(Tljf 4'oulinj lari 
THE BRAHMA FOWL. 
JOSEPH WALLACE. 
1 have no desire to outer into, much less to 
continue a controversy on the Brahma or any 
other breed of fowls, unless it tends to throw 
Borne new light on the subject at issue. I am 
not seeking notoriety through the press as being 
the first one in this country or in Europe, who 
has questioned the native laud of this mysteri¬ 
ous fowl. I wish from my heart that I could 
give my country priority, and pre-emiueuce in • 
every thing that is noble aud useful, but as this 1 
subject is one of great interest to poultry breed- 1 
ers, I must forego my wishes for the present, 1 
and try if I oftu remove the veil which shrouds 
the origin of the Brahma breed. I feel the im¬ 
propriety of occupying too much space in these 
columns, an.t as it is impossible to be explicit in 
every detail, I have to ooufiue myself to general 
remarks without being able to give the full texts 
of the authors whom I quote. 
In the It Ural of Deoember 29th, I said. "The 
Rev. Jean B- Froulz, in his book of “ Travels 
through India, Siam, aud China,” accurately de¬ 
scribes the domestic fowls of these countries, 
especially the Brahma which he admired above 
all others. Now, when I said accurately, I 
meant tho word in its widest sense—as clear 
aud ooncise a description as any breeder of this 
fowl could give in general terms without the 
‘‘Standard’ as a guide. I am satisfied that 
when a person describes every part, point, and 
feature of a particular breed of domes do fowls, 
I know, or at least I fancy I know, that he is not 
describing an ostrich, or a condor. It is true, 
he did not call the fowl Brahma, or give them 
any specific name. But not so with Dr. Hast¬ 
ings, who was well posted in such matters as I 
inferred from his introductory remarks ou poul¬ 
try. He Called the fowl he particularized 
‘‘Light Hindoo” and says: "They were bred 
with great care and exhibited by the vaisyas 
(merchants) in fauoy yum solas, (sandal wood 
coops). Some of the native breeders select 
places where the fowl can have free access to 
granite or white sand, with the view of giving 
their plumage a whiter appearance. Pure white 
fowls though sometimes seen, are very rare in 
India. Some castes worship them as the Bir- 
mins do the white elephant.' 
Mr. Miner olaims that the United States is the 
" fountain-head” of the Brahma breed. He has 
not advanced a point to show that they do not 
exist outside of this country only by 7tegution. 
Indeed, he Bays “ poultry breeders have earnest¬ 
ly sought to ascertain their native land hut in 
vain.” Pray, who were the breeders who sought 
to find out their native land ?" I venture to as¬ 
sert that many of the breeders he claasi les as 
such, never left their native States in search of 
the much desired information. 
Doubtless ere this, thousands of the Rural 
readers have asked themselves the conundrum, 
" How were the first pair bred ?” " Were they 
adult fowls when they came to New York. " They 
must have originated from a pair of the 
same breed, &c.” Now, it is a philosophical 
axiom, " that like produces like,” and if this is 
a fundamental law of nature, certainly Mr. 
Chamberlin's pair must have come from Asiatic 
fowl of the same or a similar kind ; surely they 
were not bred from the pelican or the fabled roc, 
and most assuredly, Mr. Miner is a disbeliever 
iu mythology, and would not venture to assert 
that they had sprung from the brain of some 
pre-historic mammalia. However, is it not re- 
sonable to suppose that the Brahma had a 
pedigree like other breeds ? And if they wer e 
the result of a cross, doubtless their original 
breeders would have taken advantage of the 
"cross,” and produce ‘‘ chips from the old 
block.” 
From my own personal knowledge of fowl 
breeding, having had over thirty years’experi¬ 
ence ; having bred most of the varieties now 
kuown in this country, and some which are not 
generally known to our poulterers ; from obser¬ 
vations during travel iu foreign lands; chit-chat 
with East India seamen, aud soldiers—and the 
familiar descriptions which came from the lips 
of my venerable father (who was well posted in 
poultry and who spent many years in India, 
and the adjacent Islands,) I am led to believe 
that American poultrvmen too fondly bug the 
delusion that the Brahma originated with 
them. 
