THE RURAL 
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L 
6 
WEW-V 
In the open-shed method of my boyhood s days, 
more or less sheep were lost during winter and 
spring by negligence on the part of the ilock- 
master as I now think—in not properly car¬ 
ing for his flock; and my own early experience 
was like that of my neighbors who miscared 
for their flocks in this way. After a short ex¬ 
perience of such mishaps, however, hoping to 
improve my flock, aud thereby my own means, 
I used for their benefit a part of an old cow¬ 
house, by boarding it up and putting in racks 
and mangers for their use, aud iu that place 
they were kept and fed during the winter on 
all stormy days and also daring the nights. 
This improvised stable was well ventilated, 
and as a result of its protection, the sheep 
came out fit for the butcher in the spring, 
having beeu fed a light ration ol coru, or corn 
and oats, daily. In view of the lesson then 
learned, from that time to the present I have 
considered protection from all storms in fall, 
winter and spring to be one of the requisites 
of good sheep husbandry, and that sheep so 
housed and fed will pay as well for such care 
and feed as any other farm stock—and I think 
even better. By the old method of treatment 
very many lambs were lost iu the spring, that 
might have been saved had the sheep had 
proper care aud feed during the winter previ¬ 
ous. My present method is to house my sheep 
from all storms in fall, winter and spring; to 
feed a daily ration of grain from the time the 
animals go into winter-quarters till they are 
again accustomed to the grass in the spring- 
grass that lias sufficient nutriment in it to keep 
them gaining. I have now in my flock sheep 
that reared twins last winter and spring, and 1 
think them fatter than most fat sheep that go 
to the butcher. The lambs were sold for early 
market lambs. 
Many farmers are afraid to have their sheep 
get too fat, some saying that a fat sheep is not 
good to breed from, and that if a sheep once 
gets fat it should be sold to the butcher, as it 
will never get so fat agaiu. From actual ex¬ 
perience 1 know that this theory is unsound. 
Iu my Dock the ram is allowed to run with the 
sheep, and the lambs come early. Having a 
warm place for my sheep, I have been very 
successful with them and their lambs ever 
since I adopted the rule to keep them out of 
all storms iu fall, winter and spring, aud to 
feed daily to each a small ration of corn, or 
corn aud oats mixed; say, from one gill to 
begin with, to half a pint or more when once 
established in their wintei-quarters. My sheep 
are Cotswold and Merino, aud these I think a* 
profitable a sort as the commou farmer can 
have for mutton and wool combined. 
If, impelled by the results of any actual ex¬ 
perience related briefly iu this letter, any llock- 
owner, iu deciding the question asked at the 
head of it, shall come to the conclusion to give 
his sheep protection from all storms in fall, 
winter and spring, and to give them liberal 
feeding, if they have not had it before, I am 
fully convinced, from my own experience, that 
he will not again return to the old practice of 
letting his sheep seek their own shelter wher¬ 
ever they can find a semblance of it; nor will 
he stint them in their rations enough to pre¬ 
vent them from always being in a thriving 
condition. 
®jj£ jiMiw-lfrl)', 
HISTORY OF SWINE THE NATIONAL 
CONVENTION. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
Previous to 187:3 there was no established 
standard of characteristics for the different 
breeds and families of American swiue. Differ¬ 
ent breeders hud standards of their own, or 
else bred pigs without any standard, and the 
same breeds, identical in most respects, were 
known by different names: thus, the hogs now 
known as the Poland China were called the 
Magie, (M. Magic being a leading breeder of 
them), and also as the Butler County, Warren 
County, Big China and Poland China. Chester 
White Hogs were bred with lop ears aud 
straight ears, llogs of all forms were called 
Cheshire, aud grade pigs of English breeds 
were sold as thoroughbreds. 
For some years a necessity for a better order 
of things, both in swine literature and in the 
breeding of swine, had been discussed; but 
the matter did not take any definite form un¬ 
til the writer of this article read an address 
before the Farmers’ Club of the American In¬ 
stitute iu New York, setting forth the import- 
auee of action iu establishing, in an authorita¬ 
tive manner, the origin, history, and character¬ 
istics of the different breeds of swiue in Amer¬ 
ica, urging that a national convention be called 
of the swine breeders of America and Cauada, 
to settle all of these questions and to take 
such other action us they might deem best. 
The resolution was adopted aud such a con¬ 
vention was called to meet at the Cooper In¬ 
stitute, New York, May 14, 1873. The time 
which intervened between the call and the day 
selected, proved to be too short, and go little 
opportunity was given for makiug known the 
objects of the convention that when it assem¬ 
bled, it was found that there was no represen¬ 
tation from the West, where there was the 
largest pecuniary interest connected with 
swine. 
