1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



353 



vigorous transpiration might be, the imbibing 

 power was wanting or obedient to their will. 

 None of the alkalies were tried, but the idea was 

 suggested that their spiraculi may be closed with 

 an oily substance, and these would remove it and 

 destroy them. But after the above experiments, 

 we had little hope of finding an antidote in the 

 apothecary shop. Like the curculio, this eremy 

 requires mechanical and not chemical warfare for 

 its destruction. 



In despair of finding out a remedy for their ra- 

 vages, the owner of a young nursery of some 

 thousands of trees in this city, when all the bud- 

 ding and grafting was threatened with destPtrc- 

 t ion by their seizing the tender buds when they 

 first gave signs that the budding was successful, 

 he was induced to carry a lew to the poultry yard. 

 The avidity with which they were devoured, left 

 no doubt of their being a perlect dessert for fowls. 

 Accordingly they were invited, together with all 

 of his neighbors', to a banquet in the nursery. A 

 few worms placed beside the stocks for a bait 

 were first picked up, and as is their wont, more 

 were immediately sought by scratching where the 

 first were found. This operation succeeding to 

 The extent of their inclinations, the whole tribe 

 immediately became hunters of the cut worm, 

 and very little experience pointed the proper 

 places and necessary depth beyond which they 

 found it useless to scratch. The number eat by 

 each fowl it were useless to calculate, but with 

 crops distended nearly to bursting, they were with- 

 drawn for fear of bad consequences to them- 

 selves. No mortality to the fowls followed, and 

 they were subsequently introduced a few times, 

 till their scratching mania threatened the entire 

 destruction of the nursery, which was planted but 

 the year before. They however accomplished a 

 great work in a short space, and have recom- 

 mended their species for this useful work. 



M. 



From the last London edition of the "Complete Grazier." 



ON THE BREEDING, REARING, AND FATTEN- 

 ING OF SHEEP. 



[Continued from p. 2S1 Vol. III.] 



An account of some experiments on feeding sheep. 



In the preceding chapter, we confined our- 

 selves to the common vegetables usually employ- 

 ed in this country in feeding sheep, which long ex- 

 perience has proved to be the most advantageous: 

 but we think the following detail of some novel 

 experiments on their food may afford some fur- 

 ther useful hints respecting the value of other sub- 

 stances, even should their employment be not 

 immediately expedient. The first were made by 

 M. Crctte de Palluel, and by him communicated 

 to the Royal Society of Agriculture of Paris, in 

 1789, of which the substance is as follows: — he 

 states, that the practice of fcedingsheepin houses 

 was commonly adopted in many of the provinces 

 of France, where they were fed with clean corn, 

 (i. e. barley and oats, sometimes gray peas, beans, 

 and rye,) and sweet, fine hay; and that, when 

 roots were given in lieu of corn, clover, rowen, or 

 lucerne hay was continued. Though the sheep 

 thus fed on roots did not become so fat as those 

 which were corn-led, yet they all fattened: and 



Voj. Ill— 45 



he thinks they would have made greater progress, 

 it' their food had been varied. This opinion he 

 supports by an experiment made on four, whose 

 food was changed, and the animals ate consider- 

 ably more. The sheep which were put on pota- 

 toes, were for a few days somewhat averse to 

 them, and at first ate but little; consequently they 

 did not thrive so fast; though they recovered in 

 the second month what they lost in the first. 

 Those which were fed on turnips and beets, ate 

 heartily of them from the beginning, and contin- 

 ued so to be. They all drank much less than 

 those which were corn-fed. M. de Palluel thinks 

 that corn might be advantageously added to the 

 roots; and, when the sheep are destined for sale, 

 if two feeds of corn be given them for a fortnight, 

 in the intervals between their meals of roots, this 

 would give a degree of firmness both to their 

 flesh and tallow.* 



A very valuable addition to the articles of sheep 

 food has been made by employing muscovado su- 

 gar. Under the direction of the Board of Agri- 

 culture, a series of experiments was undertaken 

 by the late Rev. Dr. Cartwriuht, in order to as- 

 certain the daily quantity of brown muscovado 

 sugar necessary to fatten sheep; to show its ef- 

 fects and value when so applied; and to demon- 

 strate what substance sufficiently cheap might be 

 mixed with it, so as to prevent its application to 

 common uses, in order to protect the revenue, and 

 yet render it not unpalatable or pernicious to ani- 

 mals feeding upon them. It should be stated, 

 that these experiments originated in a suggestion 

 of the Parliamentary Distillery Committee- of 

 1808, that the drawback on sugar should be al- 

 lowed to the farmer for agricultural purposes, on 

 his mixing it, in the presence of an excise officer, 

 with some substance, which would render it unfit 

 for common uses. This suggestion was not em- 

 bodied into legislative enactment; but Dr. Cart- 

 wright availed himself of a short interval of lei- 

 sure, in order to ascertain how far the proportion 

 might be practicable. The following is an ab- 

 stract of his extensive detail addressed to the 

 Board of Agriculture: — 



The flock of sheep purchased for the purpose 

 of instituting a set of experiments to ascertain 

 the facts enumerated in the title of the paper, con- 

 sisted of fifteen two-shear Down wethers, which 

 were bought at Chichester, 24th of August, 1808; 

 they were bred upon the Downs, had been folded 

 through the summer, and were in a common store 

 state. They were weighed on the 27th of Au- 

 gust, and their average weight was 90^: lbs.; the 

 price was 35s. per head. For the first week they 

 were folded every evening; each had half a pint 

 of bran and a quarter of a pint of peas; and the 

 same was given them when they left the told in 

 the morning. In a week they became habituated 

 to dry food, and then to this quantity of bran and 



* This account is abridged from the "Memoires de 

 l'Academie Royale d 'Agriculture," of Paris, for the 

 year 1789. There can be no doubt that corn and pulse 

 are the most efficient food in fattening all cattle; but 

 the consideration for the grazier is not only what will 

 soonest, but also what will most economically effect that 

 object; and in that important view, it is much to be 

 doubted whether grain can, in this country, be profita- 

 hly applied to sheep. Ep 