Mr. Miner thinks that Captain Stuart had no 
pure bred Brahmas iu 1810, because it was not 
heralded throughout Christendom. Stuart had 
a pair of Asiatic fowl as pure,as true to color aud 
markings as any Light Brahmas of the United 
! States prior to 1852. They were known by the 
name “Light Indo,” and at the time they did 
not oause much curiosity, as the Gray Shanghai 
and Mal^y breeds were iu advance of them, some 
two years. Moreover, Soa Mount was an iso¬ 
lated country-seat near the Atlantic coast—awav 
from public travel, and at a distance from a 
newspaper ofiice. The Captain too waB an in¬ 
valid and, no doubt, oould not bestow proper at¬ 
tention on bis fowls, and if his intentions were 
to breed exclusively from his " Indo ’ fowl, he 
was unfortunately disappoined, for the cock was 
maimed by one of his ferrets, so as to render 
him useless. 
Sir Richard raised the first year some nice 
"Dark Iudo” fowl, but after a while they got 
mixed in with his Malays, and they lost most of 
their distinctive characteristics. But Mr. Miner 
says that " the Dark Brahmas originated with 
Mr . Burnham of ltoxbury. Mass., aud that there 
were no Dark Brahmas known before 1856.’ For 
the present I concede Mr. Burnham s claim as 
the first A merican breeder who prodneed Dark 
Brahmas. But I respectfully enter my solemn 
protest against his claim as being the original 
breeder of them. With all due respect to Mr. 
Burnham, of Melrose, Mass., I aver that there 
are scores of brooders throughout Asia, who 
could teach him or any of our " fanciers’ a les¬ 
son iu cross-breeding, aud iu breeding to color. 
It is questionable if Mr. Miner doubts that a 
people who have known and practiced artificial 
incubatiou, cramming, tlfcc., for upwards of two 
thousand years, aud who have bred and domesti¬ 
cated all "the beautiful varieties we now have, 
from the wild Oalius Bankioa , to the meek-eyed, 
giant Brahma, can yet be ignorant of the meth¬ 
od of producing a change of plumage without 
relatively changing the breed- 
Mr. Miner seems to have not much faith in 
the authorities I cited. He says, “ French cler¬ 
gymen. and British army officers, are not sup¬ 
posed to be good judges of any breed of poul¬ 
try.” This may be true iu general, but there 
are exceptional caseB. I consider them reliable, 
and evidently better informed on Asiatic breeds 
than most travelers. Proulz held the professor¬ 
ship of Natural History for several years, until 
his health compelled him to travel abroad, aud 
Hastings’ learned disquisitions on poultry, prove 
that he was " master of the situation.” 
ables the farmer to use any dry, concentrated 
fertilizer that may be thought desirable. This 
attachment gauges the discharge, and is also 
supplied with an agitator to prevent clogging. 
Finally the machine is made iu the best manner 
and is sold with a warranty. 
I regret that the work6 of these gentlemen are 
not in my possession. If they were I should 
send them to Mr. Miner with pleasure aud with¬ 
out pay. Proulz’s Travels was purchased some 
sixty years ago by my father at Brussels, and 
Hastings’ book I bought in Liverpool, in the 
spring of 1847. I prized these books, not alone 
for their remarkable descriptions Asiatic 
poultry, but also for their graphic accounts of 
the habits, customs, and religious rites of the 
Indo-Chinese race. I lost them, or at least had 
to abandou them with other things at ‘ * Lim- 
kius’ Mills,” some ten miles from Holly Springs, 
Miss., in tho winter of 1802. 
Industrial Jmjrlnnmts, 
TRUE’S POTATO PLANTER. 
A potato planter that has been growing stead¬ 
ily in favor of late, is used for illustration iu our 
columns of the present issue. It may be briefly 
described as au iron cylinder, which works as a 
hopper, resting on a frame. The bottom plate 
of this cylinder is made to revolve by the wheels 
acting on cogs. The plow under the hopper, 
opens a furrow, into which the seed iB dropped, 
and the coverers following, effectually cover it 
iu. The plow may be made to work at various 
depths, the coverers may be adjusted to work in 
unison. The drive wheels are constructed to 
work independently of each other, if thought de¬ 
sirable, and by means of a lover convenient to 
the operator’s hand, the machine is thrown in or 
out of gear. 
The important feature is the cylinder first 
mentioned. Into this are thrown the potatoes; 
about a bushel. They fall onto a revolving bot¬ 
tom which is indented with what are termed 
" seed boxes,” and these boxes pass in rotation 
over the knife. The knife is fixed, and bo placed 
relatively to the seed box. that the potato once in 
the box remains there until completely sliced and 
diopped into the furrow. The potatoes are cut 
somewhat like a wedge, that is, one end is thicker 
than the other. This is thought to be of advan¬ 
tage by some. The back part of the plow is open, 
and the operator has the satisfaction of seeing 
each piece drop, besides keepiug constantly in 
view the length of farrow from the plow to the 
coverers. This advantage insures precision of 
planting, and is moreover, wo believe, a feature 
peculiar to this implement. 