The convention, therefore, iu order to secure 
an active co-operation from swine breeders 
generally, aud especially in the West, decided 
to adjourn to a more central point and to 
appoint a committee to make all needful ar¬ 
rangements, both in regard to time and place. 
The new committee consisted of F. D. Curtis, 
M. C. Weld, Henry Stewart and L. A. Chase. 
This committee chose Chas. D. Bragdou, of 
the Rural New-Yorker, as secretary, and 
selected Indianapolis, Iud., as the suitable 
place for the uext convention, aud the time 
November 20, 1872. This committee were also 
instructed to designate the order of represen¬ 
tation for the delegates to the next convention 
which, they decided should consist of oue dele¬ 
gate at large from each State, aud one delegate 
from each State for eaeh breed of swine raised 
thereiu. These delegates were to be selected 
by the swiue breeders’ associations where 
there were any such, or by the proper officers 
or members of the State Agricultural Societies, 
or State Boards iu connection with the swiue 
breeders of the respective States. Great pains 
wore taken to secure a full and just represen¬ 
tation of this groat interest from the whole 
country. The committee also wereempowered 
to select a committee to compare reports upon 
the history, characteristics aud a scale of 
points of the different breeds and families of 
swine, and upou the question, “What consti¬ 
tutes thoroughbred swine ?” 
The committees upon the different breeds 
were selected from names furnished and 
recommended by prominent swine breeders, 
in the different States aud Canada. Iu most 
instances, the committee thus selected, for¬ 
warded reports to the Indianapolis convention, 
aud where they failed to do so, that conven¬ 
tion selected other committees to perform the 
work. Alexander Heron, Secretary of State 
Board of Agriculture of Indiana, at Indianap¬ 
olis, was requested to receive the various re¬ 
ports prior to the convention, and to make the 
necessary arrangements, which services he 
faithfully performed. As the convention was 
to be a delegated and also a legislative body, 
the committee, in their circular announcing 
their programme, and the committees on breeds 
urged the swine breeders to select the most 
intelligent and Impartial ones of their number 
to attend the convention, and thus help to 
inaugurate a uew era iu the breeding aud im¬ 
provement of swine. 
When the convention met it was found that 
nearly all of the committees had prepared full 
and complete reports, which, with some modi¬ 
fications, were adopted, aud the action of this 
convention, so fully and fairly represented, 
has been accepted as conclusive, and has be¬ 
come authority on the questions and histories 
involved. 
®ljf lloulfrj g ari), 
ORIGIN OF DOMESTIC POULTRY. 
IlEN-RY HALES. 
Not much need be said of the ancient his¬ 
tory of poultry; enough is well known to 
show that the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and 
all the earliest nations were acquainted with 
and kept poultry, even when their superstition 
or religion forbade the eating of them, as it is 
6 aid of the ancient Britons. In early pictures 
of poultry, many of the peculiarities of our 
modern breeds are seen both as to colors, top¬ 
knots, shapes and sizes. 
It is only within the last, comparatively, few 
years that fowls have received a share of the 
attention that had for a long time previously 
beeu given to the improvement of other live 
stock. Since then, however, careful breeders 
have developed the original shirts, or varia¬ 
tions, into what are now knowu as distinct 
breeds. The great change brought about with¬ 
in the memory of the present generation, is 
enough to show that much more may have 
been done duriug past ages by food, climate, 
local in-breeding, or selection by the caprice 
ot man. 
IIow ofteu has the question been discussed 
concerning the plurality or singularity of the 
origin of our domestic animals, including 
poultry. Some will say of the stately Dork¬ 
ing or Brahma, “Is it possible that such mon¬ 
strous birds can claim the same ancestry as 
the diminutive Bantam ? Or, can the heavy, 
the neat, eleau, close-feathered Game, or as 
the Silky, with its odd covering and dark 
skin ?” To answer this question, let us look a 
little further into the laws of nature, as we ob¬ 
serve them. Every species of birds or ani¬ 
mals has its peculiar voice, song, call or cry, 
that distinguishes it from all other species. 
There is no mingling or jumbling together of 
sounds. This is strikingly shown in all the 
feathered kingdom. The voice of every little 
bird is wholly its own Among the few small 
birds that visit both the American Continent 
and Europe from the far north, such as the 
Snow Bunting aud Lesser Red pole, the rolling 
note of the former is precisely the same, whe¬ 
ther heard in New Jersey, Scotland, or Siberia. 
