6. Condition—Health, appearance, size and 
weight. 
tion of shrubbery and evergreens shows us 
the effect of the severe cold weather during 
the past winter, but the losses will not be as 
■ ) l as they were a year ago. 
The heavy snows protected small plants 
and fall-sown grain, but above the snow line 
frosted branches are occasionally seen. In 
looking over my evergreens to-day, b tind a 
handsome specimen of Cryptomeriu degans 
dead, although it was protected with straw; 
Picea Pursonsiunu cut down to the snow 
line ; Pinna ejccelsa browned a little, but not 
much injured; Cuprusus NutkaensUi , al¬ 
though from a cold Northern latitude, seems 
not to be reliable here, for I lost all unpro¬ 
tected specimens u year ago, and tin* tops 
of all that were exposed the past winter are 
badly browned, if not. killed. The Cilician 
Silver Fir, (Abies >:Ulrica,) European Silver 
Fir, Irish Juniper, and several other of our 
more common evergreens, have passed 
through the winter with but slight injury. 
An old plant of Cephakitoxus Fortunii, 
which had passed through many a winter 
more severe upon evergreens t han the last, 
was killed outright, there appearing to be no 
life even In the old stem. My largest speci¬ 
men of American Holly is cut down to the 
lower branches, and several choice, varieties 
of Rhododendrons, never before injured, are 
killed ; but upon the whole, lam well satis- 
tied,' considering the severity of the winter, 
probably the coldest ever known in this part 
of the country. 
SHALL I PLANT MORE GRAPES. 
March 130.—I am a little puzzled over this 
question. There are several nakrd trellises in 
my garden, from which Ike grape vines have 
been taken and destroyed, as they were not 
worth cultivating. Lost summer I planted 
Lima beans alongside, and t rained the vines 
over the trellises, and the crop was far more 
profitable than the grapes heretofore grown 
in the same space. I suppose Mr. Campbell. 
would suy, “ you want Martha but 1 don’t 
—at least, no more than I already have ; for 
a vine or two of this pale-green, “odorous” 
native is sufficient for a small family that is 
well supplied with better sorts. Of course I 
have Concord, Delaware, Eumelau, and other 
leading sorts, including those famous “Mus- 
Cftts,” known as Rogers’ Hybrids, which, by- 
lhe way, do not appear to stand so high in 
public estimation as they did a few years 
since, although a few of them are still report¬ 
ed ns “ promising well " Rickett’e and Wy¬ 
lie's new hybrids are not in the market, and 
vines cannot lie obtained ; and as I have been 
through the old list, from Alpha to Omega, 
must now wait for something new to turn up. 
In the meantime, 1 must use my grape trel¬ 
lises for Lima beans. Perhaps I will vary the 
crop this year, introducing a few Scarlet 
Runners, or ornamental Gourds, for these 
will lie ill casing to the eye, and fully as good 
for the stomach as nine-tenths of the grapes 
that I have grown in the past twenty years. 
BUGS FROM KANSAS. 
•• Daily Rural Like :—Inclosed you will 
find three bugs which I would like to have 
vou name, and give a description in Rural 
NKW-Yorkeb, They were very plenty here 
last fall on box elder trees. 1 have seen the 
ground covered with bunches of t hem as large 
as « half-pound weight, the bunches not be¬ 
ing more than one foot apart. There have 
been a grea t many of them in the house all 
winter ; and now that warm weather is ap¬ 
proaching, they are getting quite numerous. 
—J. Henry Barnes. Manhattan , Kan . 
The insect is a true bug (llnniptcra), and 
its name is Lygaus reclivntus, Say. It be¬ 
longs to the same family as the well-known 
chinch bug, Rhypitrocliromus kucoptcrus. 
Say, which you may well think is a pretty 
long name for such a very small bug. This 
little Lygceus is quite prettily marked with 
red, the body, an hemelytra, being margined 
with a narrow band of this color. It is about 
a half inch long, and an eighth broad. I know 
nothing positive in regard to habits, but you 
have an excellent opportunity for examining 
this insect, and should do so, and give the 
readers of the Rural New-Yorker the re¬ 
sults of your observations. 
