layers: some claim they are the most prolific 
layers of all. I once had a fine flock, but lost 
the stock principally for want of new blood; 
a loss I always regretted. Their plumage was 
brilliantly illuminated with a fine green and 
purple sheen. 
Andalusians are very unique and peculiar¬ 
looking as to color, being of a drabbish gray. 
They resemble the Spanish in character, but 
in constitution I do not think they hold their 
own as well, and they are very unreliable as 
regards breeding to feather; only a few come 
up to a fair average uniformity. This keeps 
them from being a popular variety; those that 
do come up to color, however, are very neat 
and attractive birds, always admired. 
Polish fowls are a distinct class. All have 
large top-knots and some have beards. This is 
another ancient breed, showing many pecu¬ 
liarities of color, White and Black, with 
white top-knots, Golden-Spangled, Silver- 
Spangled. and others. Crested fowls have 
been known as long as any, and are frequent¬ 
ly seen in ardent paintiugs, aud the birds we 
now call Polish are simply bred from those 
having the finest crests. This has produced a 
perfection in this line that astonishes one who, 
for the first time, observes them iu onr poultry 
exhibitions. They are remarkable for ele¬ 
gance, especially the White-Crested Black, 
and Golden-Spangled. Few birds possess their 
beauty aud usefulness, more particularly fora 
small suburban town where the hawks are 
not likely to approach them, and where dogs 
are nob allowed free use of the premises. They 
are good layers, thrive in close quarters, and 
are very gentle. Without having seen them, 
it is not easy to imagine the effect of a fine lot 
of either of the last two varieties on a neat, 
greensward. They are of no use as farm 
fowls; as they cannot see upward or back¬ 
ward, a person can walk gently up to them 
from behind, and lift them up, so they would 
easily become a prey to dogs or hawks, 
and the birds actually seem to be aware of 
their defenceless condition. I have kept them 
with other fowls on a farm and have had 
them follow 7 me around as if asking protec¬ 
tion. I have also known them to stray away 
when frightened, and not be able to find their 
way back again, They require very low 
perches, arranged to just clear their heads 
when walking under them. They are non-sit¬ 
ters. 
I am not giving a full description of the ap¬ 
pearance or characteristics of any of the 
breeds further than is necessary to identify 
them aud to give a general knowledge of their 
peculiarities. Much more might be said on 
the head of Polish fowls; but I will mere¬ 
ly say that, from the peculiar form of the 
skull, they are easily hurt on the head, and 
sometimes die from what appears- a kind of 
staggers, which all top-knotted birds are sub¬ 
jected to. With these drawbacks, they are 
birds that afford much pleasure aud interest 
under favoring circumstances. 
HENRY HALES. 
CHICKS WITHOUT A MOTHER. 
I owe it to A. B. C. Salmon to state that 
after reading bis article in the R. N.-Y. of 
July 21, 18S3, I smoothed the “hoary hairs 
that my temples adorn/’ and set about in¬ 
ducing a bevy of young chickens to try life 
“ without a mother.” They found it emi¬ 
nently satisfactory and pleasant,. The season 
being advanced, I brought their coops into 
the garden, where they had a fine range, and 
succeeded in growing rapidly and making 
themselves disagreeable to every one but their 
fond mistress. 
Mr. Coles's comments on this procedure I 
will not repeat, for although delivered with 
eloquence and energy, they would not look well 
in print. .Now, it was a never-failing souice 
of delight to me to watch the unceasing ardor 
with which, when not feeding from my 
friendly hands, those happy young orphans 
pursued the late and early worm, and inves¬ 
tigated the mysteries of the entomological 
world; but 1 grieve to say I've heard Mr. 
Coles berate “those confounded cockerels” 
upon finding them scratching between bis pet 
row's of celery and other late vegetables. 
However, they grew, and grew, and grew 7 ! 
and I nourished a fond hope tuat I would 
realize enough money from their sale to buy 
me at least a wig. 
I was not disappointed; I have at this pres¬ 
ent moment a suug little sum in my purse to 
be used as Mrs. Wager-Fisher so wisely ad¬ 
vised in one of her charming letters, the very 
first time I go to New York. 
I shall follow Mr. Salmon's plan with my 
chickens tins year, as 1 am perfectly con¬ 
vinced of its good sense and practicability; 
not in the garden, though, but in some lone 
secluded spot “ far from the madding crowd 
and busy haunts of man,” I shall feed my 
chicks in peace. mary martin coles. 
