CORE’S RURAL NE 
SCItc § traltt|g giqd. 
THE POULTRY-KEEPER.-No. 4. 
CLASSIFICATION AND NOMENCLATURE OF THE 
VARIETIES. 
Classification.—A s it is not possible to 
class fowls by following the probabilities of 
their origin, we have made a classification 
formed upon the size, or the usefulness, or 
the peculiarity of the plumage of each va¬ 
riety. 
We have divided the known varieties into 
four great categories L The great Euro¬ 
pean varieties. 2. The great exotic varieties. 
3, The new varieties called fancy. 4. The 
dwarf varieties. 
We have only mentioned the well-known 
varieties, putting on one side those which 
are lost and those which are doubtful. 
European Varieties. — Houdan, Creve- 
Coeur, La Fieche, Prance; Dorking, England; 
Spanish, Spain : Breda, (fowl with a Rook’s 
beak,i Holland ; Bruge, Belgium. 
The French sub-varieties are :—The Caux, 
Cammont, Mans, Barbozieux, Bresae, Resme, 
Angers, Arganla. These are only variations 
of the principal French varieties. Some, as 
the Barbezieux and the Bresse, are lost. 
Exotic Varieties. — Cochin China or 
Shanghai, of which there are sub-varieties, 
Buff, Lemon, Partridge, Black, White, Cuck¬ 
oo and Silky. 
It is known that silky plumage is generally 
produced by the same causes as albinism, 
and is to be met with in all varieties after a 
certain time of moulting and certain condi¬ 
tions. 
Brahma Pootra. — Sub-varieties. —White 
and Partridge. | 
Malay.—O f many shades. 
New and Fancy Varieties.— Padua or 
Polish. — Sub - varieties. — Silver-spangled, 
Gold-spangled, White, Black, with black 
oroHts, Cuckoo, Chamois, whole, colored or j 
speckled. These are six varieties recognized i 
by closely-judging amateurs. All other va¬ 
riations are obtained by means of these, and I 
aro of less interest. 
The Dutch. — Sub-varieties.. —Blue (span¬ 
gled) with a crest; Black with a white crest; 
Blue with white crest. The English kinds 
aro Golden and Silver. 
Hamburgh. — Sub-varieties. — Gold-span- 
gled, Silver-Spangled, Black, (hen Phcasant- 
plurnaged,) Golden-penciled and Silver-pen¬ 
ciled. 
J ERUSALEM (BUMPLESS). — Short - legged 
without tails. 
Three Ccckoo Varieties. —These, though 
forming separate varieties, do not positively 
belong to known varieties, but are of too 
much interest to be quite omitted. Shaded 
French Cuckoo, Shaded Rennes Cuckoo, 
Shaded Dutch Cuckoo. 
Dwarf Varieties. — Bantams. — Varie¬ 
ties. —Gold Sebright, Silver Sebright, Black, 
White, Game, Black-breasted and Brown¬ 
breasted. 
Java. —Dwarf Feather-legged English, Ne¬ 
gro with silky crest, Silky with white crest. 
M. Jacques does not mention the Scotch 
Dumpies and the Sultans. 
I commenced last January (1874) with two 
roosters and 38 hens. I feed four quarts of 
corn a day, interspersed occasionally by a 
feed of boiled oats, potatoes, well seasoned. 
As we did not keep any hogs during the win¬ 
ter, they consequently got a great many 
things that otherwise would have went in 
the hog trough ; and beyond that I crush all 
the bones that fall from the table, which are 
greedily picked up by the fowls. 
My receipts of sale of eggs are Januaiy, 
14 dozen, $3.93 ; February, 13 doz., $3,24 ; 
March, 12 7-12 doz., $2.61 ; April, 3(1 doz., 
$7.08. (The last of April I killed 14 and sent 
them away, which netted $7.76.) May, 19 
doz., $3.74 ; June, 20 doz., $3.56. 
1 set something like a hundred eggs, from 
which 1 have only 50 chickens on account of 
being disturbed by other hens while setting. 
The eggs used in the family I never keep any 
account 6t. My brood consists of common 
fowls, Brahmas and Dominiques. I do not 
boast of their great laying qualities, for I 
think they can be out-done in that line. 
Orange Co., N. Y. Ruth A. Horton. 
—— 4 *4 - 
A CHICKEN COOP. 
Having made a good discovery, 1 am de¬ 
sirous of giving it to the people, and know 
cf no better method than by giving it to yon. 
