no 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



tain flocks of sheep that would annually add un- 

 told thousands to our production ; and their wil- 

 derness soiitudea can become the abodes of a 

 hardy, industrious and virtuous population. Yet 

 the undersigned has iaiown many sensible 

 farmers, entertaining strong convictions of the 

 practicability and productiveness oC sheep-hus- 

 bandry on our hill lands, utterly decline the bu- 

 siness /or no oiher reason than the fear of the 

 destruction of their flocks by roving dogs. Scarce 

 a day passes but we hear of their ravages. It 

 is not a suflicient remedy that it is the common 

 understanding that sheep-killing dogs may be 

 killed wherever found. They are not always 

 found; and if they were and all were destroyed, 

 their destruction neither atones for the loss sus- 

 tained, nor prevents other ill consequences. The 

 evil that dogs do lives after them. A flock of 

 sheep, once disturbed by night-prowling dogs, 

 suffers probably greater loss than the death of a 

 portion. The living are ever alter more timid 

 and fearful, and either run wild or grow diseas- 

 ed ; so that, in either case, their value is seriously 

 injured. 



Every one of the least observation knows that 

 there are at least four times as many dogs in 

 the state as are necessary for any purpose of 

 utility ; and consequently at least three-fourths 

 of them are not only actual consumers o( food, 

 depredators in a thousand ways, but a nuisance 

 in all respects, to say nothing of their sheep- 

 killing enormities. The undersigned does sin- 

 cerely believe that it is the duty of the legis- 

 lature to suppress these evils by severe taxation or 

 otherwise ; and any effective measure will be 

 sanctioned alike by the wishes and interests of the 

 people. 



Not the least degree of hostility is felt by 

 the undersigned towards dogs or their owners, 

 when kept in proper numbers and duly trained for 

 useful purposes. But it is utterly intolerable 

 that the honest interests of productive industry 

 are to be seriously injured by packs of supernu- 

 merary dogs. If severe taxation were adopted, 

 the number of dogs would be reduced to that 

 which would usefully serve the wants of the 

 country ; and ihey would then be trained for 

 useful objects, kept at home and restrained from 

 mischief; for it is seldom a dog attacks sheep on 

 his owner's farm. 



The danger from that horrible disease, hydro- 

 phobia, more terrible than death itself in its di- 

 rest form, would be diminished by reducing the 

 number of dogs. The life of one good citizen 

 is worth infinitely more to the commonwealth 

 than all the vagrant dogs that swarm in the land, 

 making night hideous with their infernal howl- 

 ing, consuming the food of the land, commit- 

 ting innumerable depredations, and destroying 

 flocks of innocent and useful sheep. 



The undersigned prays the legislative inter- 

 position to remedy these evils in a manner at 

 once effective and consistent with the rights and 

 interests of all concerned. They who desire to 

 keep dogs for purposes of utility, should be al- 

 lowed to have them on the payment of a very 

 moderate tax, such as a good citizen would cheer- 

 fully pay for a benefit secured and enjoyed un- 

 der a law designed to remedy a great evil and 

 protect the rights and interests of all. The un- 

 dersigned is not entirely confident that the fol- 



lowing scale of taxation would be precisely ade 

 quate to the desired object or strictly just to al' 

 interests ; but he submits it as embodying the 

 principles of a law which the wisdom of the Gen- 

 eral Assembly could render efficient and just. 



The owner of one dog to be taxed one dollar ; 

 of two dogs, two dollars ; of three dogs, four dol- 

 lars ; of four dogs, eight dollars : of five dogs, 

 sixteen dollars : and so on. And all dogs un- 

 claimed, or on which the tax is not paid, and 

 others running at large, to be killed Ibrlhwith by 

 any one. Respectfully submitted, 



ThO. B. STEVBlNSOHr. 



BLACK THE -WORST COLOR FOR PAINTING 

 WOOr) WORK IN THE OPEN AIR. 



There is nothing that will prove this evil more 

 than by observing the black streaks of a ship after 

 being in a tropical climate for any length of time. 

 It will be found that the wood round the fastenings 

 is in a slate of decay, while the while work is as 

 sound as ever ; the planks that are painted black 

 will be found split in all directions, while the fre- 

 quent necessity of caulking a ship in that situation 

 likewise adds to the common destruction; and i 

 am fully persuaded that a piece of wood painted 

 white will be preserved from perishing as long 

 again, if exposed to the weather, as a similar 

 piece painted black, especially in a tropical climate. 

 I have heard many men of considerable experi- 

 ence say, that black is good for nothing on wood, 

 as it possesses no body to exclude the weather. 

 This is indeed partly the case ; but a far greater 

 evil than this attends the use of black paint, 

 which ought entirely to exclude its use on any 

 work out of doors, viz. its property of absorbing 

 heat. A black unpolished surface is the greatest 

 absorber and radiator of heat known : while a 

 white surface, on the other hand, is a bad absorber 

 and radiator of the same ; consequently, black 

 paint is less preservative of wood than white. 

 Wood having a black surface will imbibe conside- 

 rably more heat in the same temperature of cli- 

 mate than if that surface were white ; from which 

 circumstance we may easily conclude that the 

 pores of wood of any nature will have a tendency 

 to expand and rend in all directions, when exposed 

 under such circumstances ; the water of course 

 being admitted, causes a gradual and progressive 

 decay, which must be imperceptibly increasing 

 from every change of weather. The remedy to so 

 great an evil is particularly simple, viz. by using 

 while instead of black paint, which not only 

 forms a better surface, but is a preventive to the 

 action of heat, and is more impervious to the 

 moisture. The saving of expense would also be 

 immense ; and I am convinced that men of practi- 

 cal experience will bear me out in my assertion. 

 — Trans. Society of j^rts. 



EIGHTH AGRICULTURAL MEETING AT THE 

 STATE HOUSE. 



From tlie New England Farmer. 



Subject — Manures. — Mr. Buckminster (Editor 

 of Ploughman,) said he may be rather heterodox 

 in some of his notions in regard to manures. But 



