322 FARMER'S ASSISTANT. 



garden at Vienna, which had resisted every other means 

 used tor thai purpose. 



The application of this may be found useful in planting 

 Indian corn, as it will be sooner out of the way of birds and 

 squirrels; and, when the first planting has failed, or when 

 birds, &c. have pulled up the corn, this method would 

 greatly accelerate the growth of a second planting. It is 

 also useful for many kinds of garden seed^, which have been 

 kept over one year. Probably, the seeds of the American 

 thorn might, also, in this way, be made to vegetate readily, 

 and that hempseed might thus be made to grow, after the 

 first year. 



Another method of making old seeds germinate, more 

 readily, is, to immerse them in water, nearly boiling hot, 

 for the space of half a minuu ; then suddenly cool them by 

 exposure to the air, and sow them when the soil is well 

 warmed by the sun If sown, however, when the earth is 

 cold, they will rot in the ground. 



SHEEP. Mr. Livingston has treated this subject with so 

 much research and ability, that the Reader need require lit- 

 tle or no further information, than what his Essays contain; 

 but as this Work would be imperfect, without treating of 

 this important article, and as the Writings of Mr. Living- 

 ston and others are too voluminous for insertion, it becomes 

 necessary to condense the subject, so as to present it in a 

 small compass. 



Animals undergo changes by domestication. Qualities 

 which ttvey possessed in the wild state, but which are no 

 longer useful in the domestic* become less and less visible ; 

 and owing, perhaps, to this circumstance, and to others, 

 even their appearance becomes more or less altered, The 

 ears of wild animals are erect, which enables them to hear 

 with more acuteness; but some of the Sheep of Sicily and 

 of Italy, says Mr. Livingston, have been so long under the 

 protection of Man, where this quality is not so requisite, 

 that their ears have become pendant. Lord Kaims observes, 

 that when Sheep run wild they go in droves; that the males 

 are the protectors of the flock, and that the strongest claims 

 precedence of the rest; that when they lie down, at night, 

 some stand as sentinels, while the rest sleep: But these 

 traits of instinctive sagacity they, in a great measure, lose 

 when Man becomes their Protector. 



M. JBuffbn and others have supposed the Monjlon Mus- 

 mon> or Argali, which is still found in the wild state, to be 

 the original stock of the present Sheep. This animal is 

 swift of foot, and in cold climates has merely a coat ot wool 

 under a coat of hair. In warm climates, ii has nothing bir 



