1803. 5"7v D/feafcs of Sheep, for which Imculat'iofi, ^c, 393}. 



to wlilcli tliey are fubje6l. I think It was a paper in the Tranfac-i 

 tions of the Agricultural Society of Paris. 1 clearly remember 

 two eruptive tUfordcrs of flieep mentioned in that treatile : La 

 galle, literally the itch, our feub ; and La vero!c, which may be 

 tranflated the ilicep-pox, and which is the difeafe for which ino- 

 culation has been fuecefsfully employed. 



This lalt diieafe, like the Imall-pox among mankind, is defcrib- 

 ed as epidemic, or contagious ; in particular "feafons excefhvcly 

 infectious ; and very mortal, when acquired in the natural way 

 by contagion: v/hile, on the other hand, it is very mild, when 

 produced by inoculation. It relembles the fmallpox in its boils 

 or puftules, in the regularity of its progrefs, and in the circum- 

 fbance of never attacking the larne individual twice. A female 

 ;\grieulturiil, or ftore-miitrefs, is mentioned as having firfl; In- 

 troduced the pra6i:ice of inoculation. 



The above is the beft account I can give of this fubje^L, froni 

 a ten years recoUedlion at leail. As the treatife is not long, and 

 contains many curious particulars refpecllng tlie management of 

 flieep in the Pyrenean mountains, I dare fay the worthy Baronet 

 will readily communicate it to you for the Magazine, if it has not 

 fallen a fide. 



. I by no means think myfelf competent to enter the lifts with 

 your Noble correfpondent in lall number, on the fubje6i: of working 

 oxen. But I cannot conceive how the numerous and highly ex- 

 perienced farmers ofi both fides of Tweed, fhould have univerfally 

 given up the ufe of oxen for draught, which they all formerly em- 

 ployed, unlefs from thorough and practical conviclion, that horfes 

 are more prof table for farm labour. 



I laft year drained about two acres of a field, In the Efiex way, 

 which was wet from a retentive bottom ; and the operation has 

 been perfectly fuccefsful. The drains run lengthways, every 

 fifteen feet, communicating at each end with a crofs drain, infide 

 of the head-land j and from this laft, are feveral lateral communica- 

 tions into the fence ditch, wherever the dip was favourable. The 

 material uied was ftones, covered firft with ftraw, and as near 

 the furface as polTible, as the (it\(\ is not meant to be taken out 

 of grafs again. I am thoroughly fatisfied there are large tracts of 

 coarfe land in the Merfe, that v»ould be very highly benefited by 

 this mode of draining ; as the rotteneft hole that ever exifted, 

 if only fufceptible of die operation, and that judicioufiy perform- 

 ed, will be thereby rendered as found flieep pafture as any in tlic 

 kingdom. I am, Zzc. 



VOL. XV. NO. xvi. N n n to 