THE RURAL WEW-YORKER. APRIL 2 
<l\ } c IjecDsman. 
FEEDING AND FATTENING SYSTEM¬ 
ATICALLY. 
JONATHAN FERIAM. 
Systems of feeding must, of course, vary 
greatly with the locality; the variety of foods 
used will be governed by quality and price; 
those costing least money, if of equal value, 
will have the preference. Ooe proposition 
should commend itself to everybody in all 
localities alike—never to allow an animal to 
get poor in Winter or Summer, and especially 
is this important if it is designed for fatten¬ 
ing. It seems too plain to be doubted that 
just iu proportion to the loss of flesh in Win¬ 
ter, will the animal be reduced in value; it 
must be brought back to a thriving condition 
equal to that before shrinking before any 
profit can be made. 
How many farmers act upon this self-evi¬ 
dent truth, eveu in the great grain-producing 
regions of the United States? Those who do 
are mostly those who make stock their pri¬ 
mary industry. It should commend itself 
equally to those who make the selling of grain 
their principal means of profit; these of all 
farmers, should have a surplus of grain. 
There can be but one reason why so many of 
this class starve their stock in Winter—they do 
not reflect that a certain portion of food given 
goes to supply the daily animal waste, and 
they “cannot afford” to take journals de¬ 
voted to their interests, from w 7 hich they 
might learn. 
*** 
The stock breeder and feeder is more a 
reader of papers devoted to his calling, and 
also a reader of books upon live stock. He is 
not afraid they will conflict with what his 
father knew 7 “ about farming.’’ He rather 
hopes they will; what his father knew has 
been pretty well drilled into him, and he 
wants to know something more. 
Forty years ago it was the almost universal 
practice to allow all, except fattening stock, 
to shift for themselves in Winter with a little 
hay and an occasional nubbin. There was more 
reason for it then than now, when cheap 
transportation carries feed (grain, mill stuff, 
bran, etc.) a thousand miles at a slight ad¬ 
vance upon its cost where grow 7 n. Thus the 
East has profited by the settlement of the 
West owing to the cheap freight. Many 
Eastern farmers have, indeed, been obliged 
to change or at least to modify their culti¬ 
vated crops; but not to the lessening of their 
profits. When the value of the manure is 
considered, there is money iu feeding in the 
East. There cattle and sheep bring more per 
pound than stock shipped from the West. 
The lower freightage on stoek. and the 
manure Lave been held by intelligent feeders 
to compensate for the increased cost of feeding. 
*** 
The general farmer cannot too soon learn 
from the best stock feeders, if he will not from 
first-class agricultural journals, lessons in the 
science —yes, science —of feeding. The feeder 
who never lets his stock fall off in condition, 
always has something fat to sell. He buys 
cattle raised by the men who do not Itelievein 
books, or papers, or, at least, who will not 
profit by their teachings. These cattle, thin in 
flesh, hut with frames capable of being filled 
up with good meat, he buys at two or three 
cents less per pound than if they were fat. For 
instance, he buys a steer weighing 1,000 
pounds at the Chicago stock yards for four 
cents per pound, £40. He puts on 300 pounds 
of flesh, largely fat, and sells the same steer for 
six or seven cents per pound, or £78 to£111. He 
has not only increased the price by what he 
put on, but has enhanced the price of the 
original carcass by two or three cents per 
pound. Facts are none the less valuable be¬ 
cause they happen to be written facts. On 
the other hand, there is great danger in the 
opposite extreme, stock taken from a fresh 
pasture or from the straw-yard cannot eat and 
digest so perfectly as to assimilate all the 
value of large rations of grain; they must be 
accustomed to the change gradually, and their 
stomachs must be kept extended by some 
coarse feed. The feeder who has learned his 
business understands this. The man who 
doesn’t, and “who doesn’t take much stock in 
book larnin’ anyway," if he ever gets the idea 
that there is money in good feeding, generally 
rushes off in this extreme, stuffs his stock to 
repletion, causing indigestion, scours, or some 
other trouble. Oh, yes, he learns a lesson! and 
too often becomes fixed in the belief that there 
is no money in “fattening on grain.” “Hain’t 
he tried it.” Yes! but if he had read more, he 
would have known better how to feed, and 
would have made money. 
no cabbage for milch cows. 
