other forcing food. The first, prize from the 
Royal Agricultural Association was given 
to a widow whose sheep alone eat food 
which cost £ 1,200 per annum over and a hove 
what her land produced. This was two 
years ago —1 know the neighborhood where 
this farm is situated, having gone to school 
within a few miles of it. The soil is gener¬ 
ally good, but there are many districts of 
comparatively poor land which are brought 
up into the highest state of fertility chiefly 
by feeding barley, peas and oil cake freely to 
cattle and sheep’; some fanners also fatten¬ 
ing great numbers of hogs to st ill further add 
to the plant, food, thereby increasing the 
yield of every crop through the rotation ; 
for on every farm, or almost every one, 
there is a regular rotation adhered to and no 
mat ter how many cattle and swine are kept, 
there is the flock with the shepherd, as about, 
two-thirds of the root crop is eaten by the 
sheep on the fields where grown and on the 
light, fluid all the. turnips are used in that 
way. 
Now, as these English farmers only rent 
their farms, and it answers their purpose to 
follow this high kind of feeding, not only 
eating all the grain they grow, excepting 
wheat, but much more, in the instance above 
mentioned £ 1 .:#X) ($ 6 , 000 ) being expended ?o 
as to pav and to show such proofs of wool 
fanning'as to take the highest premium 
from t.he greatest society hi the Kingdom, i! 
cannot be doubted tlmt any one occupying 
his own land would do well to follow such 
brick, and that gopher didn’t clean my 
chickens’ insides out again.” 
POULTRY NOTES, 
SHEEP IN ENGLAND 
PEKIN DUCKS 
Poultry in Connecticut .—The Tolland Co. 
Farmers’ Club, at- its last meeting, discussed 
the subject of poultry. According to the 
majority of members, turkeys are more prof¬ 
itable than chickens. It costs about * 1 ^ to 
t.urkevR from the time they .ore 
There is a great variety of sheep, every 
county having a different breed or some pe¬ 
culiarity distinguishing the same breeds as 
totally dissimilar in England ; but in every 
county, every district, township, or even 
Somebody claims to have Imported Pekin 
Ducks and wants to sell them. In order to 
create a demand for them, Mr. Wm. Clift 
seems to be authorized to get laudations and 
descriptions of them into all t he agricultural 
papers, which he seems to be doing success¬ 
fully. We object to this species of advertis¬ 
ing for the benefit of either Mr. Clift or Mr. 
Palmkk, the accredited importer. But we 
have no objection to give Mr. Clift’s de¬ 
scription of them, (cautioning our readers 
not to “go crazy” over them yet) which is 
as follows “ They are clear white, with a 
faint yellowish tinge to the uuderpart of 
their feathers, which are very thick and 
downy. The wing primaries and all of the 
flight feathers are remarkably short,, show¬ 
ing that they have long been domesticated 
and are not disposed to fly much. They are 
very hardy, not minding snow or rain ; are 
easily kepL in small enclosures and only re¬ 
quire a little clean water and regular feeding 
to raise them successfully. When they have 
a good run t hey are excellent lVuagers and 
can take care of themselves as readily as any 
other breed of fowls. They have large, yel¬ 
low bills and reddish legs. Their long, grace¬ 
ful necks, their white plumage and remark¬ 
able size make them pleasing objects upon 
the water, or about the farm yard and lawn.” 
Since turnips and Swedes have been so 
very extensively cultivated, sheep in England 
haye altogether changed; for when I was a 
boy, although root culture was common and 
sheep fattened to a good weight on them, 
the majority were shearlocfls. two years old 
or nearly, and many were, shorn the second 
time ; now heavier weights are obtained and 
a year saved, which has allowed of increas¬ 
ing the number of breeding e\v- ; and as 
the custom is of keeping store sheep always 
in high condition, the clip of wool is very 
much heavier on the. average than formerly, 
and the quality, too, is correspondingly im¬ 
proved. For ten years or more, before 1 
left. England, I knew several flocks of not 
less thau 100 and some of 900, where there 
would not be an animal which was not lat 
enough to lie > alen and n j good as any aver¬ 
age marketable meat; in short, the best 
stock raisers Of every part of t he country 
consider it pays much better to have every 
living creature on the farm fat from its birth 
CLEANSING A HEKERY OR OTHER 
FOUL PLACE. 
hatched till Dec. 1 st. It pays better to teeci 
corn in Connecticut to turkeys than to hogs. 
Hens eat about one ousliel of corn each per 
annum when well fed. One man realized 
$4(5.80 from two geese and one gander in one 
year. Heavy turkeys are not as desirable in 
market as lighter oiies. Dark colors are best 
Thirty-three turkeys gave $15 net profit, 
besides four reserved for breeders. Several 
thought winter laying of hens is not profit, 
able. Poultry want mixed food and more 
or less range, in order to remain healthy. 
Prepared Food for Fowls .-In England 
there are several kinds <>f patent prepared 
food for fowls some of which are highly 
prized by fanciers; is there any similar 
preparation in tins country that one who 
i..wtb ill his feed can imreliase \ n Amkhi 
In the Rural New-Yorker of Dec. 6 th, 
L. J., asks if chickens may he kept in the 
same place where others have died this year 
with chicken cholera. T say yes, or with any 
other disease, if all the droppings are well 
scraped out of the roost and range, and fresh 
earth carried in and scattered all over to the 
depth of an inch or more. Let it remain a 
day or so if convenient, then scrape this out 
to the compost heap, and carry in more 
fresh earth so as to cover all parts to the 
depth of several inches, which may remain 
a week or two. Clean the premises often in 
LIi is way, where poultry are confined, and it 
will add greatly t,o their health, and form a 
rich compost for the garden or field. 
