SUR 



SUR 



439 



It is said that the seeds of this 

 plant will afford an oil equal to 

 olive oil. and that seventy bushels 

 may be raised from an acre. A 

 bushel of seed, we are told, will 

 yield a gallon of oil as tine as that 

 which we iaiporl from Florence ; 

 and the mass which remains after 

 pressing out the oil is useful as food 

 for hogs, poultry, &c. This plant 

 gives out great quantities of oxygen 

 gas, or vital air, and, on that ac- 

 count, it has been recommended 

 to cultivate it in unwholesome 

 places. In England it has been 

 applied to other valuable uses. 

 The fibres of the baric have been 

 substituted for hemp ; and the 

 stalks, vvhen dried, are used for 

 fuel, the pith affording tinder. The 

 leaves, when green, are a good 

 food for rabbits. It may be raised 

 in rows liko Indian corn. — See 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Reposi- 

 tory. Vol. HI. pages 70. 71. 



A correspondent of the " Ame- 

 rican Farmer" states (Vol. ii. p. 

 46), that he planted sunflower seed 

 on the ninth of May, in a rich 

 black soil, drill fashion, rows four 

 feet apart, plants from two to three 

 feet asunder when thinned, amount 

 ing to eight square rods. They 

 grew well under a common corn 

 cultivation, ripened, and the seed 

 heads were cut off the stalks and 

 thresher about the 1 1th of Octo- 

 ber. The crop was at the rate of 

 ninety bushels to the acre. 



SURFEIT, a disease to which 

 cattle, and horses especially, are 

 liable. 



It is produced by various causes ; 

 it comes from intense labour, from 

 overheating, and from diseases not 

 well cured. 



" A horse is said to be surfeited, 

 when his coat stares, and looks 

 rusty and durty, though proper 

 means have not been wanting to 

 keep him clean. The skin is f»dl 

 of scales and dander, that lie (hi k 

 and mealy among the hair, and is 

 constantly supplied with a fresh 

 succession of the same for want of 

 due transpiration. Some horses 

 have hurdles of various sizes like 

 peas or tares : Some have dry fix- 

 ed scabs all over their limbs or 

 bodies ; others a moisture attended 

 with heat and inflammation ; the 

 humours being so sharp and vio- 

 lently itching, that the horses rub 

 so incessantly, as to make them- 

 selves raw. Some have no erup- 

 tions at all, but an unwholesome 

 look, and are dull, sluggish, and 

 lazy; some appear only lean and 

 hidebound ; others have flymg 

 pains and lameness, resembling a 

 rheumatism ; so that in the surfeits 

 of horses, we have almost all the 

 different species of the scurvy, and 

 other chronical distempers. 



" The following method is usu- 

 ally attended with success in the 

 dry species. First, take away about 

 three or four pounds of blood ; and 

 then give the following mild purge, 

 which will work as an alterative, 

 and should be repeated once a 

 week or ten days, for some time. 

 Take succotrine aloes six drams, 

 or one ounce; gum guaicumhalf 

 an ouuce ; diaphoretic anti- 

 mony, and powder of myrrh, of 

 each two drams; make into a 

 ball with syrup of buckthorn. 

 " In the inermediate days, an 

 ounce of the following powder 

 should be given morning and even- 

 ing in his feeds. 