EGG EATING FOWLS 
DOES IT PAY TO KEEP POULTRY 1 
DAILY RURAL LIFE, 
It is always considered that fowls first eat 
eggs for the sake of the shell, because they 
have not access to the ingredients that com¬ 
pose it. Lime is the principal ingredient, and 
as there is much of it in the hull of com, they 
get some in that way, but they should be 
provided with a heap of bricklayers’ rub¬ 
bish. If each run is not provided with grass, 
heavy sods of earth should lie cut, covered 
with growing grass. If they are to be had 
some lettuces should also be given, but they 
must be given whole. Take away their 
troughs, and let them have no food by them. 
Feed by hand morning and evening on slaked 
barleymeal or ground oats; at midday give 
some whole maize or house scraps. This, 
with the road grit, bricklayer’s rubbish, 
grass and other green food, should keep them 
in perfect health. If they are so they will 
not eat their eggs, but. as it. is quite true that 
they become fond of the egg itself, you must 
try to cure them. First, let them be watched, 
and as soon as the hen gives notice she has 
laid, she must be driven from the nest, and 
the egg taken away. We have sometimes 
cured them by putting very hard composi¬ 
tion feggs in their nests and about their haunts. 
They peck at them without making any im¬ 
pression, and they turn them over and over 
till they give it up for a bad job. 
I am often asked this question ; also, which 
are the best kinds of improved fowls. I 
would say, in reply, that I have experimented 
with a large number of breeds, and have dis¬ 
carded all but Houdans. Light and Dark 
Brahmas. In these breeds are combined all 
the. important qualities of good table fowls, 
good layers, (summer and winter,) sitters, 
non-sitters and size. My Houdan chicks 
weigh from 5 to 6t£ lbs. in autumn. They 
are very handsome fowls—large size, small 
bones, fine flesh, and <.f extraordinary pre¬ 
cocity and fecundity. They lay largo eggs, 
and the chicks are fit for the table at four 
months old. The Brahma chicks weigh from 
H to 10 lbs. in autumn. My Light Brahma 
breeding cock, a May chick, weighs 10 lbs. 
They are a quiet and handsome fowl, good 
layers and sitters. I consider the Dark su¬ 
perior to the Light Brahmas ; these and the 
Houdans are becoming the favorite breeds of 
the United States. 
Rev. H. W. Beecher says that, the White 
Leghorns, from the same amount of feed, 
will produce rather more eggs than the Hou¬ 
dans. This is not a fair trial, as eggs from 
the latter breed are much larger than from 
the former, I claim that the Houdans will 
produce, a greater weight of eggs, from the 
same amount of feed, than any other breed. 
I have kept the amount of eggs laid by one 
dozen Light Brahma fowls through the year, 
and found they averaged 12“ eggs each. 
This year I am breeding from choice se¬ 
lected pure-bred fowls of these breeds. Be¬ 
low, I give last year’s account of ordinary 
and mixed fowls, to show whether it pays to 
keep poultry and sell eggs at ordinary prices. 
Fancy poultry would pay better. 
I>r. 
Jan. 1—To 1 fowls. «2Rc.*2.50 
Aiirll 10—To for slttlnR. 2.00 
Mav 11-To 10 bens, at 40c. 4.00 
July IS—To trio Dark Brahma?. 8.11} 
Dec. 31—To 11 bushels corn, this year, at83!<c.9.10 
To menl, Ac. 90 
To house rent and interest... 2.00 
To work, feeding, &o . 5.00 
To clear protU. 0.89 
From the Diary of a Gentleman near New 
York City. 
DISCOVERING BEAUTY. 
March 1?.—I have been greatly amused 
with the contents of a letter just received 
from a lady correspondent residing in Plumas 
Co., California. A young friend of mine 
who is an enthusiastic collector of plants, 
gave me the address of Mrs. A. of the above- 
named place, saying that she had sent him 
many choice specimens of California plants 
for his herbarium, and he presumed that 1 
might persuade her to collect insects for me 
while on botanizing excursions. As I never 
allow such an opportunity to pass without 
making an effort to add something to my 
cabinet, I wrote to the lady, begging her as¬ 
sistance. In due time an answer was re¬ 
ceived, informing me that bugs and beetles 
had always been a terror to the writer during 
her entire life, and the idea of gathering and 
bottling such creatures filled her mind with 
horror. But my correspondent added :—“ As 
you have sent me some choice plants as a 
‘retainer,' I will try to put aside my fear or 
di*ead of insects when the summer comes and 
see what 1 can do for you, although I cannot 
promise much, having never seen many in¬ 
sects here.” 
