353 



Broughton, in the nejo-hborliood of Preston, tliirty-five ftirms are de- 

 clared infected ; and in Leyland Hnndred ninety farms liave been reported. 

 The inspector reports tliat the disease has made its appearance on twenty 

 tarms in Halsted, Febmarsh, Lamarsh, »&c., nearly two hundred cattle 

 and pigs being- affected. 



Healthfulness or sewage-fertilized products. — On the 2()th 

 of July several members of the Essex Cliamber of Agriculture paid a visit 

 of inspection to the farm of Mr. W. V. Hope, which is irrigated with the 

 Romford sewage, and subsequently held a meeting in the town of Rom- 

 ford, to discuss the subject of legislation affecting the utilization of sew- 

 age. In the course of an address before the meeting, ^Iv. Hope stated that 

 one of the objections to the utilization of sewage by irrigation, advanced 

 by Dr. Cobbold, that it would produce parasites in cattle fed upon the 

 laud thus irrigated, and that the eggs of those parasites would be taken 

 intt) the stomachs of the peoi)le, had been refuted by an experiment he had 

 recently made. He had fed an ox for twenty-two months on sewage- 

 produce — grass, mangel-wurzel, cabbage-leaves, and very often the 

 rakings of the grass. The animal was slaughtered on the 15th of July, 

 in the presence of Dr. Cobbold and other scientific gentlemen, and after 

 it had been minutely dissected and examined, these gentlemen failed to 

 detect any trace of disease Mhatever, and Dr. Cobbold was entirely 

 converted to sewage irrigation. The meeting adopted a resolution 

 declaring, "That, in view of the large amount of foreign wheat paid for 

 every year by the population of England, and the large amount of ma- 

 nure wasted in polluting rivers with town sewage, it is desirable that 

 such pollution should now be prohibited by legislative enactment." 



A STEAM-DITCHER. — iV stcam ditcliingniachine recently exhibited 

 at Wolverhampton, England, is stated to be capable of digging a ditch 

 two feet deep, at the rate of about one mile an hour. The following i« 

 a general statement of its construction : A strong frame is supported on 

 four wheels, the front and smaller pair being provided with steerage 

 gear, and the two hind wheels mounted on a cranked axle, having a 

 segment by which it can be turned. A wire ro]ie leads from the liaul- 

 ing-engine around a sheave at the frout of the ditcher and back to tho 

 hind wheel of the engine, thus securing a double purchase. Beneath 

 the main frame of the ditcher is attached, by three strong colters, a 

 large scoop, resembling, in -form a right-hand and a left-hand plow joined 

 back to back. In digging, the two outside colters and the share cut the 

 sides and bottom of the ditch, and the mass of earth, split by the cen- 

 tral colter, is brought to the surface and thrown at some distance from 

 the margins of the cutting. The lifting of the scoop is thus brought 

 about : The sheave over which the hauling- rope passes, at the front of 

 the ditcher, communicates by clutch with a small winding-drum oper- 

 ating a chain which i)asses over the segment on the hind axle, and the 

 winding up of the chain turns the hind axle and wheels, and throws the 

 scoop upward. 



LIST OF FAIRS FOR 1871. 



American Pomological Society, at Richmond, Vir- 

 ginia Sept. 6—8. 



Cotton States, Augusta, Georgia Oct. 31 to Nov. 7. 



l^ew England, Lowell, Massachusetts Sept. 5 — 8. 



American Institute, New York Cit^^ Sept. 7 to No.v. 2. 



