The principal stocks on these Island are composed of crosses between the native hen, Shanghaes, Malays and Spanish fowls, and it will be seen from comparing the following weights of fowls taken indiscriminately from my stock, with the stocks of the best breeders in the U. S. as extracted from Dixon and Kerr's volume already alluded to, that our stocks are quite equal, if not superior to theirs. I will commence with my own— Cock, Shanghae, † Native, weighed alive, 3 years old 18 mos. 16 mos. 16 mos. full-grown do. 5 " Sydney, do. do. Shanghae, Native, Frizzled, imported from Valparaiso, full-grown, Spanish, pure, and Shanghae, the progeny of 14 mos. 4 Chick from mixed breeds, 3 mos., 2 I will now quote from Messrs. Dixon and Kerr's volume, pages 153, 154, and 155, the following "The reader will be better able to judge what weights fowls may be reasonably supposed to attain after the inspection of the following lists of live weights of various poultry with which we have been obligingly favored. But as the birds were generally out of condition in consequence of their being mostly at that time on the moult, and also from the previous wet season, the weights are less than they would be under more favorable circumstances. One list gives Among these the Malay hen was moulting, and not up to her usual weight by nearly a pound." It will be observed there is a great relative difference between the Pullets and the grown hens of the Polish breed. All the Polish increase much in size and beauty the second month. "Another list readily furnished by Mr. Alfred Whitaker gives "The Dorking hens belong to a neighbor and are very fine ones. The hens it will be seen, approach nearer to the weight of the cocks than is the case with the Pheasant Malays. The Spanish hen is about to moult, and is rather under weight." "Our own poultry yard furnishes these I will make another extract from this interesting works which will prove of use to those about to commence keeping poultry; respecting the number of days requested for different descriptions of poultry to bring out their broods, the author says: "Great mistakes are sometimes committed bywriters on poultry, in regard to the various periods of incubation of Hens, Ducks, Turkeys, &c. I have taken some pains to ascertain the time of each, and I will give you the result : A Hen, under ordinary circumstances, sits 20 days. In this report I have taken little notice of Turkeys, Geese, Ducks, or Guinea Fowls, as I possess too little information regarding their habits and domestic qualities, with reference to profit on these islands to venture upon any remarks worthy of record, but from the trifling experience I have had I should say that Turkeys were the most unprofitable, and that the breeding of Ducks and Geese, would on the contrary, with due care and attention to their habits, be more profitable than the rearing of any other descriptions of Poultry. Turkeys attain a very respectable weight here; a few weeks ago weighed a Cock bird, of my own rearing, ready for the spit, and to my surprise he weighed 17 lbs; he might have been 2 years old, and had not been put up to fatten. The following are the weights of English Ganders, Geese, and Goslings running in my Fowl yard: It must be borne in mind that this report more particularly applies to the "Rearing and Management of Poultry," where the vicinity to a town requires the erection of Fowl houses, and the enclosing of Fowl yards, and does not apply to those extensive farms on these Islands where fowls are allowed to roost out, and forage for their own food, being merely called together once a day to satisfy the proprietor that the whole have not been stolen, or that they have not become the prey of wild dogs, hawks, owls, or rats of two or more legs. But whilst it may answer the purpose of the Cattle or Sheep Farmer, the Sugar or Coffee Planter, to allow his Fowls to increase or decrease so long as he finds a constant supply for his table, such a system cannot answer the purpose of the Fowl Breeder, and he may rest assured that without cheap food, cheap labor and constant attention, he cannot make it a profitable business, whilst on the contrary, with these requisites, and a ready market, he may make a very profitable business from it. It is a matter of doubt however, in my mind, whether these Islands, at present, can furnish a market for the disposal of large quantities of Poultry and Eggs, and whether they are not quite abundantly supplied at present, by the Poe fed Poultry of the Natives. It is true California will most likely require supplies from Foreign countries of Domestic Poultry for a few years to come, but it would not be wise for a Poultry Breeder to look to Foreign markets for the sale of his stock; and so long therefore as trade languishes here, and vessels do not enter our ports in greater numbers, for supplies, than they do at present, the result of this branch of business must be doubtful. With regard to the necessary labor required to carry on a large establishment of this description I imagine one Chinese Coolie is all that would be required, and I have no doubt, whatever, but that he could be made just as valuable a domestic in a Fowl Yard, as he has proved himself to be on a sugar or coffee plantation, where he has been strictly though kindly and humanely treated. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON HORTICULTURE. BY A. B. BATES, ESQ. To the Members of the R. H. A. Society. Why your humble servant should be charged with the duty of furnishing a Report as chairman of the committee on Horticulture, I am at a loss to understand, unless upon the assumption that my continued neglect of the application of the principles of the science, is regarded as an evidence they are so familiar to me, as to render their use a drudgery. But be that as it may, having as yet since my resi dence upon these islands, neither supplied my table with ordinary culinary vegetables, or any of my friends with a boquet of annual or perennial flowers from my own garden, my experience, whatever may be my taste or skill, must necessarily be very limited and not enable me to profit you by any practical remarks upon the subject of gardening. Ornamental and useful Horticulture are themes of wide range, which merit a description from an abler pen than mine, to present to you the various reasons that should commmend them to your favorable regard. But, as a duty is to be performed, I shall discharge it as I have ability, asking in advance, your kind consideration of my inexperience and limited knowledge. Home, Sweet Home," are familiar words, but have they ever been uttered without causing a pleasurable emotion and exciting agreeable recollections of the scenes of our childhood ? Our fathers and our mothers, our brothers and our sisters, (have we ever sustained these relations,) are called to mind by those oft-repeated words, but they alone do not occupy entirely our memories when the scene of home is presented to us. How often have we all thought of the rose bush growing by our mother's bed-room window, from which we have plucked a boquet for those we have loved in our youth; of the crotched apple tree in the orchard from which we have gathered a sweeting or a pippin to gratify our uncorrupted tastes when a boy; of the melon-patch back of the barn from which we have tasted the nutmeg and cantelope with a relish not familiar to us now; and are not these recollections of the limited horticulture of our parents essential elements in the pleasurable emotions called into action by the recollections of our homes? If so, is it not among our first duties to our children that they shall not lack the pleasures we enjoy, when in after years they listen to the ever endearing words "Home, Sweet Home." When the work of Creation was completed, "And the LORD GOD formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. The LORD GOD planted a garden eastward of Eden, and therein he put the man he had formed." Perchance, then, that all of us cannot realize that additional pleas |