
cent, of those hatched in March, April and 
May; of those hatched in June and first part 
of July 1 tun losing forty per cent. The 
same tiling occurred last year with me. The 
treatment and food has been the same in 
both cases. Some In formation from you or 
through your paper will be thankfully 
received—J. R 1)., New York City, 1871. 
If lhe same feed and attention are given 
Hie June and July chicks that were given the 
March chicks, we are of the opinion the 
former arc not. properly protected from the 
over-powering heat of the sun’s rays. The 
coops should be placed, if possible, in the 
shade during the heat of the day. More 
strengthening and stimulating feed should 
he given them. The months of June and 
.Tidy are rather late to depend upon for rais¬ 
ing good healthy chicks. 
“Will (.'hilled Eiium Ilnteli ?” 
In the Rduai. New-Yorker of June 24, 
page 398, we published an inquiry in rela¬ 
tion to the hatching of chilled eggs. We 
find in a late number of the Canadian Poul¬ 
try Chronicle an experiment, detailed by the 
editor thereof, that, hilly covers the query of 
our correspondent, from which we make the 
following extract:— “On May Dili we set 
I wo hens, side by side in our hutching house, 
on eleven turkey eggs each; one, ft light 
Brahma, t he other a common barn door fowl, 
which we had purchased broody. Food and 
water were daily supplied them, and care 
taken that they partook of it at least, once a 
day. At the expiration o| a week a hen egg 
was added to the number under the Brahma 
lien. All went, well till the morning of the 
23d, when the Brahma hen was found dead 
on her nest. She must have been so for 
some hours, at least, as she was quite cold 
and stiff; the eggs were likewise quite cold. 
There were only ten days of the hatching 
period then to expire, consequently the 
chicks must have been bv this time living in 
the shell. We therefore concluded our 
chance of birds from this setting was but 
slight. Determined, however, to give them 
a fair trial, wu at mice removed the eggs to u 
new nest, where we had another hen ready 
to pul on. She took to ihe eggs without, 
trouble, and sal close till tlm expiration of 
the lime, hut no chicks. In the meantime 
the other hen had hatched all her chickens 
out. We allowed the dead lien’s eggs still 
to remain under the new hen. Two days 
more elapsed, ami, to our surprise, all of* tim 
eleven turkey eggs hatched out except, one, 
which was clear; the lien egg also hatched' 
—not a dead bird In One of the eggs. We 
used no artificial means to restore Warmth 
t<> the eggs, nor did we in any wav interfere 
with them afterwards, by damping, or other¬ 
wise than described.” 
Hon to Pluut It. 
Tiie fruit-cultnrist delights to recount the 
profits of sonic favorite orchard, and thus 
stimulate the growth of healthful fruit; lnih 
the promoters of the growth of forest trees 
arc few, and often thought to be actuated 
by mere sentiment, am] unthrifty visions of 
landscape beauty. It seems necessary t hat 
every project, to gain attention, should have 
a good show of dollars and cents in it, A 
fruitful orchard is greatly prized for its an¬ 
nual product, yielding a constant, income. 
A farmer proceeds with great confidence to 
plant one hundred or one thousand apple 
trees, and is willing to give them his foster¬ 
ing care for years, believing lie shall surely 
reap his reward; hut if you tell him to 
plant one or two thousand maple trees, to he 
grown for their future product, he will quiz 
you to see where the joke comes in, or if 
you have lost your wils. Yet, there are 
many instances to show Unit a sugar orchard 
affords as sure an annual income as an apple 
orchard. We will illustrate the practical 
side of this question by giving a brief ac¬ 
count of tho operations of 
Mr. .1 <-r<< in I all Riclmrdson 
of Morelon’s Corners, Eric Co., N. Y. IIo 
took up a farm in the wilderness about fifty 
years ago—has been a thrifty dairy fanner, 
hilt gave special attention to tapping his 
maple trees for sugar. At first ho. made it 
in the ohl way — by catching the sup in 
wooden troughs- -but soon learned to make 
his own wooden buckets, enabling him to be 
[ more cleanly and to make a better quality 
of sugar. The old way of boiling down 
sap in kettles becomes too slow, and 
IIo invent* the Shoot Iron Pun, 
three feet long and three to four feet wide, 
set on arch of brick or stone, which more 
rapidly reduced his sap to sirup, and made 
the sugar lighter colored. To render his sugar 
attractive in the early part of the season lie 
molded it, into two ounce cakes, which found 
a ready sale at high prices, lie made an 
average, annually, for forty years, of 4,250 
pounds, and one year as high us 0,900 pounds 
Of sugar, which brought him over $1,000. 
