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4. That 3 ewt. of ordinary mineral superphosphate per acre has given the best eco- 
nomic results during several year’s experience extending over hundreds of plots. 
5. That guano, nitrate of soda, organic matter, and even farm-yard dung diminish 
the germinating power of swede seed, and{causefa blankiness in the crop when they 
are brought in contact with the seed. i 
6. That guano and nitrate of soda applied to the growing swedes increase the crop, 
but scarcely to an extent to warrant their general use. 
7. That the average increase in swede crops from the use of 3 cwt. of superphos- 
phate amounts to 5 tons 6 cwt. per acre.;That in some cases the increase has been nil, 
while in others it has been as much as 14 tons per,acre. 
Among the deductions from‘his}experiments in grain-growing Profes- 
sor Wrightson states the following:,1. Wide drilling and thin seeding 
in his neighborhood is more successful with barley than with wheat. 
2. That barley may be sown 16 inches apart, and with half the usual 
quantity of seed without injuring the growth. 
DOES BUCKWHEAT POISON SHEEP ?—A farmer of Kent County, En- 
gland, at the close of the dry, hot summer of 1870 had 378 lambs on his 
farm which, in consequence of the drought and failure of the grass-crop, 
was heavily overstocked. These lambs were, at the close of the season, 
in very poor condition, and, to bring them up again, were placed upona 
field of buckwheat. They soon began to show signs of giddiness, and even 
intoxication, fighting and butting each other in a very unlamblike man- 
ner. Soon their faces, heads, and especially their ears, were covered 
with ulcers. The eyelids swelled in many cases, causing total blindness, 
-and in others the eyes were totally destroyed by ulceration. <A copi- 
ous discharge of pulverulent mucus from the nose, swollen lips, and ces- 
sation of appetite marked the course, of the disease. The sun and the 
flies began to terrify the afflicted animals, and several deaths occurred. 
That the disease was not variola was shown by the fact that there was 
no eruption inside the thighs or on other hairless spots. Of 57 lambs 
not placed in the buckwheat-field not one was affected, all were perfectly 
healthy. To test the contagiousness of the disease several affected 
rams were turned into the same inclosure with perfectly sound ewes, 
and though they copulated and lambs were the result, no trace of dis- 
ease was found upon either the mothers or the offspring. The farmer 
is fully convinced that the disease was caused by the poisonous quality 
of the buckwheat, which had greater power in consequence of the low 
vitality of the animals. The ulcerations were dressed with a weak solu- 
tion of carbolic acid, and small doses of ferri sulph., gentian, and spirits 
of terebinth were administered. The buckwheat was probably nearly 
ripe, or at least in full flower, at which period it is known to contain an 
element of an intoxicating character. It is said also to produce erysip- 
elatous eruptions in different kinds of animals, with symptoms of 
cerebral congestion. 
HORSE POISONING.—The Newark (England) Advertiser states that in 
some English agricultural sections a very odd notion has taken posses- 
sion of grooms that a mixture of arsenic, copperas, and vitriol, adminis- 
tered internally, will brighten the skins of horses and give them a beau- 
tiful glossy surface. The dose is generally given in small doses and 
consequently the injurious influence is more insidious in its advances. 
But in some cases reckless ignorance has transcended the bounds of 
common prudence, and several valuable horses have died from direct 
poisoning. One farmer at Besthorpe, after losing five fine cart-horses, 
instituted a post-mortem examination conducted by a skillful veterinary 
surgeon. The liver was found to be rotten, the kidneys in a state of 
advanced decomposition, the lining membrane of the stomach eaten 
