54 
THE CULTIVATOR 
Jan, 
ter of an acre, of which thirty feet square is water. In 
addition to this, most of the fowls have a range in ad* 
joining enclosures, containing from two to three acres. 
The water for the goose and duck-pond is supplied by a 
pump, worked by a steam engine, which furnishes the mo¬ 
tive power for a worsted factory belonging to Mr. Giles. 
The pond is walled around the sides, and the ground 
for several feet from the water is paved, which prevents 
the formation of mud, and keeps the pond and the fowls 
clean. The water is five feet deep, and gold-fish are 
bred in it in great numbers. 
The mode of feeding adopted by Mr. Giles, is to give, 
on alternate days, Indian corn, buckwheat, millet, hemp- 
seed, and barley. Occasionally the fowls are fed with 
equal parts of corn-meal and shorts, with a little sulphur 
mixed, 
Mr. Giles has taken great pains in obtaining his stock, 
and is very particular in regard to the purity of the dif¬ 
ferent kinds. Many of his choicest specimens were ob¬ 
tained direct from Messrs. Baker, of London, who are 
probably the most noted breeders and dealers in orna¬ 
mental poultry in Europe. 
The Boston Poultry Show. 
The annual exhibition of the New-England Society 
for the Improvement of Poultry, took place at Boston 
on the 11th to the 14th of November last. The show 
was much inferior in respect to numbers, to the shows 
of the two previous years, and the number of varieties 
was also somewhat less than on those occasions. The 
whole number of specimens exhibited, is stated by the 
secretary to have been 2,458. Of the Gallus genus, the 
large Asiatic fowls, as heretofore, took the lead. This 
tribe has a general tendency to coarseness and too much 
offal; but the specimens exhibited, showed considerable 
improvement in symmetry over those presented at the 
former shows. It is practicable to produce a good stock 
from this tribe, by careful selection for several genera¬ 
tions. The (white) fowls exhibited by A. A. Andrews 
and Dr. E. Wight, Boston, those by A. White, East- 
Randolph, and those of the 11 Forbes stock” exhibited 
by Mr. Brackett, Newton, showed that an important 
advance has already been made in this direction. 
Of Spanish fowls, some really splendid specimens 
were exhibited by J. P. Childs, of Woonsocket, R. I. 
The history of this stock, as given by Mr. C. is, that 
they were brought from near Bristol, England, by John 
Flicker, in 1850, -who stated that he knew them to have 
been bred for more than fifty years, without crossing. 
They are beautiful in form, and of larger size, in 
general, than any Spanish fowls we have before seen— 
the hens weighing upwards of six pounds each, and the 
cocks large in proportion. 
Very handsome Dorkings were shown by Dr. Wight 
and A. A. Andrews, Boston; Guelderlands.—a good 
sized, raven-black fowl, destitute of comb.—by H. L. 
Devereux, Boston ; Bolton Grays, or Creoles, by George 
Dorr, Dorchester, and John F. Brown, Woonsocket, 
R. I.; good game fowls by 0. and S. Southwick, Dan¬ 
vers.O. M. Stacy, and E. Varney,Lynn; Golden Polands 
(or top-knots) by W. B. Parsons, Rockport—very 
handsome; Sebright Bantams.—good except too large 
in size for that variety,—by Chas. Sampson, Boston. 
There were good specimens of turkeys, geese, (the 
Bremen best and most numerous,) ducks, and pigeons; 
lut nothing particularly rare was noted in these classes. 
Long-Island Lands. 
In the central part of Long-Island, there are large 
tracts of land which have never been brought into culti¬ 
vation. Public attention has lately been turned con¬ 
siderably towards these lands, through the influence of 
Dr. E. F. Peck, of Brooklyn, who is the proprietor of 
several thousand acres, situated in the vicinity of Lake¬ 
ville, on the L. I. rail-road. 
These tracts have formerly been deemed of very low 
value; but no reason exists why they are not naturally 
as valuable for farming purposes as the coast lands which 
lie on each side of them, and only four or five miles dis¬ 
tant, at Smithtown and Islip, where farms are held at 
a hundred dollars an acre. The soil is of similar com¬ 
position, and the indigenous vegetation was the same. 
The writer speaks from personal observation, having ex¬ 
amined the lands in November last. If it is claimed 
that the shore lands have an advantage in respect to the 
facilities for obtaining materials, (as fish, sea-weed, &c.) 
for manure, it may be replied that this is more than 
counterbalanced by the advantage of being near the rail¬ 
road, which is the main avenue of communication. In 
fact the only real or apparent advantage in the former 
case, is that resulting from the different social circum¬ 
stances of the two neighborhoods. On the coast are villages, 
with the various appurtenances of old settlements, while 
on the Lakeville tract, settlement has but just com¬ 
menced. But it is probable that this state of things will 
continue long, as, in addition to equal agricultural ad¬ 
vantages, the Lakeville lands present good inducements 
for city people to furnish themselves with country resi¬ 
dences. They can be reached in about two hours from 
New-York or Brooklyn. The railroad divides the tract 
nearly in the centre, north and south, and it is also 
nearly in the centre of the island, in the same direction. 
Near this central line is an elevated ridge, which forms 
the height of land between the north and south coasts. 
The top of a dwelling of two stories high, placed on this 
ridge, would command a view of both shores,—either 
of which could be reached in an easy drive of five miles. 
Near the ridge alluded to, and within a mile and a-half 
of the railroad station at Lakeville, is Ronkonkoma 
lake, a beautiful sheet of water, nearly circular in form, 
and about a mile across. The water is perfectly clear 
and sweet, and abounds with fish, (red perch); the bot¬ 
tom is hard and pebbly; the shores, free from marshes, 
gently shelving to the water, with a beach, which, with 
but little labor, would form one of the pleasantest walks, 
or carriage drives, entirely round the lake. The level 
of the lake is very uniform, being but little affected by 
rain or drouth. 
Few sections can boast of such attractive sites for rural 
dwellings, as the vicinity of this lake affords. There is 
sufficient unevenness in the surface of the ground, to ad¬ 
mit of much beauty being imparted to the landscape by 
tasteful cultivation and improvement. The healthful¬ 
ness of the location is undoubted, as the longevity of 
the inhabitants of Long-Island is proverbial; and when 
a beginning is once made, and this cannot be long de¬ 
ferred, which shall constitute the nucleus of a good 
neighborhood, these advantages will be highly appre¬ 
ciated. 