All foul places, where fresh earth can be 
thrown, may be cleansed in this way, and 
add greatly to human and animal comfort 
and health. 
Except in freezing weather, horses and 
cattle may be bedded with fresh earth to 
their health, besides greatly enriching the 
farm ; fresh earth may be had for the dig¬ 
ging and carting, and is one of the best of 
disinfectants. Hattie Hopeful. 
iu England is in being abio to Iced- such an 
abundance of roots as to not only force 
growth of frame and wool, but to give the 
round, barrel-like shape to the body which 
produces the most robust kind of healt h and 
inclines flesh to accumulate so fast that the 
returns from stock are more than as quick 
again as they were half a century since. 
Excepting the breeding ewes, the millions 
of other sheep are at the. present time eating 
at least 20 lbs, of turnips or Swedish turnips 
per head, per day, besides bay ; ami in many 
instances grain or oil cake 5 and they will 
come to market from now 1 ill next May and 
June weighing from 80 lbs. to 160 lbs. 
dressed. A Working Farmer. 
CHARACTERISTICS OF A SOUTHDOWN 
We give a description of what should con¬ 
stitute a first-da#* Southdown sheep, us 
given by Mr. JohnElluiuu of England, who, 
though not the founder of the Southdown, 
has contributed vastly to its present value 
anrl improvement. Mr. Ellin an’s perfect 
Southdown would have a head small and 
hornless ; the face speckled or gray, neither 
too long nor too short; lips thin, and the 
space between the eyes and nose narrow ; 
the under jaw, or chon, fine or thin ; the 
ears tolerably wide, and well covered with 
wool, and the forehead, also, and the whole 
space between the ears well protected by it- 
as a defense against the fly ; the eyes full and 
bright, but not prominent ; the orbits Of the 
,-ye—the eye-cap, or bone—not too pr< Meet¬ 
ing, that it may not form a latal obstacle in 
lambing. The neck should be of medium 
length, thin toward the head but enlarging 
toward the shoulders, where it should be 
broad and high and straight in its whole 
course, above and below. 
The breast should be. wide, deep and pro¬ 
jecting forward between the fore legs, indi¬ 
cating a good constitution to thrive. Cor¬ 
responding with this, the shoulder should be 
on a level wit h the back, and not too wide 
above ; they should bow outward from the 
top of the breast, indicating a springing rib 
from beneath and leaving room for it; the 
ribs coming out horizontally from the spine, 
and extending far backward, and the last rib 
projecting more thou the ot hers ; the back 
flat from the setting of the shoulders to tin- 
setting on of the tail ; the loin broad and 
flat; the rump long and broad ; the tail set 
on high, and nearly on a level with the 
1 spine ; the laps wide, the space between the 
last on either side as narrow as possible, ami 
the ribs generally presenting 11 circular form, 
like a barrel. The belly as straight as the 
back. 
The legs neither too short nor too long ; 
the fore legs straight from the breast to the 
j foot, not too bending inward at the knee, 
and standing far apart, both before and 
BREEDING BRAHMAS, 
The following is from AY right’s Monograph 
on the Brahma fowl “ In breeding for 
size, it is best to select a very short, deep- 
bodied cockerel, which need not bo large, 
and male him with long-backed liens, even 
if their legs be rather longer than ordinary. 
Alt hough length of back Is a decided fault, 
such a cross will generally breed well; the 
lieu appearing to supply the frame, which 
the cock fills out to the. proper position. 
“ Long, rangy, large-bodied cocks may also 
be mated with compact, short-legged hens 
for the same purpose ; but we prefer the 
cross first mentioned, as generally producing 
better results.” It is also recommended to 
breed from mature birds ; or that the par¬ 
entage, on one side at least, he fowls in their 
second year. The reason given is, that the 
chicks thus produced usually fledge more 
quickly, and attain a greater size. This, 
however, is bv no means an invariable ride. 
DO GOPHERS EAT CHICKENS 1 
I have lost several chickens the past year 
in such a way that I have suspected the 
eonliers of destroying them ; but I could 
never catch 1 hem at it. Do you know wheth¬ 
er they do that sort of thing l— Prairie Boy. 
In reply, we publish the following state¬ 
ment made by a Ckiliformaii 1 About a 
year ago, every now and then one of my 
chickens would be missing and I charged it 
to the gophers ; was not sure, however, till 
one morning 1 found one of my best Bralmiah 
cocks dead, with his head eaten off. 1 left 
him on the ground, and early next morning 
-was surprised to see him rolling around as if 
lie was alive. I went up and gave him a 
kick, when he squirmed more violently than 
before ; and then out -jumped a gopher from 
liis insides, where, from overeating or other¬ 
wise he had got stuck for a time. Before be 
cot away, however, I had hit him with a 
OTJT TIT PI KKTRAYS. 
ly A question is asked in a late Rural New- 
Yorker, “ if it will pay to consume all the 
he corn and grain grown on a farm,” in reply 
ed to which it may be stated here, that there is 
of j no safer and more remunerating way of 
>]y disposing of the richest food produced ; for 
ue, the best farmers and those who make the 
most money, feed the highest; and the pri- 
r j. zes given by some of the agricultural soeie- 
Pe ties in England have gone to those who have 
htu I made their farms rich as well as themselves 
great quantities of oil cake and 
by buying 