The average profits from his sugar crop 
have been $400 per year for forty years, or 
$10,000. He sometimes tapped 2,500 trees, 
hut generally not more than 1,200 to 1,500. 
While iu the full tide of sugar making, a 
waggish neighbor circulated a petition and 
sent to the Legislature, to have him forbid¬ 
den to tap tils trees, as his accumulation of 
sap was so great as to endanger the lives of 
the people by a flood from the bunting of hi* 
store troughs f 
Mr. Richardson has found his income 
from maple sugar subject to less contingen¬ 
cies than his com crop and more uniform 
than from a fruit crop. Tho trees from 
which he has made his income grew scat¬ 
tered upon fifty acres, and have thus paid 
him the interest on $115 per acre for forty 
years, without, (lie labor of clearing and 
fencing, while the average value of his whole 
farm, including improvements during the 
same period, has not been over $85 per acre. 
One of his sons, the present season, has 
made and sold $400 worth of sugar from 
nine hundred buckets and less than that 
number of trees. These figures look as if 
the investment, in a thrifty maple grove 
would be oqtiftl to a deposit in the savings 
bank. 
IIow to Plant a Mnplc Grove. 
The sugar maple is easily raised from its 
seed, which ripens in October. The seed is 
sometimes planted immediately in beds of 
finely pulverized earth and covered three- 
quarters of an inch deep, when it will sprout 
early the following spring ; hut with a warm, 
moist fall it Is apt to grow before frost and 
thus he destroyed by the winter; and per¬ 
haps it is butter to gather the seed when 
ripe, mix with dry sand, place in a cool 
cellar, and sow early the following spring. 
The seedlings at one year old should be 
transplanted into the nursery rows, two feet 
apart, and the plants eight inches in the 
row. In two years they will he from four 
to six feet high, and are then ready to trans¬ 
plant into the forest rows. But tunny thou¬ 
sands of young plants may he found on the 
outskirts of maple woods, where cattle do 
not browse them. These are better for being 
transplanted into the nursery rows and 
grown for twoyears before planting in forest. 
'The seeds are sometimes planted directly 
where intended to grow in the forest rows; 
but this is not a good way, as it. involves 
much more labor to keep them clean and the 
growth will be slower. 'The hand to he plant¬ 
ed should be put under good cultivation and 
worked in some hoed crop, for a few years 
after transplanting the maples. When the 
young trees get a good start,seed down with 
orchard grass, which will grow iu shade, or 
, n i 
can he cut and fed green or cured for buy. I 
It may he pastured when the trees are loo 
large to be injured by cuttle. The crops will | 
pay for all cultivation and expense of trees 
for the first, five years. 
Now when ready to set tho young trees in 
tiie forest rows, draw straight, shallow fur¬ 
rows, north and south, twenty feet apart, 
and set twelve feet apart in the furrow, and 
you will have 182 trees to the acre. Allow¬ 
ing for some losses, you may have 2,000 trees 
on twelve acres. These trees, with proper 
attention, will be twelve inches in diameter 
twenty years from setting; after which you 
may make one pound of sugar per year from 
a tree for the next ten years. Estimating 
sugar, on an average, to he fifteen cents per 
pound, and we have $300 per year; but de¬ 
ducting $100 (or labor, leaves $30<>pcr year, 
or $2,000 for ten years. This will pay all 
arrears of interest, up to this time; and 
henceforth this twelve acres of maple grove 
will pay the interest on $300 per acre, with 
a constantly increasing value of timber. 
filiation. 
E. W. S. 
—— -♦ ♦ » 
PEAE BLIGHT. 
