1850. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
113 
Dorking Fowls. 
At the great poultry show at Boston in November 
last, some very handsome Darking fowls were exhi¬ 
bited by Dr. E. Wight, of that city. They were 
bred by him from imported stock. They were of 
medium size, very beautiful in form, and uniformly 
of a clear white color. Dr. W. informed us that 
he had found the stock hardy and prolific; and that 
after numerous trials he had adopted them for general 
purposes, in preference to all others. 
The above figures were taken from a pair of Dr. 
W.’s Dorkings, and, excepting some unnaturalness 
of position, are good likenesses. 
The principal points which Dr. Wight prefers in 
his Dorkings, are given by him as follows: 11 A fine 
head, with'brilliant., reddish-tinged eyes; single or 
double combs, in both sexes ; a graceful neck, rather 
short than long; wide, deep, projecting breast; the 
body is not only long, but is round, rather than flat 
or square; and the legs, considering their large 
size, short, and invariably of a silvery white. They 
move with an approach to the majestic. Their co¬ 
lors are (those I have imported at various times) 
both white and speckled; but I preferred to retain 
the white, and have bred from them. My stock is 
now entirely white. A cross with the Dorking, im¬ 
proves the shape of most other fowls.” 
For a description of the Dorking breed of fowls, 
see Cultivator for 1849, p. 113. 
no attention to the preservation of the breed, pure, 
and they soon became more or less mixed in blood. 
The oxen of this stock, were rather ill-looking 
animals; often having little, loose horns, attached 
to the skin only, dangling about their faces. The 
pure blood cows were frequently allowed to go with 
any little runt of a bull. The late Dr. Benjamin 
Shurtleff purchased a farm in Chelsea some 30 years 
since, and soon after obtained several of these cows. 
I had frequent conversations with him in regard to 
them, and he always spoke highly of their milking 
properties. 
The blood of these cattle has been considerably 
disseminated in Massachusetts, New-Hampshire, 
Vermont, Maine, &c.; but I think it doubtful if the 
pure breed, possessing all the original distinguish¬ 
ing characteristics, can now be found in this neigh¬ 
borhood. 
There are several varieties of hornless cattle. 
The Scotch Galloways are celebrated as beef cattle, 
and are said to give rich milk, but not a large quan¬ 
tity. It is thought they have never been improved 
by crossing with any other breed. The Suffolk duns 
have been held in high reputation as milking stock. 
I am inclined to think the animals of the Russel im¬ 
portation were of this variety. Respectfully, &c., 
Samuel Jaques. 
Burning Straw. —An intelligent correspondent 
of the Prairie Farmer, says, if he had a thousand 
loads of straw he should want a good pile of dollars 
to induce him to set fire to it. He remarks that the 
rich prairies have a better supply of alkali than of 
vegetable matter, having been yearly burned from 
time immemorial. He mentions several instances 
in which the product was invariably greater where 
the straw was buried without burning. After liis 
heaps of straw have been soaked with rain, he 
treads them down with horses, and the next spring 
the rotted heap is spread on corn ground, where “it 
shows for itself.” On soils with much vegetable 
matter, burning may be perhaps the best. 
Peoria Pork Packing, —The number of hogs 
packed last year in Peoria, Ill., was about 30,000 