Being engaged in raising chicken* for profit, 
it was necessary to make cheap coops to keep 
them in for a few weeks. I take an old bar¬ 
rel and tack every hoop on each side of a 
seam between the staves with an inch- 
wrought nail; after clinching the nails, I 
saw the hoops off on the seam. Then I spread 
the barrel open, as in the following figure, 
by cutting a board about 20 inches long for 
the back of the coop, and two Bmall pieces 
to tack laths on for the front part. I have 
the upper sectiou of the back fastened with 
leather hinges, so that I can open it at plea¬ 
sure. Everybody has old barrels which are 
almost valueless, and the trouble and expense 
of making a coop of this description is so 
small it is not worth mentioning, while to 
buy the material and make a coop of the 
same size, it would cost About $1. 
Metuohen, N. J. Arm. V. N. Deforest. 
-♦ • » 
POULTEY NOTES. 
A WOMAN’S POULTRY EXPERIENCE. 
As a reader of your journal, I have take.n 
no inconsiderable interest in the various de¬ 
partments it serves as an exponent. I see in 
the issue of July 4 an inquiry from T. M. S. 
of Bath, for notes upon rearing poultry, Ac. 
Having bad considerable experience in that 
line, which has proved both profitable and 
satisfactory, I will give of '* What I know 
about poultry raising,” together with some 
of the profits accrued therefrom. 
The secret in raising poultry is about con¬ 
tained in these four words, which are light, 
warmth, cleanliness and wholesome food. 
These are requisites which no poultry raiser 
can with safety ignore. It is us necessary to 
follow hygienic principles in this department 
as ftuy other, and thereby avoid the ills 
eliiekenhood is subject to from careless man¬ 
agement. 
In removing the young chicks from the 
nest to the coops, which I generally place 
upon green sward, (though placed on loose 
earth perhaps, is better, so the mother can 
take a dust bath she so much needs,) the 
coops are constructed of boards and joists 
like the letter V, inverted, so they can be 
moved easily ; no ooop should be allowed to 
rest in one place over four or five day8, for 
the good of the hen and chickens. 
1 generally feed with Indian meal and 
wheat bran in equal parts ; occasionally a 
pinch of salt in the mixture ; good, pure 
■water or buttermilk should be placed before, 
them every day. 
Gapes in Chickens.—WIU some of the many 
readers of the Rural New-Yorker please 
tell me a remedy for gapes in chickens ? 1 
have had several very oadly affected, and 
cannot find anything that will help them.— 
Willie A. Hoyt. 
The People’s Practical Poultry Book rec¬ 
ommends the following “ Take a small 
quill feather, stripping the vane except a 
half inch at the extremity of the feathers ; 
this should be dipped in spirits of turpentine 
and the ohickeus being held, the feather so 
prepared is passed down through the small 
opening of the windpipe, which is readily 
seen at the base of the tongue; giving the 
feather one or two turns will generally bring 
up and destroy the worms which cause the 
gapes. The turpentine at once kills the 
worms, and its application excites a fit of 
coughing, during which those that are not 
d rawn out by the feather are expelled by the 
coughing.” The Rural New-Yorker" has 
contained many other said to be efficient 
remedies for this trouble. 
Inquiries about Ducks.— Will you please 
be so kind to tell me if the Mandarin duck is a 
good one to keep? I have read e bout them 
as being handsome in plumage. I thought 
of getting some ducks. If you will tell ine 
through the RURAL Nbw-Yorkkr which is 
the best kind and how much they cost a 
pair, I will he very much obliged to you. 
Where shall 1 send and get some ?—Geo. F. 
Edgerly. 
You are not advised to purchase and at¬ 
tempt to keep the Mandarin. Either the 
Aylesbury or Rouen are better. We do not 
know which of the last two named are 
preferable. Some prefer one and some the 
other. We do not know where they can be 
purchased nor the price, unless our adver¬ 
tising columns can tell you. 
A Correspondent of the Rural New- 
Yorker asks for a gapes remedy. Here is 
one, well kuowu, that has been repeatedly 
published, and is effectual :—“Take a stiff 
horse-hair make a pointed loop, insert it in 
the windpipe, push it down as tar as it will 
go, with the rest of the hair between your 
thumb and forefinger ; twist it quickly, then 
draw it out; you may not get any worm the 
first or the second time, but they loosen so 
that the third or fourth time they come ; 
sometimes all there will come the first draw¬ 
ing. The operation must be done quickly ; 
it needs two to do it—one to hold the strug¬ 
gling chick, the other to operate.” 
the win- SHEEP IN NEW MEXICO. 
t many 
went in Many readers of the Rural New-Yorker 
’rush all are inquiring for details about sheep hus- 
hicli are bamlry in Colorado and New Mexico. To 
such the following furnished the New Mexi¬ 
can by a correspondent, concerning sheep 
raising in the vicinity of Santa Fe, will prove 
interesting. The best native ewes can be 
bought for $2 a head, in greenbacks, and de¬ 
livered to purchasers within severity or eighty 
miles from here without additional charge. 