Nearly nil the dwarf pear trees in this 
vicinity are affected with blight,commencing 
on the outer or tip end of branches and ex¬ 
tending to body of tree, destroying the 
limbs entirely. On*: gentleman has about, 
fifty hearing trees, all more or less injured by 
the decay. Will you please tell us, through 
the columns of yofcr valuable paper, the 
cause, and also give us a remedy.—I-I. U. 
Watson, ,1 lattoon, 111. 
We should 1)0 happy to give information 
that, would he valuable to you were wo in 
possession of Ihe same. Tho cause and cure 
of pear tree blight, has beeti carefully studied 
by our best pnmologists for many years, but 
wc doubt if any of them have arrived at a 
satisfactory conclusion in regard to this most 
troublesome disease. Il has existed in many 
localities over since pear trees were cultiva¬ 
ted, and innumerable experiments have been 
tried, both to prevent and cure, but with in¬ 
different success. A well drained and not 
too rich soil seems to bo more suitable to 
pears than one of an opposite character, but 
even Ibis precaution will not, in some locali¬ 
ties, prevent the ravages of blight. 
illume-fjrrb. 
NOTES FOE SWINE-HEEDS. 
Cure litr Kidm-y Worm*. 
A correspondent of the Cincinnati 
Gazette says:—“Give one to two table- 
spoonsful of sulphur daily, per hog, in his 
slop, until he Is cured,” 
To Cure Wind Slogger*. 
The same correspondent says bleed in the 
roof of the mouth ; to prevent them, keep 
the hogs in good health and condition by 
good feeding. He never saw a hog afflicted 
with this disease until he was first poor. 
Wlmt All* my llog*? 
Will some of vour readers tell me what 
ails my hogs? They eat mineingly,cough a 
little, stand with their nose on the ground, 
stagger when they walk. After ailing sev¬ 
eral days, they smother to death. On cut¬ 
ting them open, I find their gall very thick 
and black; they have two or more black 
teeth. Do you think black tooth is a dis¬ 
ease?—p. s. K. 
We should think tho trouble with your 
pigs was inflammation of the lungs. AVe 
have had hogs similarly affected, to which 
we gave three grains digitalis, six grains an- 
timonia! powder and half a drachm of niter 
in warm swill, three times a day until the 
inflammation disappeared. 'Then we gave 
Epsom sails as a purgative, and kept them 
dry, clean and warm, and fed them well. 
Whether black tooth is a disease or not we 
do not. know ; but we do know we have had 
unhealthy pigs, found they had black teeth 
in their heads, pulled them out, and thereaf¬ 
ter had uo trouble with them. 
Chester Whites vs. Ohio Chesters. 
T was so surprised at seeing Mr. Raylkys 
statement in my Rural New-Yorker that 
I thought, probably my experience in hogs 
would interest the readers of the. Rural 
New- Yorker. Last November I bought of 
L. B. Silver one pair of pigs of the Im¬ 
proved Ohio Chester breed. At the same 
time I bought a pair of pure Chester Whites 
from Greenville of this Stale. Tho hogs are 
now nearly one year old. The two Ohio 
hogs, both together, weigh only three hun¬ 
dred and eighteen pounds, while the Chester 
Whites weigh seven hundred and thirty 
pounds. But this is not all; both the sows 
pigged the first of last month ; the Chester 
sow had nine pigs while the Ohio Improved 
ChesUer had but four. And while the Chester 
While is looking finely with her family of 
nine, the Jmproved Ohio Chester looks very 
thin and weak,although I give both sow.sas 
much as they can eat. \\ r o think that the 
less Ohio improvement is put into While 
Chesters the better hogs they make, as they 
are longer, finer and fallen easier than the 
Ohio Chesters.—J. II. Boulton, Venango 
Co., Pa. 
RESTORING THE COLOR OF HAIE. 
Can you tell me what will turn gray hair 
to its natural color without injury to iL? 
AVhon 1 was quite young my hair was fall- 
ing lapidlv and I was advised to use salt and 
whisky, which 1 did and killed the life of 
my hair. At the age of twenty-two white 
hairs commenced growing, which have con¬ 
tinued until now (1 am now thirty-seven) I 
am quite gray. 'The old hair docs not turn 
hut the new comes in white. I have read 
that. Mecca oil put on the hair at, night, and 
in the morning wash the head with spirits 
of ammonia and soft water will prevent, the 
hair from turning gray; hut will it restore 
the hair to its natural color, and is the oil a 
poison ? 