This shadow of a promise was enough to 
make me write another letter, in which 1 
said:—“Do not wait until summer; for in¬ 
sects that would be valuable to me are at 
this moment hid under every stick, stone and 
bunch of old grass in your garden.” Now 
comes another note, from which I will quote 
one paragraph, to wit:—“The next day after 
your letter came, mother and l went out into 
our yard and captured 70 beetles in 20 min¬ 
utes—counted them out of curiosity. The 
second day I caught 81 in five minutes, and 
therefore feel quite encouraged about becom¬ 
ing a successful * bug lnmtcr.’ ” Then follows 
the most interesting portion of the letter, for 
the lady actually proposes to make up an en¬ 
tomological cabinet., provided I will assist her 
in naming the species collected. Of course I 
will do this with pleasure, and have no doubt 
tliis very lady, who has lived in the fear of 
innocent bugs and beetles, will ere long dis¬ 
cover wondrous beauty where heretofore 
there was nought but hideous ugliness, It is 
passing strange what singular ideas get into 
the heads of some people about beauty ir 
nature, just as though there was any one 
thing more curious or beautiful tha n another. 
We may have our likes and dislikes, und 
these traits frequently become hereditary, 
but the man or woman who may happen to 
admire snakes will find as much beauty in 
them as the person who studies birds and 
becomes an enthusiastic ornithologist. 
THE CLOTH OF GOLD ROSE. 
March IS.—More than twenty years ago I 
purchased a plant of the beautiful Noisette 
rose known as the Chromatella, or Cloth of 
Gold. It has been a favorite of mine ever 
since, and although many competitors of a 
similar color have been introduced, like the 
Marshal Niel and Isabella Sprunt, still our old 
rose is without a superior. Like some other 
varieties of this class, the plants do not bloom 
very freely upon their own roots until two 
or three years old, but then they make up 
for lost time. When grafted or budded upon 
strong Manetti. or other free-growing stocks, 
t lie plants will bloom when only a few months 
old ; but the novice in rose, culture is very 
likely to allow suckers to grow from the roots 
of the stock ; thereby, robbing the graft of 
sustenance, soon destroying it. If a pei-son can 
only have patience, and wait for a plant on 
its own roots to attain age or size, he will be 
well repaid in abundance of the most deli¬ 
ciously fragrant, large, pale, lemon, yellow- 
colored roses that the most enthusiastic ad¬ 
mirer of flowers could desire. A six-year- 
old plant of this old Cloth of Gold rose has 
been, perfuming my greenhouse for several j 
weeks, aud to-day it is loaded with dozens of i 
full-blown flowers and half-opened buds; and | 
upon the whole, it is as grand an ornament 1 
as one could wish for conservatory or parlor, 
Plants of this old it>se can be had very cheap j 
of our florists, and no person who loves roses [ 
should be without it. If a person has no 
greenhouse in which to keep the plants in 
winter, they may be bent down and covered 
with earth, or dug up and heeled in, and then 
protected with coarse litter or manure. 
UNCOVERING PLANTS. 
March 18.—A few warm days and the de¬ 
parting snow banks make one think about 
uncovering protected plants. An examina¬ 
TEE BEST FOOD FOR FOWLS 
In the Rural New-Yorker of March 15, 
a correspondent asks what is the best food 
for fowls. Here is my experience with a 
dozen and a half of half Light Brahma hens 
of last year’s raising :—I give them each 
morning a warm mash of equal parts of 
wheat bran, wheat middlings and corn meal. 
1 put just enough of boiling water on to wet 
it. and give them no more than they will eat 
up clean through the day ; besides this, I 
give them wheat screenings and coni, all 
they will eat, I have had eggs every day 
through this cold winter—from six to four¬ 
teen a day—and that when the mercury was 
a number of days, from 10° to 25 below zero. 
lvankakelCo., III. Jacob Myers. 
Cr. 
July 18—By 2 fowi?.*2.00 
Nov. 23—By 1 chick. 1.00 
Dec. 31—By 43 5-12 dozen .8.79 
By 29 fowls, at *1.29.00 
$ 40.79 
Thus paying for work and leaving about 
100 per cent, invested in fowls. 
Hamilton, N. Y. C. b. 