For a flock of 10,000 sheep, five herders are 
necessary; two of them should be mounted 
by the owner of the herd, the others to go on 
foot. The man in charge of the flock (mayor- 
dorrio) gets about $40, the others from $8 to 
$11 and rations, a month. The flock always 
moving from one watering or grazing place 
to another, seldom stopping in the same 
camp two consecutive days, provisions in 
bulk (except freash meat, for which sheep in 
the herds are used) are issued to the herders 
as often as convenient. The cost of one 
month's rations for one man is about $7. 
Six jacks to carry the rations and camp out¬ 
fit, which will cost about $15 each, and the 
necessary arms and ammunition, are furn¬ 
ished by the owner of the flock. An excel¬ 
lent breed of shepherd dogs is used here. 
The Breeding Season. — From the first to 
the fifteenth of November, the bucksaro put. 
among the ewes—then the number of herd 
ers should be increased fifty per cent, for two 
months, to prevent their running during the 
rutting season. From the 15th of April to 
the last of May— the lambing season—most 
important of all—herders should be increased 
to five for every one thousand head of ewes 
or fifty men for the flock, these extra herders 
to be kept about six weeks, and are usually 
paid the same, or possibly a little more per 
month, and can always be hired from the 
settlements. About 1,500 bucks are neces- 
ISSIS 3 sary for the 10,000 ewes ; they cost about 
-9 $1.25 to $1.50 a head. 
Cotswold and Mexican Mixed. — Some of 
sd with our mor e intelligent sheep owners are now 
it plea- bringing in Cotswold and other fine blooded 
lich are ^ improve the breed. Average in- 
?xpense creiwe j n p ve s heep at the end of the year, 
m is so f rom 70 to 80 percent. 
.’hile to ,p w(J to three-year-old common Mexican 
of the m j xe( j *heep, bucks and ewes, yield an av¬ 
erage of one and a half pounds of wool a 
year. This statement is made in a liberal 
spirit toward the sheep raiser, so that he will 
find on coming here, that while all the prices 
for cost and herding are full, the rate of in¬ 
crease is estimated rather low. 
Pasturage. — The table lands aud hill-sides 
are abundantly supplied with a variety of 
nutritive grasses, which, being cured by the 
operation of the climate, afford excellent 
pasturage throughout the year. The most 
valuable and widely-distributed of these Is 
the grama grass, its peculiar value consisting 
ithers ; j n j ts adaptation to all the requirements of 
>entine a n arid climate. It grows during the rainy 
(.her so 8eaBOn and ripens as the dry season approach- 
e small e8> while the leaf and stem retaiu most of 
readily their nutritive qualities in drying, forming 
ng the SU perior feed for sheep during the entire 
v bring season. 
me the The immense range afforded by the exten- 
i fit of sive pastures of New Mexico has a very ben- 
re not efleial effect on the health of sheep, the dis¬ 
hy the eases common to other localities being here 
m has almost unknown. 
neient p rom these facts and figures it will be seen 
that a very neat start may be made in the 
ckhfa Bliee P business on a few thousand dollars. 
them Of course it would not be necessary for those 
LOUght making small beginnings to lure much, if 
all me aIJ y help ; and in this way, men of moderate 
means, who are willing to work, can get 
y y OU more money proportionately out of this in- 
eo. F. dustry, than capitalists, who labor under the 
disadvantage of luring all their help. Their 
nd at- flocks, in the latter case, seldom, if ever, re- 
■r the ceivethe care and attention they should, as 
d° a °e impossible for their owners to 
us the keep the herders constantly under their 
an be eyes. _ 
THE WILD SHEEP OF CALIFORNIA. 