After reading Mr. Ferris’s excellent prize 
essay on butter-making in the Rural of March 
21 ), I imist disagree with him on one point, as 
the result of some experiments of mine. He 
intimates that cabbage is good food for milch 
cows. As the odor of the food consumed by a 
milch cow sensibly affects her milk, I would 
entirely exclude cabbages ami turnips from 
her bill ot'J'are. Butter salted with half an 
ounce of salt to the pound of butter, and made 
from cream gathered before it has become 
sour, from the milk of cows fed on cabbages, 
would not meet with ready sale either iu town 
or city markets, according to my experience. 
I would churn the cream when slightly sour, 
and use more salt. MRS. s. b. douglass. 
Ontario Co., N. Y. 
T. H. HOSKINS, M. D. 
Rural , March 15. — Thanks for the hand¬ 
some picture of Mr. Berckmans, of Georgia, 
which Dr. Hexamer truly says in the Garden, 
is “as superior to ordinary newspaper portraits 
as cream is to skim-milk.’’ Your proposed ser¬ 
ies of these portraits is what I have long 
hoped for. Like all your readers, i want to 
see the faces of our leaders in good works. I 
suggest Dr. Hexamer himself, as another 
adopted fellow-citizen whose face it would 
give us pleasure to look at.—[A good sugges¬ 
tion.— Eds.] _ _ 
Mr. Johnson discusses, on p. 162, a new de¬ 
parture in the location of orchards iu Illinois 
—that they should hereafter he planted in low 
spots rather than on the ridges. My experi¬ 
ence is that even in orchards among the hills 
of Vermont, the best and most productive 
trees stand in, or close to, the hollows and de¬ 
pressions; and good reason, too, for there the 
soil is richest and least dry, as Mr. Johnson 
observes. _ 
L. E. B.’s observations (p. 162) upon the 
Early Richmond Cherry in Iowa, coincide 
with mine in Northern Vermont. The Lieb 
Cherry seems to be very promising here. I 
have tried in vain to get the Ostbeim. The 
Large Montmorency seems hardy, but my 
single specimen grows very slowly. The 
quality of the Lieb is quite good. 
The Rural’8 potato experiments are a 
very valuable contribution to our knowledge 
of varieties and of culture. Do any of the 
Rural neighbors get as good yields as some of 
those reported. 806 bushels to the acre ? I once 
grew the Harrison at the rate of a bushel to 
ten hills, or about 700 bushels to the acre, hut 
hardly dared to tell of it. [And we have felt, 
time and time again, that our reports of such 
immense yields would not be credited. We 
have often felt that it would be better for the 
Rural’s good name not to print them. It 
should, however, be borne in mind that the 
soil is rich, and that the best cultivation and 
care are given. It must also be borne in mind 
that nearly every seed piece grows and forms 
a hill, while if there are failures these are 
never counted. We reckon each hill as 1-14, 
520th of an acre. The yield is al ways weighed 
in the most careful manner on scales that will 
weigh a quarter ounce, and 60 pounds are al¬ 
lowed to the bushel.— Eds.] 
Yes, the Rural did tell us to sell our pota¬ 
toes last Fall, (p. 163) hut why did It not tell 
the buyers to buy them t They stopped here 
before half the crop was dug. To the ques¬ 
tion, How much are they worth to feed i 1 say 
20 to 25 cents a bushel, but we cannot afford 
to sell them off the farm for less than 40 cents, 
with but a small profit at that, all things con¬ 
sidered. _ 
I believe every word that “Veritas” says 
(p. 164) about the wine-makers he visited; but 
I do not agree with his conclusions. When 
people drink wine they want something that 
tastes “good” and will properly exhilarate. It 
flatters their imagination to believe it to be 
the "pure juice of the grape;” but if they 
have common sense they can make the same 
figures thaf “Veritas” makes, and know that 
60-cent wine cannot be pure. Mr. W.’s wine 
has nothiug unwholesome in it, that is not iu 
any wine—the alcohol. 1 have always held 
that in the worst adulterated drinks the alco¬ 
hol was the most harmful ingredient. But 
people who buy wine want alcohol. It in¬ 
jures them more or less, even in small quanti¬ 
ties, but so do tea, coffee, tobacco, and all the 
nervine drugs. The future harm is discount¬ 
ed for the sake of the immediate nervous thrill 
which is so pleasing. So man is made! 
You say ip. 164) Mr. Hovey “justly” insists 
that Black-caps should be called Thimbleber- 
ries. What is the objection to the uames they 
go by now,—Black-caps, or Black-raspberries? 