Gauge-rings exactly fitting the seed-boxes are 
supplied for modifying the amount of seed sown, 
or to regulate the even distribution when different 
sized tubers are used. The seed, by this neat 
device, may be planted nine, eighteen or thirty- 
six inches apart in the rows. The fertilizer at¬ 
tachment that accompanies each machine, en- 
Prejudice exists against preparing potatoes for i 
plantiug in any other than tho old way. Farmers 
seem to take a subjective view of the "eye” and 
become influenced by surface considerations. It 
has been shown by repeated tests with True s 
Planter that slice potatoes, not only are ef¬ 
fective, but actually strike oftener than hand 
cut potatoes. The yield per acre is always satis¬ 
factory when the season is propitious, and in 
cases of severe drought, the machine-planted 
seeds have proved the hardier growers. This is 
accounted for probably by the fact that the seed 
going into the ground charged with moisture 
has that great advantage over a hand-treated 
potato that has most likely dried out by mani¬ 
pulating processes. 
The advantage of a machine over hand plant¬ 
ing iu time is too obviouB for reference ; also its 
superior exactitude. 
One man with his horse can cut and plant six 
acres per day under ordinary circumstances, and 
the manufacturers of the machine Messrs. 
Nash & Bros., 7 College Place, New York city, 
in their warranty, grant the privilege of plant¬ 
ing five bushels before purchasing, as a test of 
the quality of its work. 
Perhaps we cannot do better than insert an 
extract from a correspondent, Mr. J D. Rue, 
Dutch Neck, N. J., who is a most conservative 
man and excellent farmer. It was some time 
before fle cared even to try mechanical appli¬ 
ances for plantiug his large potato crop, but he 
eventually used a True Planter. He wiites ; I 
was very much pleased with the manner iu which 
it (the planter), did its work in every particular- 
I oonsider the yield equally good when the 
Planter was used, as when planted by hand. If 
there is any difference it is in favor of the 
Planter- I gave each a fair trial, planting alter¬ 
nate Btrips through my field of eight rows 
each, aud measured the potatoes at digging time. 
I planted Peachblows, Peerless aud Early Uose. 
The land was heavily manured with com¬ 
mon barn-yard manure, plowed under.” We 
think this a very thorough test. The Planter 
may he seen in New York, or the manufacturers 
will send all required information on applica¬ 
tion. 
.--- *♦•*- - 
The Davis Sewing Machine Company, Wa¬ 
tertown, N- Y., is extending its business with as¬ 
tonishing rapidity. The plans and specifications 
for additions to the main buildings embrace two 
wings, 10x105 and 20x32. With increased facili¬ 
ties and steam-power, the company will be in a 
position to meet the growing demand for this 
very popular sewing-machine. The merits of 
the Davis are too pronounced to need praise, 
and as the machine combines entirely new feat¬ 
ures, it would he well worth the while of our 
readers t > see their circular. 
justice to the seed trade and the public, it ought 
to be stated that the Beeds tested were seeds sold 
on commission by grocers in the country.’ I 
hasten to make any aud all amends necessary in 
this respect. I supposed that buyers and dealers 
generally knew how this business was done. It 
is commonly understood in our section of coun¬ 
try. by buyers and sellers, that the grocers sell 
these seeds on commission. The boxes aro taken 
around early in spring and picked up late in 
summer, probably to be overhauled and sent the 
rounds again and again, year after year. The 
second firm hopes I will continue the experi¬ 
ments and give soma " reliable houses a trial.” 
I had but a limited time to devote to the sub¬ 
ject., and began where I had tho greatest suspi¬ 
cious of fiuding poor seeds. I intend, the coming 
season, to go quite largely into this testing busi¬ 
ness. At the Michigan Agricultural College 
we have tried many firms, East and West, aud 
thought we know of some which ranked high. 
The past season I purchased directly of one of 
these reliable seed dealers, East, in New York, 
small lota of all the kinds of grasses and clovers 
which they could furnish. The name of the firm 
I will omit for the present. The seeds were 
tested in the green-house with great care. They 
were placod between folds of coarse woolen 
paper, aud kept moist in a temperature of 56° 
to 70” Fahrenheit. At two different times, two 
lots of seeds were counted out, with fifty seeds 
in each let. They germinated as follows : 
HUsrdlaiuons. 
__ _ 
TESTING SEEDS OF GRASSES AND CLOVERS. 
PROFESSOR W. J. BEAL. 
This is delicate ground to tread upon, because 
it hurts somebody. Those who have bought 
seeds have been quietly (?) submitting, without 
a word; at least, many have bought poor seeds 
without finding fault. Buyers of seeds have 
some rights which should be respected. 