I have been greatly interested in studying 
their habits during the last four years, while 
engaged in the work of exploring these high 
regions. In spring and Slimmer the males 
form separate bands. They are usually met 
in small flocks, numbering from three to 
twenty, feeding along the edges of glacier 
meadows, or resting among the castle-like 
crags of lofty summits ; and, whether feed¬ 
ing or resting, or scaling wild cliffs for pleas¬ 
ure, their noble forms, the very embodimen 
of muscular beauty, never fail to strike the 
beholder with liveliest admiratiou. Their 
resting-places seem to he chosen with refer¬ 
ence to sunshine and a wide outlook, and, 
most of all, to safety from the attacks of 
wolves. Their feeding-grounds are among 
the most beautiful of the wild Sierra gardens, 
bright with daisies and gentians, aud mats 
of blooming shrub9. These arc hidden away 
high on the sides of rough canons, where 
light is abundant, or down in the valleys, 
along lake-borders and stream-banks, where 
the plushy turf is greenest, aud the purple 
heather grows. Sweet grasses also grow in 
these happy Alpine gardens, but the wild 
sheep eats little besides the spicy leaves and 
shoots of the various shrubs und hushes, per¬ 
haps relishing both their taste and beauty, 
although tame men are slow to suspect wild 
sheep to seeing more than grass. When 
winter storms fall, decking their summer 
pastures in the lavish bloom of snow, then, 
like the blue birds and robins, our brave 
sheep gather and go to warmer climates, 
usually descending the eastern flank of the 
range to the narrow, birch-filled gorges that 
open into the sage plains, where snow never 
falls to any great depth, the elevation above 
the sea being about from 5,000 to 7,000 feet. 
Here they sojourn until spring sunshine un¬ 
locks the car oils and warms the pastures of 
their glorious Alps. 
In the mouths of June and July they bring 
forth their young, in the most solitary and 
inaccessible crags, far above the nest of the 
eagle. 1 have frequently come upon the beds 
of the ewes aud Iambs at an elevation of 
from 12,000 to 13,000 feet above sea-level. 
These beds consist simply of an oval-shaped 
hollow, pawed out among loose disintegrat¬ 
ing rock-chips and sand, upon some sunny 
spot commanding a good outlook, and parti¬ 
ally sheltered from the winds that sweep 
passionately across those lofty crags almost 
without intermission. Such is the cradle of 
the little mountaineer, aloft in the sky, 
rocked in storms, curtained in clouds, sleep¬ 
ing In thin, icy air; but, wrapped in his 
hairy coat, nourished by a warm, strong 
mother, defended from the talons of the eagle 
and teeth of the sly coyote, the bonnie lamb 
grows apace. He learns to nibble the purple 
daisy and leaves of the wiiito spir»>a ; his 
horns beginn to shoot, and, ere summer is 
done, he is strong and agile, aud goes forth 
with the flock, shepherded by the same Di¬ 
vine love that tends the more helpless human 
lamb in its warm cradle by the fireside.— 
Overland Monthly. 
Jfand .Bcplmeitt. 
FROM ALABAMA. 
A SHORT residence in the South, engaged 
in horticultural and agricultural pursuits, 
has added new life to mo, and I am charmed 
with the pleasant winters we have, in con¬ 
trast with those of the North. Here all 
hardy vegetables grow luxuriantly during 
the winter months, and many tender ones, 
with a little extra care during the few un¬ 
pleasant days we have. Peas, beets, and 
salads have almost passed out of recollec¬ 
tion, and we have been for some time feast¬ 
ing on green corn, cucumbers aud potatoes, 
to which I might add such delicious fruits as 
strawberries, peaches, plums, Ac., besides 
an abundance of wild blackberries and 
whortleberries. Cotton, which has been 
King for so many years, is rapidly giving 
way, and will ere long be disen throned. 
Grain is being sown quite largely, as also 
grasses of different varieties. Clover and 
Timothy both flourish, and seed sown in 
October makes a pleasant stand of grass, 
ready for cutting by the 1st to the 10th of 
May. 
The long aud hot summer will no doubt 
affect to some extent newly laid meadows, 
but careful cutting will, in my opinion, pre¬ 
vent them from being injured by the heat 
and drouth. Planters must necessarily raise 
food enough for their own consumption, as 
few can afford to buy, on account of the 
almost entire failure of the cotton crop for 
the past three years. Crops of all kinds at 
this time look well and promise fair returns. 
The labor question is one that agitates the 
Southern people very much, as it has be¬ 
come so unreliable, and it is dLifflcalt to fore¬ 
see what, the end must be. Many think that 
white labor will ultimately tak'e the place 
of and supersede altogether negro labor; 
but I fear there urn few foreigners who 
could stand the rays of a July and August 
sun. Time alonB will solve the problem, and 
in the mean time we must hope for the best. 
Earnestly wishing I could send you a 
package of our good things, but rearing 
2,000 miles from your city would cause them 
to reach you in bad condition, I hesitate to 
do so at this time. B. 
Alabama, June 20. 
