222 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



1835.] 



fit on the produce of the flock. From the adop- 

 tion of this arrangement, the sheep-masters derive 

 great advantage, as the shepherds have, no induce- 

 ment to deceive them, and are themselves interest- 

 ed in taking due care of the animals committed to 

 their charge. This practice has also been adopt- 

 ed by some large flock-masters in Scotland with 

 great success: how iar it may be feasible in Eng- 

 land it would be rash in us to assert; but as the. 

 hint seems worth) - ol attention and trial, we leave 

 it to the consideration of the intelligent reader. 



The Shepherd's Dog performs so important a 

 part in the management of sheep, that some no- 

 tice of his qualities cannot be deemed irrelevant to 

 the subject. The species which is delineated in 

 this work occurs chiefly in the extensive sheep- 

 walks in the northern parts of this island, where 

 the purity of its breed appears to be preserved in 

 the greatest perfection. Its docility and sagacity, 

 indeed, surpass those of every other variety of the 

 canine race: obedient to the voice, looks, and ges- 

 tures 01 his master, he quickly perceives his com- 

 mands, and instantly executes them. A well- 

 trained dog of this kind is, to a shepherd, an in- 

 valuable acquisition. The faithful animal anx- 

 iously watches the flock, keeps them together in 

 the pasture, from one part of which it conducts 

 them to another; and, if the sheep are driven to 

 any distance, he will infallibly confine them within 

 the road, and, at the same time, prevent any 

 strange sheep from mingling with them. 



In Prussia, there is a peculiar breed of dogs 

 employed in the management of sheep: it is de- 

 scribed by M. Lasteyrie as being of a small size, 

 but stout and thick, with erect ears, and bearing 

 some resemblance to our wolf-dogs: their coats are 

 partlysmooth and lose, while others arc long and 

 shaggy. They are remarkably docile; never bite the 

 sheep; and at. their masters' voice, repair instantly 

 to that part of the Hock which is pointed out: in 

 case the sheep bang behind, these dogs push litem 

 forward with their muzzles; which is sufficient to 

 make the sheep take the requisite direction. An 

 importation of a few of this breed would certainly 

 be worth the trial: or if the Prussian mode of 

 teaching our dogs not to bite, could be acquired, it 

 would be a most desirable object. The continual 

 state of (ear in which those naturally timid ani- 

 mals are kept by a dog that has not been properly 

 1 rained, disturbs their repose, and prevents them 

 from feeding quietly; and, in fact, it rarely happens 

 in any flock, that there are not some sheep which 

 are, from time to time lacerated, more or less se- 

 verely, by the bite of dogs. 



From the Genesee Farmer. 

 ROTATION OF CROPS. 



I have ever considered the notion which has 

 been advanced in some of the English agricultu- 

 ral journals, that the matter thrown off in the soil 

 by a species of plants is poisonous to other plants 

 of the same kind, if grown in- succession, as most 

 unphilosophical, and contrary to fact. Some of 

 the advocates of a doctrine of an absolute neces- 

 sity in all cases lor a rotation of crops, found in 

 this supposition of excrementitious poison, a very 

 convenient argument for their system, and hence 

 it has obtained some currency both at home and 

 in this country. Farmers, however, of all men, 



should be the last to be wedded to theory, as theirs 

 is a profession eminently practical. It is too late 

 in the day to "doubt" that the system of rotation 

 in crops, under proper circumstances, is of the 

 first importance in agriculture. Its effect, how- 

 ever, does not depend on the extinction of excre- 

 mentitious poison, but by a renewal of the proper 

 food of plants. That, the influence of rotation 

 has been overrated by some English and Ameri- 

 can theorists will not be disputed, and when the 

 inn" comes to underrate, of which some symp- 

 toms can be discerned already, it is at least proba- 

 ble it will be ;:s injudiciously decried. That corn 

 will grow in succession for half a century on the 

 Genesee flats — wheat for thirty years on some of 

 the favored wheat, lands of West New York — 

 and oats for twenty years on some of the slaty 

 soils of Cattaraugus, without much diminution of 

 quantity, I can readily believe; but exceptions 

 like these to the system of rotation only demon- 

 strate the propriety of the coarse in general. To 

 us it appears the doctrine of rotation is founded 

 on very simple principles, capable of easy and 

 successful application, and hardly leaving room 

 for doubt or disputation. That plants during 

 their growth do take up, and appropriate as nour- 

 ishment, very different materials from the same 

 soil, will not be questioned by any one who has 

 paiil the least attention to vegetable physiologv. 

 For instance, does the pine apple or the orange 

 take as much silex from the earth as the bamboo 

 or the rattan, some of the species of which have 

 an outer covering so hard as to strike fire when 

 struck together? — -or, to select a more familiar ex- 

 ample, does the linden contain as much of the salt 

 called potash as the elm or beech? — and how does 

 it happen that while 1000 pounds of wormwood 

 yields 784 lbs. of saline matter, the box and the 

 aspen produce but 70? This faculty of taking up 

 particular substances as food, and the necessity 

 of the supply, holds good in the cereal grasses, 

 such as wheat, rye, barley; in corn and oats; in 

 roots, such as potatoes, carrots, turnips, beets, &c. 

 They all find and assimilate as nourishment dif- 

 ferent ingredients from the same soil, or appropri- 

 ate them in very different proportions. If the soil 

 of my firm abounds in those aliments essential to 

 the production of wheat, I can raise crop after 

 crop from the same land, and rotation is needless; 

 and this course of successive crops will be suc- 

 cessful in exact ratio to the continued supply of 

 proper ibod. If, however, the proper food of the 

 wheat plant is limited, a rotation of crops, and 

 manuring, by which this quality can be restored, 

 is indispensible. It is so with corn, oats, and most 

 other plants. The rich alluvion of the Genesee 

 flats is apparently inexhaustible by corn; perhaps 

 90 parts in 100 are suited to the growth of that 

 important article; but this fact does not prove that 

 other and less favored soils cannot be exhausted, 

 or will not be benefited by a rotation. I have seen 

 some of the oat lands spoken of by Mr. Allen in 

 a former number of the Farmer, and feel a plea- 

 sure in bearing testimony to the general correct- 

 ness of his views, and justness of his remarks; 

 yet the facts he has stated furnish perhaps one of 

 the strongest arguments in proof that, different 

 plants take up different materials from the same 

 soil, and therefore that rotation must, in most 

 cases, be advantageous. Those, lands in the 

 southern tier of counties of which Mr. Allen has 



