1S35.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



855 



On the 22nd of October, the sheep were again 

 weighed, and were found to have gained an ave- 

 rage increase of weight of 15 pounds each since 

 the 29th of September; they were then taken in- 

 to the house, and kept upon aitificial food alto- 

 gether; but one of them appearing to droop, that 

 with two others was sent to the butcher, and the 

 remaining twelve, reserved for further experi- 

 ments, had no sugar in their food for several days, 

 that they might be reconciled to its omission, and 

 might all start fair, without any preference of 

 means. 



On the 2d of November these were divided in- 

 to three classes of four sheep each, and were 

 weighed on the 12th, when a very inconsiderable 

 gain was perceived, which was accounted for 

 from their not beingyet reconciled to confinement. 

 An attempt was now made to adulterate their 

 food with charcoal, but this part of the experi- 

 ment was soon given up, from the difficulty of ob- 

 taining it sufficiently pulverized; bran, peas, and 

 hay, were given to all, and to the first class six 

 ounces of sugar each per day, to the second class 

 four ounces each, and to the third class none. 

 They weie weighed every week, and the respec- 

 tive weights of each are given in Or. Cartwright's 

 original communication, but the increase of 

 weight was not considerable, and sometimes one 

 class and sometimes another had the superiority. 

 Their progress in confinement was not equal to 

 that which was made when they were at liberty; 

 and both those which had only four ounces of su- 

 gar per day, and those which had no sugar at all, 

 made rather more progress than those which had 

 a daily allowance of six ounces, and the advan- 

 tage was rather in favor of those which had the 

 tour ounces. 



From all the facts taken collectively, Dr. Cart- 

 wright draws the following conclusions: — 



"1. That sugar may be given with great ad- 

 vantage to sheep, if not confined, especially if 

 they have access to green food, however little that 

 green food may be in quantity. 



"2. That sugar may be ijiven to them with 

 every prospect of a beneficial effect, in the quan- 

 tity of four ounces per day to each sheep. 



"3. That sugar, supposing it to be purchased 

 at four-pence per pound (which it might be if duty 

 free,*) would at the rate of four ounces per day 

 be paid for in a return of flesh, exclusive of the 

 advantage of expeditious feeding, and the benefit 

 to be derived from the manure. 



"4. That six ounces per day to each sheep ex- 

 ceeds the maximum that can be given with the 

 best advantage to sheep of the size of South 

 Downs. 



"5. That the advantage of stall-feeding sheep 

 altogether upon sugar and dry food, of whatever 

 nature that food may be, is extremely problemat- 

 ical, "f 



On these ably conducted experiments we have 



with their water, and materially assists in improving 

 their condition. — Ed. 



* Molasses, and coarse West India sugar, may now 

 be obtained wholesale, for very little more than half 

 the price. 



f Communication to the Board of Agriculture, Vol. 

 VI. Part II. 



only to remark, that Dr. Cartwright has fully 

 shown the practicability of feeding sheep, at least 

 partly, with sugar; the profit however is the ma- 

 teriaFpoint, and that can only be ascertained by 

 comparative trials of lood given with, and with- 

 out sugar, to which, as the object was chiefly to 

 discover how far the sheep would relish it, the ex- 

 periments were not sufficiently in point; but it 

 seems probable that, were the duty taken oil', the 

 farmer might beneficially avail himself of this ar- 

 ticle, and also benefit the sugar planters, without 

 interfering in any degree with the distilleries. 



Some experiments, tried on dogs, by the cele- 

 brated Dr. Magendie, have been adduced as 

 proofs of the fallacy of the commonly received 

 opinion that sugar, gum, oil, butter, and other 

 similar substances which do not contain azote, 

 are nourishing articles of food. 



He fed those animals separately on sugar and 

 water, olive-oil and water, gum and water, and 

 butter; and they all died within thirty-six days. 

 But these experiments cannot be considered con- 

 clusive; for it appears, from other trials, that the 

 stomach requires substance as well as nutriment: 

 thus, of two dogs, one fed on the jelly extracted 

 from beef, and the other on the fibre of the same 

 beef, from which all its nutritive matter was sup- 

 posed to have been exhausted, the one. fed on the 

 jelly died, whilst the other throve. The sugar, 

 and other substances ought, therefore, to have 

 been combined with solids in order to arrive at 

 the desired conclusion. 



[To be Continued.] 



[The two following communications were received 

 just before the close of our last number, and after the 

 foregoing article on the same general subject was ready 

 for the press. We are gratified to have the confirma- 

 tion here furnished to several of the points there main- 

 tained. We are also pleased to count "A Planter" 

 among the contributors to the Farmers' Register. 

 From his letters to the Southern Agriculturist, (repub- 

 lished in Vol. I. Farm. Reg.). we obtained some of the 

 earliest information that the prairie lands furnished 

 practical proofs of what we had maintained by argu- 

 ment as truths, though only known in theory, and sus- 

 tained by reasoning alone. From the peculiar fitness 

 of the lands described by our correspondent to be im- 

 proved by the application of the theory of calcareous 

 manures, we begin to hope that even the tillers of the 

 rich western lands will cease to believe that nothing 

 but cultivation is required for their fields. It would 

 seem that there is no region where sure means can be 

 so easily and cheaply used to preserve, or to create 

 fertility — and none . where the neglect of those means 

 will be ultimately more certainly visited with well de- 

 served loss. 



For want of proper means, and practical knowledge, 

 still more than on account of the small quantity of the 

 specimens of soils mentioned below, we did not at- 

 tempt to ascertain the proportion of vegetable matter 

 contained — though that is a point which well deserves 

 investigation. The three specimens contained, of pure 

 calcareous earth, 11, 8-1, and 27 per cent.: for this in- 

 gredient alone, the third would be a rich and cheap 

 manure, and the second, more than thrice as valuable 

 i for the adjacent poorer wooded lands. Whether the 