With poultry it is just the same. I have 
listened to the notes of fowls from India, 
China, Japau, Spain, and Italy : all cluck just 
alike to their chicks ; call them by one note: 
give the same notes of alarm, prate the same, 
aud all give the same crowning crow. Al¬ 
though bred apart for so many ages that no 
oue can even guess the time when they first 
sprung from a common source, yet their uotes 
are precisely identical, varying only with the 
size of the fowls—the larger the bird, the 
longer and more sonorous the crow. There 
are some slight variations to the rale, as some 
breeds are more inclined to deeper tones than 
others, and active breeds are more noisy than 
the more sedate sorts. Yet size is the controll¬ 
ing rule—the larger the Asiatics are bred, the 
longer their crow, this getting shorter till wo 
come to the quick, shrill crow of the Bantam. 
Some aoug birds have the power of imitation 
so as to change their songs; our canaries 
can be taught other birds’ notes. Their 
natural “call,” however, is always the same. 
This would seem to show that all poultry have 
the same common origin, all descending from 
one species. If thousands of years of separa¬ 
tion, all kinds of climates, food and breeding, 
do not change their notes, does it not seem to 
point to such a single original source? 
In accounts given by many naturalists, only 
one wild species is known that has the crow of 
the domestic cock, namely the Gallus Banki- 
va. It has a wide territorial distribution, from 
the Himalayas to Burrnah, the Malay Penin¬ 
sula, India, China, and the Phillipine Islands. 
Mr. Darwin, in his “ Variation of Animals and 
Plants under Domestication,” says: “This 
species varies considerably in the wild state,” 
and goes on to show various colors observed 
in different countries, especially in the hackle; 
but these mostly resemble the colors of the 
Black-breasted Red Game; and it is well known 
to breeders that all our varieties of fowls of this 
color have single combs, except Pea-combed 
Partridge Cochins. There are several other 
wild species of fowls, but with characteristics 
further removed from the domestic fowls, and 
with different voices. These produce only 
"mules,” when crossed with the tame fowls, 
while Gallus Batikiva breeds freely with them, 
and ii.tle difference can be distinguished be¬ 
tween them and the Games as ordinarily' bred. 
While most naturalists ia India settle on 
Gallus Banlciva as the parent of the Game 
fowls, and, perhaps, of all oar domestic breeds, 
yet sufficient force is not given to the uner¬ 
ring voice in deciding this question. As I have 
before said, if one voice is the property of only' 
one species, as we notice in other birds, then 
all fowls are descended from one origin. 
$ ontological, 
WINTER NELIS PEAR. 
Continuing our sketches from nature of the 
best fruits in cultivation, we uow present the 
Winter Nelis pear. In 1832 it was spoken of 
in the Pomologieal Magazine as follows :— 
“An excellent winter pear, iu perfection iu 
December and January, origlually raised by 
M. Nelis of Mecklin. (Belgium) iu honor of 
whom it was named- It bears pretty well; 
the fruit is of high quality, and is expected to 
become a favorite of the dessert. Skin yellow¬ 
ish, sometimes nearly covered with russet- 
brown ; flesh yellowish, melting, buttery, 
juicy, very rich and high flavored.” 
Mr. Thomas’s description of this fine pear 
(see American Fruit Culturist, p. 391) in 1875, 
docs not differ materially from the above. He 
says: "Flesh yellowish-white, fine-grained, 
buttery, very melting, rich, sweet or slightly 
viuous, perfumed, aromatic, with an excellent 
flavor.” 
According to the best information we can 
gather, Winter Nelis thrives best iu the follow¬ 
ing States: New York. Michigan, Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, California, and 
moderately well in New Hampshire, Vermont, 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Ontario, Wiscon¬ 
sin, Oregon, Mary laud, Virginia, Indiana, Illi¬ 
nois, Missouri, Utah, South Carolina, Georgia. 
Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. It is 
to-day ranked as one of our very best winter 
pears for family use. It is of medium size as 
shown in the engraving of a half section. The 
treeia of straggling growth and with us the top 
of the branches bend over at least 25 degrees 
towards the north. We know notkiug of this 
fruit from experience, our only tree having 
borne the past season for the first. The pears 
were small and failed to ripen. We do not learn 
that it succeeds anywhere iu New Jersey 
that these comments will not influence persons 
WINTER NELIS—SECTION. 
WINTER NELIS PEAR. 
trousered Cochin claim the same parentage as 
