84 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
March, 
country, as the 11 Golden Top-knot/? and “ Pheasant 
Top-knot.” Some accounts represent it to have been 
produced by a cross of the English pheasant with the 
Black Poland fowl. “ The general color is golden or 
orange-yellow, each feather having a glossy dark brown 
or black tip (not white,) particularly remarkable on 
the hackles of the cock, and the wing coverts, and also 
on the darker feathers of the breast. The female is 
yellow or orange-brown, the feathers in like manner 
being margined with black. Birds thus colored are call¬ 
ed golden spangled , but there is also a silver spangled 
variety, differing in the ground color of the plumage, 
being of a silvery white, with perhaps a tinge of 
straw-yellow, every feather being margined with a se¬ 
mi-lunar mark of glossy black. Both varieties are ex¬ 
tremely beautiful, and the hens lay freely. First-rate 
birds command a high price, and the same observation 
applies to the spangled Poland.’ 7 
34 —THE SPANISH FOWL. 
The Spanish Fowl. —Of this excellent and beauti¬ 
ful variety, (fig. 34,) there have been but few speci¬ 
mens introduced to this country ; and as we have not 
sufficient acquaintance with it to justify us in giving a 
particular description, we copy, entire, that of Mr. 
Martin, who appears to hold the bleed in high estima¬ 
tion. 
u Like the Black Poland, this breed is clad in glossy 
sable plumage, but is not crested with a top-knot,* on 
the contrary, the comb is remarkably large, single, and 
often pendant on one side,* the wattles are extremely 
developed, and the skin below the ear on each cheek is 
white , contrasting strongly with the scarlet of the comb 
and wattles, and the glossy black of the plumage. The 
cock is a noble and stately bird, remarkable for size 
and height,* it is in fact, superior in stature to all our 
domestic races, if we except the Kulm, or Malay fowl, 
and at the same time it possesses excellent symmetry. 
The hen is also of large size and good figure. Brought 
originally, as it is believed, from Spain, this breed is 
nevertheless very liai'dy, and is reared as easily as any 
of inferior importance. To those who breed fowds for 
the sake of the flesh and eggs, this fine variety cannot 
be too strongly recommended. The flesh is delicately 
white, tender, and juicy, and the hens are free layers. 
Some persons complain that the hens ai*e far better lay¬ 
ers than sitters. Better layers are none, but we cannot 
say that we subscribe to this complaint,* indeed, a 
breeder of these fowls, for his own use, in the neigh¬ 
borhood of the writer, affirms that the hens made ex¬ 
cellent sitters and nurses, and he has had many years 7 
experience respecting them. The eggs are of very 
large size, and of first-rate flavor. 
" Inferior cross-breeds of this Spanish variety are ve¬ 
ry often to be seenj but such are not worth keeping. 
Let the pure strain only be adopted; it may be preser¬ 
ved from degenerating by the occasional introduction 
of males of the same race, and up to the mark in eve¬ 
ry point, which have descended by a collateral branch 
from the same root, and which have therefore, only a 
remote connexion with the stock to which they are ad¬ 
mitted. It is thus that breeders may often benefit each 
other by mutual exchanges.” 
£S)e f)ortkuitural ID^partnuent 
CONDUCTED BY J. J. THOMAS. 
Laying out Curved Walks. 
Since the attention of men of taste in our country, 
has been more directed to an improved style of laying 
out grounds,—and particularly in the rejection of stiff 
lines and straight walks, and in the adoption of pleas¬ 
ing curves,—the want of an easy and certain mode of 
reducing plants to practice, and of staking out any de¬ 
sired curves upon the ground, has been much felt by 
the inexperienced. We therefore lay a very simple 
mode for this purpose before our readers.. 
Take a ten-foot pole (or of any other convenient 
length) and place it upon the ground in the direction of 
the commencement of the intended walk, shown in the 
annexed figure by the line A. B. Then measuring on 
one side of its forward end, one,, two, three, or more 
inches, according to the length or shortness of the 
curve, stick in a small peg at this measured point, and 
another close to the middle of the pole. Then slide 
the pole forward half its length, bringing it close to 
the two pegs, and then measure off the same distance 
again from the forward end, and continue to repeat the 
operation till the desired curve is formed. An inspec¬ 
tion of the figure will nearly of itself, explain the mode. 
A long curve may be made to pass; gradually into a 
shorter one, and vice versa, by gradually increasing or 
diminishing the distance measured from the forward end 
of the pole. 
If one inch is the side distance at each successive 
measurement, the radius of the curve thus formed will 
be about 330 feet—from which an increase or diminu¬ 
tion in size, may be easily reckoned, and applied in 
practice. 
Dwarf Fear Trees® 
F. R. Elliott, in his report on fruits to. jdie Ohio 
Convention, says that without resorting to the early 
fruitfulness produced by quince stocks, but from stand¬ 
ard trees on pear stocks, he has obtained fruit in the 
following periods:—Bartlett and Wurtemberg in two 
years from the bud; Lewis and Foster’s St. Michael, 
in three years from the bud,* Amire Joannet, Muscat 
Robert, Duchesse d’Angouleme, Dearborn’s Seedling, 
Fine Gold of Summer, Ne plus Meuris, Passe Colmar, 
White Doyenne, and Columbia, in four years from the 
bud. He is of opinion that in ten years, pear trees up¬ 
on pear roots only, will be sought by the planter, ex¬ 
cept in small town gardens. 