A letter from a New York seed dealer thanks 
me for my previous article on testing seeds, de¬ 
sires me to test their seeds, and says, " The arti¬ 
cle will do legitimate, square, honest trade only 
good, aud we thank yon for it." The letter goes 
on to say that " the fault with your Western 
houses is, that every thing must be cheap or 
people will not buy it. Good seeds aro worth 
good money. The commission box-trade iu seeds 
in this country cannot compare in quality with 
the goods of regular seed houses.” 
In reading what follows, the author of the 
above quotation will Bee that tho selling of poor 
seeds is not confined to Western houses which 
sell some seeds on commission. 
A letter from another Eastern seed dealer 
thinks tho article one of great interest, and says 
I have made " an important omission and, in 
Large Red Clover. .41 43 47 46; total 1T7. or 88.5 per ct. 
Medium Clover.... 4l> -U 48 43; 1*6, |( ». 
Bokhara. Clover....3 j>28 15 18; %, ,, 48. u 
Lallan Clover .« . 4 f $ vs- •' lit’ " TiJ *• 
Wtilte Clover. 44 42 42 40 : ?!?/.. Sr s » 
Alsike Olover...•*■*•40 87 3U ll , ui.a 
If good, the above should have averaged over 
90 per cent, of growing seeds. About 95 per 
cent, would be what might be expected of fresh 
seeds. The above averaged a trifle over 75 per 
cent., if I have figured correctly. Our gardener 
feared wo had not tested the seeds fairly. He 
tried seeds from the-same lots, by placiug them 
ou sand kept moist by placing the pans in shal¬ 
low water. Glass was placed over the pans (with 
some veutilation), which were kept at 50° to 65 . 
The result in this case was, that a trifle over 72 
per cent, germinated. 
I made similar tests of twenty-two species of 
grasM seeds. The tests were more extensive than 
iu the previous cases. At first we were not par¬ 
ticular to take each from the chaff, so as to 
know that we had as many seeds as there appeal¬ 
ed to he. 
I have saved seeds of many kinds of grasses 
grown on the college grounds. Two years ago 
last summer I saved some, and three years ago I 
saved some. They have been tumbled about 
and kept in four different places, sumo of the 
time in a damp basement. I did not suppose 
they were good seeds, but they were the best I 
had on hand. With such seeds I have tried 
some of those taken from the lot above used, 
giving each the same clnuice. To he sure of tho 
seeds, I shelled out a lot of fifty each with my 
own hands aud eyes, assisted by a stage micro- 
8C °I )e ‘ Grew. Pr ct. 
SchriBder’s Bromus. Eastern seeds..-.... 33 U 
Sheep’s Fescue. £ Vi 
Ky. Blue Grass, Eastern seeds» 
.. - Old Colicve seeds... 14 *8 
five Grass. Kastsra seods....... J I® 
KjrcurasB, Old Oollvse seeds... 37 ‘4 
Meadow Fescue. 46 92 
Orchard Grass, fr 82 
It will be seen that in every case the old col¬ 
lege seeds spoken of were much the best. On 
the average, 74 per cent, germinated, while of 
the Eastern Boeds only 26% per cent, gemi¬ 
nated. Remember that weak, old seeds produce 
weak plants. 
Perhaps these tests of grass seeds will set some 
people to thinking. They may have wondered 
why they did not find all the varieties in the lawn 
where the seeds were sown. Kentucky Blue Grass 
or June Grass is ever present in our soil, and 
ready to grow and Hpread rapidly. It is onr best 
lawn grass, and by its rapid growth has soon cov¬ 
ered tho laud, and doubtless also covered up the 
deception of some seed dealors. 
Agricultural College Seminary, Mich. 
NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL CONGRESS. 
The National Agricultural Congress, which 
originated iu 1841, and was then kuown as the 
Agricultural Society of the United States, am 
which was subsequently reorganized in 1857, 
1 and thou resuscitated in 1870, convened in Wash- 
L ington, D. C., Fob. 18, 1878. The Society had 
• held annual meetings since 1870 in various pan® 
L of the United States, and its members aro ooui- 
i posed of persons interested in agriculture an 
agricultural education, residing in nearly ever) 
State aud Territory. Dolcgates were present 
, from nearly all of the States and several of Uri 
Territories. Mr. W. 0. Flago, the President for 
l three years past, being detained at home by i 
ness, provided an interesting address, which wh 
• read before the Congress. The address oontaiu- 
, ed a brief sketch of agricultural societies whic 
l had been organized in this country, other .h 
