1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



663 



ble to the state of natural food. Thus, when su- 

 gar is given to them, some dry fibrous matter 

 should be mixed with it, such as chopped straw, 

 or dry withered grass, in order that the functions 

 of the stomach and bowels may be performed in 

 a natural manner. The principle is the same as 

 that of the practice alluded to in the third lecture, 

 of giving chopped straw with barley. 



In washing sheep, the use of water containing 

 carbonate of lime should be avoided ; lor this sub- 

 stance decomposes the yolk of the wool, which is 

 an animal soap, the natural defence of the wool ; 

 and wool ollen washed in calcareous water be- 

 comes rough and more brittle. The finest wool, 

 such as that of the Spanish and Saxon sheep, is 

 most abundant in yolk. M. Vauquelin has an- 

 alyzed several different species of yolk, and has 

 found the principal part of all of them a soap, 

 with a basis of potassa (r. e. a compound of oily 

 matter and potassa,) with a little oily matter in 

 excess. He has found in them, likewise, a nota- 

 ble quantity of acetate of potassa, and minute 

 quantities of carbonate of potassa, and muriate of 

 potassa, and a peculiar odorous animal matter. 



M. Vauquelin states, that he found some speci- 

 mens of wool lose as miich as 45 percent, in being 

 deprived of their yolk; and the smallest loss in his 

 experiments was 35 per cent. 



The yolk is most useful to the wool on the back 

 of the sheep in cold and wet seasons; probably the 

 application of a little soap of potassa, with excess of 

 grease to the sheep brought from warmer climates 

 in our winter, that is, increasing their yolk artifi- 

 cially, might be useful in cases where the fineness 

 of the wool is of great importance. A mixture of 

 this kind is more conformable to nature than that 

 ingeniously adopted by Mr. Bakewell ; but at the 

 time his labors commenced the chemical nature 

 of the yolk was unknown. 



I have now exhausted all the subjects of discus- 

 sion, which my experience or information has been 

 able to supply, on the connexion of chemistry with 

 agriculture. 



I venture to hope that some of the views brought 

 forward may contribute to the improvement of the 

 most important and useful of the arts. 



I trust that the inquiry will be pursued by 



number of dowiiy hairs which cover the surface of the 

 leaves, is soft and spongy, and disliked by cattle in 

 general. 



" jlnthoxanthum odoraium, sweet-scented vernal 

 grass. Horses, oxen, and sheep eat this grass; though 

 m pastures where it is combined with the meadow 

 fox-tail, and white clover, cock's-foot, rough-stalked 

 meadow, it is left untouched; from which it would 

 seem unpalatable to cattle. Mr. Grant of Leighton 

 laid down one-half a field of a considerable extent 

 with this grass, combined with white clover. The 

 other half of the field with fox-tail and red clover. 

 The sheep would not touch the sweet-scented ver- 

 nal, but kept constantly upon the fox-tail. The writer 

 of this saw the field when the grasses were in the high- 

 est state of perfection; and hardly any thing could be 

 more satisfactory. Equal quantities of the seeds of 

 white clover were sown with each of the grasses; but 

 from the dwarf nature of the sweet-scented vernal 

 grass, the clover mixed with it had attained to greater 

 luxuriance than that mixed with the meadow fox- 

 tail." 



others ; and that, in proportion as chemical philoso- 

 phy advances towards perfection, it will afford new 

 aids to agriculture. 



There are sufficient motives, connected both with 

 pleasure and proht, to encourage ingenious men to 

 pursue this new path of investigation. Science 

 cannot long be despised by any persons as the 

 mere speculation of theorists ; but must soon be 

 considered by all ranks of men in its true point of 

 view, as the refinement of common sense, guided 

 by experience, gradually substituting sound and 

 rational principles lor vague popular prejudices. 



The soil offers inexhastible resources, which 

 when properly appreciated and employed, must 

 increase our wealth, our population, and our phy- 

 sical strength. 



"We possess advantages in the use of machiner}', 

 and the division of labor, belonging to no other 

 nation. And the same energy of character, the 

 same extent of resources which has always dis- 

 tinguished the people of the British Islands, and 

 made them excel in arms, commerce, letters, and 

 philosophy, apply with the happiest effect to the 

 improvement of the cultivation of the earth. No- 

 thing is impossible to labor, aided by ingenuity. 

 The true objects of the agriculturist are likewise 

 those of the patriot. Men value most what they 

 have gained with effort ; a just confidence in their 

 own powers results from success ; they love their 

 country better, because they have seen it improved 

 by their own talents and industry ; and they iden- 

 tify with their interests the existence of those in- 

 stitutions which have afforded them security, in- 

 dependence, and the multiplied enjoyments of 

 civilized life. 



APPENDIX. 



AN ACCOUNT OF THE RESITLTS OF EXPERI- 

 MENTS ON THE PRODUCE AND NUTRITIVE 

 QUALITIES OF DIFFERENT GRASSES, AND 

 OTHER PLANTS, USED AS THE FOOD OF 

 ANIMALS. INSTITUTED BY JOHN DUKE OF 

 BEDFORD. 



Introduction by Sir H. Davy. 



Of the 215 proper grasses which are capable of 

 being cultivated in this climate, two only have 

 been employed to any extent for making artificial 

 pastures, — rye-grass and cock's-fbot grass ; and 

 their application for this purpose seems to have 

 been rathei the result of accident than of any 

 proofs of their superiority over other grasses. 



A knowledge of the comparative merits and 

 value of all the different species and varieties of 

 grasses cannot fail to be of the highest importance 

 in practical agriculture. The hope of obtaining 

 this knowledge was the motive that induced the 

 Duke of Bedford to institute this series of experi- 

 ments. 



Spots of ground, each containing four square 

 feet, in the garden at Woburn Abbey, were in- 

 closed by boards in such a manner that there was 

 no lateral communication between the earth in- 

 cluded by the boards and that of the garden. The 

 soil was removed in these inclosures, and new 

 soils supplied ; or a mixture of soils was made in 

 them, to furnish as far as possible to the different 



