NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



445 



the animals he had created, yet of the numerous 

 kinds that inhabit the earth and air, only a score 

 or two are domesticated in our country, and in 

 most parts of Europe. Out of all the others re- 

 maining, either wild in our own country, or in a 

 wild or tame condition in other countries, are there 

 not some that might be profitably brought into use 

 by importation or domestication, which either by 

 their labor or their product would be valuable to 

 the farmer and the State 1 



In our own country we have the buff do, which 

 might be very serviceable for labor, and for food, 

 and for the product of leather. It might be worth 

 a somewhat expensive experiment to ascertain 

 whether in either one particular it would be supe- 

 rior to the ox. If the product of leather, milk, 

 butter or cheese or beef should be superior to that 

 of the native breed of neat cattle, it would be a 

 valuable acquisition. Then there is the wild ox 

 of Tartary, and the buffalo of Asia, and as beasts of 

 burden or draught merely, the Zebra of Africa, and 

 the animal called driggetai, or by the French 

 heniione, a native of India, and the camel and 

 dromedary. For their product, the common fal- 

 low deer of this country, the reindeer, and lama 

 and alpacca, the chamois — and others that might 

 perhaps prove valuable additions to the present 

 stock of domestic animals. Among birds, the 

 prairie hen and the wild goose, brant, loon, swan 

 and pelican, all natives of our country, and very 

 abundant in the West, about the Mississippi River ; 

 the guinea goose, of great size, and the toulouse, 

 the largest of the tribe, the Aylesbury duck, and 

 others of this family, the stork, the guan of Yuca- 

 tan, the Mexican pheasant, the water hen, and so 

 forth. 



wool, and as food extremely agreeable and whole- 

 some ; and the tapir of Guyana, valuable for his 

 services, and as food, and easily kept. He recom- 

 mends a menagerie of naturalization ; and this hag 

 since been commenced in France. 



Some of the animals mentioned are wholly un- 

 known as respects their disposition to domestica- 

 tion, and their value if domesticated. Many other 

 animals and plants are well known in other coun- 

 tries. M. St. Hilaire says there are but forty 

 kinds of animals domesticated in France. We are 

 unable to recount the half of that number among 

 us. But if the number here be as great as in 

 France, there is good reason to suppose that some 

 other kinds may be found, on trial, to be of ad- 

 vantage. If, however, the recommendation I have 

 ventured to make in this paragraph, in relation to 

 animals, should be considered valueless, I believe 

 every one who has any conception of the extent of 

 the vegetable department of nature will agree that 

 in this, at least, it may be worth a trial. I have 

 only named a few individuals in each department, 

 for illustration, avoiding an extension of the list, 

 which would make the communication too prolix. 



Essex, Sept., 1852. w. J. a. b. 



DEATH OF PROFESSOR NORTON. 



John Pitkin Norton died at the residence of his 

 father, John T. Norton, Esq., in Farfflington, Ct., 

 on Sunday, the 5th inst., aged SO years. His 

 health failed him early in the spring, but a south- 

 ern voyage, and twu months residence in Florida, 

 gave his friends hopes of its restoration. On his 

 journey homeward in May, he was taken with the 

 measles, and from that time his health was fluctu- 

 There maybe also some valuable additions ati sometimes improved, and then again much 

 to our stock of cultivated fruits and vegetables. worge< unt;1 within a few weeks pa9 t, when his 

 The teak for instance for timber, and perhaps other decline became rapid and hopeless, and soon hur- 

 trees for their wood ; the Euphorbia of the Cana- r j e( j n ; m ^ ^ ie g. rave 



ries, the sap of which furnishes a refreshing drink 

 the psoralia of our country, the root of which is 

 edible, the sago palm, and some fruits or vegeta- 

 bles for eating, and some plants useful for various 

 purposes in the arts, might perhaps be brought in- 

 to use, if the means were provided. There is a 

 wild hemp, native to this country, the properties 

 of which have not been tested, except by the In 



Prof. Norton, as an author and lecturer, is well 

 known to the readers of agricultural periodicals, 

 lie held for some years, and at the time of his 

 death, the Professorship of "Chemistry Applied to 

 Agriculture" in Yale College, and has lectured 

 frequently and with great acceptability, in this 

 State, on suljects allied therewith. His treatise 

 n "Scientific Agriculture," prepared as a prize 



dians, and the character of which as respects cul- e88ay for our State Society, is widely popular, an 1 

 tivation is unknown. But especially some kinds in extensive use as a text-book for schools ; and 

 of grasses either native to this country, or of those j hisnotesto Stephens' "Book of the Farm," to- 

 cultivated in Europe, might be found, on trial, to Lether with numerous valuable contributions to 

 be valuable acquisitions to the farmer for hay or the Albany Cultivator, and other Agricultural aid 





pasture. In the last department particularly, of 

 pasture, we think there is a great deficiency in not 

 having the varieties of early and late flowering 

 grasses, so as to have a longer continuance of pas- 

 ture. 



If a portion of the funds of all the Agricultural 

 societies in the State could be united for this pur- 

 pose, or if some other means could be provided for 

 it, the trial might result in solid advantage. It 

 would be a very appropriate enterprise for the 

 National Agricultural Society recently formed, 

 or for a society of Natural History, if any such 

 have pecuniary ability for it. 



A memoir on this subject, so far as r^l itfls t 

 animals, was addressed by M. Isidore Geoffroy 

 Saint Hilaire, member of the National Institute of 

 France, to the Minister of Commerce and Agricul- 

 ture, in 1844. Among others, he named the 

 woolly kangaroo of New Holland as valuable for its 



Scientific journals, have placed his name at tl 

 head of the class of writers to which he belonged. 

 His death, thus young, is a loss to the country, 

 and one which every friend of improvement and 

 intelligent cultivator of the soil will d eplore . "Ilo 

 had already," says Prof. Silliman,in a just tribute 

 to his worth, "made a strong impression on t! c 

 public mind : he had gained the confidence of all, 

 and promised a long career of usefulness." 



His character as a man and a Christian, w.s 

 most estimable and winning, he was eminently 

 happy in his social and domestic relations, ai ! 

 everything seemed to promise a pleasant and use- 

 ful life. But in the midst of his labors and I 

 success, and his promise for the future — in th n 

 prime of manhood — One "who doeth all things 

 well," has called him away from the scenes and 

 toils of mortal life to the rewards of Immortal ty. 

 — Rural New-Yorker. 