11, as some say, “that grayness is pro¬ 
duced by the presence of lime and the ab¬ 
sence ol iron in the hair,” is them not some 
preparation ot iron which will restore the 
color and at. the same time ho harmless? 
What is Chevalier’s Life for the Hair? I 
have, seen it advertised but do not know 
what it is. Pardon me for writing so much 
on the hair subject, hut 1 am very anxious to 
preserve the beauty of my hair, which is a 
beautiful black. II you or any of (ho read¬ 
ers of the dear old Rural New-Yorker 
can give me any inlurinaliou on the subject 
y°ii " - 'fl oblige Ruth Mayfoiid. 
U- S.—Is there not, some vegetable sub¬ 
stance which will restore the color ? r. m. 
MAD DOGS AND OATS—QUEEY, 
Two years ago last December, I was hit- 
ten through the foro-lingor by an enraged 
house cat; after a little, my hand swelled 
terribly, mid with it l suffered almost con¬ 
stant pain for more than three months. I 
was poisoned, the doctor said, us I could 
well he. Alter weeks l succeeded in re¬ 
ducing tho inflammation by poultices of 
skull-cap, mad dogwood, tree-foil. The fol¬ 
lowing tun vest, I could not. lift a bundle of 
wheat with that hand, and it still continues 
to some extent, a crippled hand. I have 
had persons say to me repeatedly, that I 
should kill the cat; for if the cat should run 
mad, I also would run mad. Tho cat was 
well at the time of biting, and is so yet. 
I had a neighbor whose hoy was bitten by 
a dog on returning from school; the father 
of the boy insisted the dog mnst he killed, 
and ns a reason, said if the dog should after¬ 
ward run mud, the boy also would be mad. 
He was intelligent and a. practical surveyor. 
Query .-—Now, what say you—would you 
kill the cal, for the reason stated above? 
What says Mr. Fact? I hope you will give 
some information on this subjocl. 
David Landon. 
--. 
HYGIENIC NOTES. 
Tlio I’oiHiinoiiM ({iniliiy in Red Flnuncl. 
After a series of careful physiological 
and chemical experiments, by Dr. P. Do 
Marmott of Kingsbridge, N. Y., communi¬ 
cated by him to the Medical World, ft was 
very definitely determined that the cause of 
poisoning by some red flannel was not in 
the coralline or aniline dyes, as generally 
supposed, but in a, tin mordant used to fix 
the color upon the goods. The symptoms 
produced in the case to which his attention 
was called, were an eruption, with severe 
itching accompanied with vertigo. The 
woman who washed the garment had her 
arms up to the elbows covered with a red, 
burning eruption, similar in appearance and 
leeliug to scarlet fever. 
Fever unit Ague, 
We find the following in the Cleveland 
Herald ;—“ AVe wish to give a very simple 
remedy for fever and ague, and wish to 
emphasize it by saying that it has, to our 
knowledge, proved very efficacious. It is 
simply common salt. A teaspoonful taken 
in water and a teuspoonful deposited inside 
the stocking next tho foot as the chill is 
Coming on. That’s all there is of it; but, 
knowing that it lias been efficacious in 
“ breaking ” the chill and perfecting a cure, 
we put it in our editorial columns, where no 
humbug remedy shall ever find a place, if 
we know it.” 
Specilic for SinalUpox. 
A plant which goes by the name of Sar- 
raeenia purpurea, commonly known as tho 
side-saddle flower, which is abundant in the 
bogs of our continent, lias gained a great 
accession of favor as a cure for small-pox. 
'The French physicians have been using ft in 
their recent epidemic, and ft is declared to 
be as true an antidote to the poison ol ibis 
disease as quinine Is to that of intermittent 
fever. If further experience justifies tbe en¬ 
comiums which are now passed upon it, it 
will prove a great boon lo humanity. 
Vegetable* unit Leprosy. 
Du. TIjaltelin is of the opinion that the 
introduction of the potato, and more vege¬ 
table diet, has caused the decrease in leprosy 
in Europe since the Middle Ages. 