POULTRY NOTES, 
Vulture Hock in Fowls.—A correspondent 
asks us what is a “ vulture hock ; ” and why 
is it objectionable ? I dont know that I ever 
saw one. It is a projection of feathers over 
the knee of the bird as shown herewith. It 
STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE FOR GAME 
FOWLS. 
Mr. Isaac Van Winkle has published and 
asks criticism upon the following standard 
of excellence and scale of points for Game 
Fowls. He places the scale of points at 50, 
as follows: 
8. Head and Neck—Long, narrow and 
strong and neatly curved. 
3. Hackle—Close and scant. 
3. Comb and Wattle—Closely dubbed, 
smooth and entirely free from the slightest 
excrescence. 
3. Eye—Quick, fearless and bold (color 
according to its kind). 
2. Face—Bare and slender. 
3. Beak—Strong, curved, long and sharp. 
2. Ear-lobes—Small and red (never whit¬ 
ish). 
5. Body—Broad shoulders, chest very hard, 
short and wedged-shaped bodies, narrow 
over the saddle, fine, slender sterns. 
3. Wings—Rather short, carried well for¬ 
ward and close to the body. 
8. Legs—Long and straight, cleanly made 
and well set aphrt , the spurs growing well 
down. 
3. Thighs —Round (not flat, as often seen 
in good birds), hard and stout. 
3. Toes—Long and firmly planted on the 
ground, the kind toe well developed and set 
flat on the ground and not twisted sideways, 
(or, in other words, duck-footed,) claws and 
nails long, strong and straight. 
3. Tail—Must, be carried tight, the feathers 
being close together and a slight elevation, 
not upright or drooping, but presenting a 
light, graceful appearance ; should be com¬ 
posed of short, hard, wiry feathers, each 
being as narrow as possible ; the sickle 
feather should be long, narrow and gracefully 
curved. 
3. Plumage—Close, hard and short, clean 
and perfect in color, with glossy reflections, 
and quills strong and elastic. 
5. Style—A very important feature. The 
shape of the bird and the carnage of the 
head, wings and tail : carriage should be 
upright, bold and fearless. 
is generally regarded objectionable; indeed 
breeders regard it a disqualification in exhibi¬ 
tion birds, though we regard It entirely a 
matter of taste ; in fact, not long since the 
editor of an English poultry paper said: 
“ Some judges consider it a fatal defect, and 
we have always lamented that conclusion, 
for we admire such feathering, and it is 
usually found on fine specimens. ” It was a 
subject of much discussion among the poul¬ 
try breeders who adopted the American 
Standard of Excellence ; but the anti-vulture 
hock men were in majority, 
Oregon Eggs and Chickens .—A lady “ Poul¬ 
try fancier,” at Amity, Yamhill Co., Oregon, 
writes March 1st, that she has 75 Lying hens 
of Dark and Light. Brahmas, Polands and 
Dominiques and sold, during January and 
February, 114 dozen eggs at from IS to 30 cts. 
per dozen, realizing £22.37. having fed her 
fowls during that time, 4 bushels wheat 
screenings and 3 1 £ bushels of grain. 
The Yellow-Legged Fowls sell best, and 
why do not farmers stock up with such t 
Fowls which grow quickest are the most 
profitable. Farmers ought to know that the 
sale of eggs is less profitable than the sale of 
hens ; therefore, Houdan hens, that do not 
like to sit, are not the best. Onions chopped 
fine and mixed with meal, constitute a cure- 
all for hen diseases.— G. o. 
Ash Bath for Fowls.— An English Poultry 
Journal says :—“ Wood ashes are excellent 
and make the best bath a fowl can have, but 
coal ashes cause them much suffering and 
discomfort.” 
Remedy for Chilblains .—A French medical 
journal highly commends the following for 
this common und annoying affliction ’Tinc¬ 
ture of iodine, one part; Labarraquc’s solu¬ 
tion two parts, M. The affected part is to be 
well anointed wit h this, and dried by the fire. 
It should not be applied where the skin is 
broken. 
The late Mr. Skey says that a perfectly 
safe and effectual remedy for chilblains is 
found in the employment of laudanum, taken 
internally in very small doses, of from two 
drops for young children, night and morning, 
up to six or eight for adults. It is in such 
quantities perfectly harmless, and, as a rule, 
will effect a cure in the course of four or five 
days. 
