FARMERS' REGISTER. 



551 



time it is taken off' it will be reduced lo about one 

 half; but as on the operation of the boiling being 

 well and faithfully executed depends its goodness, 

 (^as 1 have already remarked,) I will slate the cri- 

 terion by which Ibis is judged of. The meat se- 

 parates entirely from ibe bone, being 'done lo 

 rags,' the whole appears as one homogeneous 

 mass, in which none of ihe ingredients are sern 

 distinct— the object of this long boiling being thus 

 to incorporate them — its consistency should be 

 about that ol" thick porridge." 



PROTRACTED VITALITY OF SKEDS. 



From tlie Hartford Courant. 

 Without admitting such doubtful cases as those 

 of seeds preserved in mununies having germinated, 

 there are many instances of seniinul longevity 

 about wJiich there can be no doubt. Books con- 

 tain an abundance of instances ol' plants having 

 suddenly sprung u|) Horn the soil obtained Irom 

 deep excavations, where the seeds must be sup- 

 posed to have been buried Ibr ages. Professor 

 Henslow says that in the lens of Ciimbiidgeshire, 

 alter the surliice has been drained .md the soil 

 ploughed, large crops ol' black and white mustard 

 invariably appear. Miller mentions acaseof Plan- 

 tago Psylli having sprung from the soil o( an an- 

 cient ditch which was emptied at Chelsea, al- 

 though the plant had never been seen in the nie- 

 moryofman. De Candolle says that M. Gerardia 

 succeeded in raising kidney beans from seeds at 

 least a hundred years old, taken out of the herba- 

 rium of Tourneforl ; and I liave myself raised rasp- 

 berry plants from seeds found in an ancient cotiin, 

 in a barrow in Dorsetshire, which seeds, from the 

 coins and other relics met with near them, may 

 be estimated to have been sixteen or seventeen 

 hundred years old. 



PERIOD OF GESTATION IN COWS. 



From llic Somliern Cultivator. 



One of the most satisfactory experiments relat- 

 ing to the subject, on record, is tiie one made by 

 Earl Spencer, and the particulars of which are 

 given in the second number of the English Agri- 

 cultural Society's Jourual. 



The table given contains the results in the case 

 of seven hundred and sixty-lour cows, and the 

 following statements abridged frdoi the paper, will 

 exhibit some of the most important ol' the details: 



first. It appears tiiat the period of gestation 

 varied from 220 days to 313 days ; or no less than 

 90 days. Lord Spencer was, however, unable to 

 rear any calves produced under 242 days. All 

 under 260 days, and over 300, he tliiidis are de- 

 cidedly permature, or irregular. 



Second. As 314 cows calved before the 2S4th 

 day, and 310 after the 285th day, the average period 

 of gestation must be considered as between 284 

 and 285 days; although the time stated in the woik 

 on Cattle by the London Society stales it at 270 

 days. 



Third. It appears, that omitting those consider- 

 ed as premature or irregular, the cows wiiose pe- 

 riod of gestation did not exceed 286 days, firoduced 



233 cow calves, and of bull calves 234 ; while from 

 those whose period exceeded 286 days, the cow 

 calves were only 90, and the number of bull calves 

 was 152. This certainly gives some support to 

 the opinion so prevalent among farmers, that when 

 a cow exceeds the usual time, the produce will be 

 a bull call. 



Fourth. There were Teases of twin cow calves; 

 5 cases of twin bull calves ; and 11 cases of twin 

 cow and bull calves. Earl Spencer has never had 

 a case in which the sexes were diffierent, in which 

 tlie heiler was a breeding one; they have uni- 

 liirrnly been what are termed free martins. The 

 cattle of which the above record has been kept, 

 are the pure improved short horn breed, and one 

 of the fillei^l herds in Great J3riiain. 



THE SHAWL-GOAT IN El'ROPE AND AUS- 

 TRALIA. 



From tlie Penny Magazine. 

 The great price paid for a Cashmir shawl has 

 led some enterprising individuals to attempt natu- 

 ralizing in Europe the animal which produces the 

 wool liom which those shawls are made. It was 

 very properly observed, that much of the cost to 

 the European purchaser was attributable to the 

 great distance the article had to be brought, and 

 to the high and arbitrary duties paid upon it, both 

 for manufacturing and transporting. An extract 

 from the journal of a French traveller will show 

 how the matter stands between the producer and 

 the buyer. The wool is first combeil from the 

 animal in the mountains of Thibet, where it is 

 sold lor nearly five shillinirs a pound : it is packed 

 in baskets and sent to Cashmir, where it pays a 

 duty on entry. It is there bleached wiih rice- 

 flour, spun into threads, and taken to the bazaar, 

 where another tax is paid upon it: the Miread is 

 then dyed, the shawl is woven, and the border 

 sewed on ; but the weaver must not sell his work, 

 he must carry it to the custom-house, where a col- 

 lector puts on any tax he pleases, and in this he is 

 limited only by the fear of ruining the weaver al- 

 together, and consequently losing any future pro- 

 fit. All the shawls intended lor Europe are now 

 packed up and sent to Peishawer across the Indus ; 

 tliis part of the journey is generally performed 

 upon men's backs, for the road is in many parts 

 impassable even lor nuiies, being across deep pre- 

 cipices which must be traversed by swinging 

 bridLjes of ropes, and perpendicular rocks wliich 

 are climbed tiy wooden ladders; at each station of 

 this long traverse, which lasts twenty days, a tax 

 is paid, generally arbitrary, but seldom much ex- 

 ceeding 21. sterling on the whole journey. From 

 this point until they come near the confines of 

 Europe, in addiiion to the many custom-houses at 

 which they must pay tribute, these unlucky shawls 

 have to encounter the dangers of almost continual 

 anarchy in Afghanistan, and the risk of pillage in 

 Persia by the Turkomans and Kirghiz, whose 

 Ibrbearancc must be purchased at a high price. 

 Afier leaving Poisia many shawls get to Europe 

 over the Caucasus and through Russia ; but the 

 largest number reach Constaniinople through the 

 Turkish provinces, and even then they have a 

 tedious journey' to pcrliuin before they reach the 

 wearer. Ahhouizh lli;^ siaiemcnt may not be per- 