“Tbimbleberry” is not so descriptive, and it 
is vain to hope to make it general, being only a 
local (New England) word. [Gray gives Thim- 
bleberry also.— Eds.] 
The editorial (p 168) on Bogus Butter Again 
will attract much attention. I thiuk the true 
method of denliug with what may be called 
imitation food products bas not yet been 
reached. The makers of the genuine goods 
have been too “mad” with the counterfeiters 
to be sensible or just. That these goods are 
inferior l's true; that they are all unwhole¬ 
some, or that it is a sin or a crime to make 
them and sell them, when not injurious to 
the consumer, is not true. The onslaughts 
made upon glucose sirup, fictitious butters, 
and lard skim-cheese have had a serious ele¬ 
ment of injustice in them. Being outlawed, 
as it were, it has been considered no harm to 
lie about them. Their manufacture should be 
regulated, and they should behold for just 
what they are. As for me, knowing, as I be¬ 
lieve I do, all the facts in the case, I bad far 
rather use a good oleomargarine than dung 
butter; a well-made glucose sirup than aver¬ 
age West India or New Orleans molasses, and 
lard skim-cheese made by an expert than 
many a nasty full-milk cheese into which, as 
Harris Lewis once said, the maker did not 
mix enough milk with the dung to make good 
cheese. 
Your experimental notes on corn and pota¬ 
toes (page 182) are interesting and worth study. 
You make the Rural Farm of great value to 
your readers. 
Mr. Henry Stewart’s estimate (page 184) 
of the cost of milk to the dairyman (5% cents 
a quart) is enough to scare a common farmer 
to death. That is about 60 cents a pouud for 
butter before the milk is even set for cream! 
A great many farmers have got comfortably 
well off ou less than half of that, after the 
added cost of manufacture aud sale. Such 
figures make swill milk and oleomargarine 
absolute necessities of life for three-quarters 
of the people. It is not true, and it is mighty 
bad policy to say it, even if it were. Better 
quietly give up the business. 
The Rural is right (page 188) iu wanting 
us to go slow on ensilage, or any other novelty. 
An agricultural journal has no business 
“booming” untried things. Experience will 
show us just* the place aud the value of ensi¬ 
lage, and it is good advice to let the biggest 
boys get in aud swing first. But. don’t, Mr. 
Editor, give it a bad name until all the returns 
are in. 
[We admit the note referred to was too 
positive. We were thinking of such men as 
Dr. Bailey when it was written.— Eds.] 
Rural April 5. That is a “ buncombe good 
barn” that won the Rural’s first prize. I 
have been across Indiana a number of times, 
but never saw so good a barn there as Mr. 
Lindley’s. Hamilton is a fine county, and has 
good farmers in it evidently, if a “ lazy man ” 
among them sports such a barn as that. 
“ Unaided cold air is a good egg preserva¬ 
tive.” says Professor Muncy on page 215. The 
best, 1 am sure. Sound, clean eggs in baskets 
keep well in any deep, cool cellar as long as 
we have occasion to keep them—frequently 
six months, or more. 
Orleans Co., Vt, 
THE POSSIBILITIES OF ALFALFA. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
There is no doubt that where Alfalfa will 
do well it is superior to clover. It will make 
a larger growth aud It grows much faster. In 
California it is grown extensively for hay as 
well as for pasture. It is a common thing 
there to take off three or four crops iu a year 
where it is grown for hay. Three crops may 
be taken off iu our shorter seasons, if the 
ground is very rich. The roots strike down 
into the soil much deeper than those of clover, 
and this is why it is better adapted to dry re¬ 
gions, like California. Near Sacramento in a 
bank where the earth had been dug away, I 
have seen the roots extending eight or ten 
feet into the ground. With such long roots 
reaching down to moisture, Alfalfa seems to 
defy drought, and.this peculiarity gives it a 
special advantage over other forage plants. 
A number of years ago a lurge patch was 
grown at New York Mills for feeding to the 
stock, green, aud Mr. Gibson, the foreman, 
thought well of it. He said, it was not so 
washy as corn-stalks or clover, and produced 
a great deal, more than clover. The greatest 
difficulty with it was that weeds would run it 
out after it was well seeded. Mr. Gibson’s ex¬ 
perience was that the laud must be kept clean 
The experiment at New York Hills Is the only 
