574 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



ing : IJ you will youraclf, or by your agent for 

 Patents, send us a good drawing of yonr ma- 

 chine or implement, we will have it engraved in 

 the best matmer and published, without charge , 

 and distributed through every State, among 

 the most enlightened and respectable agricul- 

 turists in the Union — Provided you will accom- 

 pany it with the explanations necessary to a 

 comprehension of its principles and operation. 

 Finally, if there be no difficulty of a constitu- 

 tional character to forbid Uncle Sam from using: 

 his power and facilities for setting up as Editor 

 and Publisher of agricultural periodicals, what 

 is to hinder him from starting one on Medicine 

 and Surgery ? — to illustrate these subjects and 

 the inventions connected with them, in rivalry 

 with the Medical Repositories ? Or, would it not 

 be & more generous, manly and efficient mode 

 of diflPusing agricultural intelligence, if the old 

 gentleman, instead of turning Editor and Pub- 

 lisher himself, would take the same amount to 

 pay for distribution, free of postage, of the agri- 

 cultural papers, which would gladly disseminate, 

 without charge, all that his Annual contains, 

 which is honestly come by, and that is original 

 and worthy of publication? As for military 

 pamphlets and books, and whatever smacks of 

 brimstone, and blood, and all the " pomp and cir- 

 cumstance of glorious war," these he publishes 

 already by the tens of thousands, because that is 

 quite constitutional ! Behold, farmers, a few 

 items which you are to pay for— - 



" For three months' extrapay to non-com- 

 missioned officers, musicians and pri- 

 vates $1 6,000 



For transporting officers' baggage 50,000 



For preparing drawings for a uniform 



system of artillery 7,000 



For military and geographical survey of 

 West Mississippi 30,000 



Total $103,000 



True, for all these military memoirs, and 

 maps, and diagrams, and drawings of the ma- 

 chineiy and implements of human destruction, 

 the farmer and the planter foot the bill, and 

 cry huzza ! huzza! — too well content that against 

 the millions that go. for these purposes, out 

 of the common Treasure, he should get, for 

 his share, this Patent Office Annual ! made up 

 out of the brain-work of poor Editors, and print- 

 ed out of the brain-work of Inventors poorer 

 still, if possible. Truly, we are a wonderful 

 people ! — and this a " model Repvhlic ! " 



Why not place the Normal School, the gi'eat 

 feature in the plan, at Washington, and, for the 

 farm, buy the l.'iOO acres at Mount Vernon, there 

 to infuse the spirit of patriotism as ■well as to 

 sow the seeds of knowledge ? S2.5,000 a year 

 for a Library for the u.se of J. Q,. Adams, D. H. 

 Lewis, Mr. March, Col. Benton, and a few 

 otlier ingenious and learned men of investi- 

 gating habits, who lock up too much of what 

 they already know — what, we repeat with Mr. 

 Rees, will that do toward the wide diffusion 

 of useful practical knoicledge among rne.i ? 



THE DROVER'S DOG. 



We have deemed it well to let the owner of 

 Boxer and Rose tell his own story, seeing that 

 he has accurately described, and in no measure 

 exaggerated, the qualities, or oveiTated the 

 value, of the subjects in hand. 



The originals, which we have seen, and 

 which are undoubtedly genuine of their breed, 

 are truly represented in the Engraving. These 

 are of the kind of dogs referred to by Mr. Col- 

 man, in one of his valuable Reports, in which 

 we are favored with accounts, so graphic and 

 interesting, of the various viarkets in England 

 and Ireland. In one of these he says — " For a 

 week or more before tlie tryst, the roads leading 

 to Falkirk will be found crowded with success- 

 ive droves of cattle and sheep, proceeding to 

 this central point ; and it is extremely curious 

 on the field to see with what skill and care the 

 different parties and herds are kept together by 

 themselves. In this matter the shepherds are 

 generally assisted by their dogs, which appear 

 (1234, 



endowed with a sagacity almost human, and 

 almost to know every individual belonging to 

 their charge. They arc sure, with an inflexible 

 pertinacit}', to bring back a deserter to the 

 flock." 



As to any law to restrain effectually the keep- 

 ing of worthless, " sheep-killing dogs," that 

 would be incompatible with universal snflrage 

 and the largest liberty. How could one expect 

 the demagogue, ever scheming with eye intent 

 on the " spoils of office," to vote for a law essen- 

 tial to the success of a great branch of national 

 industry, when by so doing he may jeopard his 

 popularity and lose the votes of a score or two 

 of loafers ? 



For the Large Gray Wolf, such as is yet com- 

 mon in the high lands of some even of the old, 

 abused and plundered "Thirteen," and yet 

 more so in Texas, there is no dog that can stand 

 up against him, unless it be the breed of Mount 

 St. Bernard, or of Auvergne, which our friend 



