1304 ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF AGRICULTURE. bupplemfnt, 



8131. Training calves and horses — In F.llis's Hursc Training, reviewed in the Athcnarum for April 2. 

 1843, it is shown that breathing Into the nostrils of calves, horses, end various wild animals, renders 

 them quite tame. The experiment has been tried In England with success ; and Mr. Kllis is of opinion, 

 that this is the secret of the celebrated Irish horse charmers, who pretended to whisper to the animal and 

 play with his head, and thus, probably, breathed into his nostrils. The experiments made by Mr. Kllis 

 are founded on the following passage in Mr. Catlln'a work, On the Manners and Custom* of the North 

 American Indians : — " I ha> a often, In concurrence with a well-know n custom of the country, held my 

 hand over the eyes of the calf and breathed a few strong breath! Into its nostrils ; after which I have, 

 with my bunting companions, rode several miles into our encampment, with the little prisoner busily 

 following the heels of my horse, the whole way, as closely and affectionately as its instinct would attach 

 it to the company of its dam. This is one of the most extraordinary things that 1 have met with in the. 

 habits of this wild country ; and although I had often heard of it, and felt unable exactly to believe it, I 

 am now willing to bear testimony to the fact, from the numerous instances which 1 have witnessed 6ince 

 1 came into the country. During the time that 1 resided at this post, in the spring of the year, on my 

 way up the river, I assisted (in numerous hunts of the buffalo with the Fur Company's men) in bringing 

 in, in the above manner, several of these little prisoners, which sometimes follow for five or six miles 

 close to our horses' heels, and even into the l'ur Company's fort, and into the stables where our horses 

 were led. In this way, before I left for the head waters of the Missouri, I think we had collected about 

 a dozen. In the same way the wild horses are tamed. When the Indian has got him well secured with 

 the lasso, and a pair of hobbles on his feet, he gradually advances, until be is able to place his hand on 

 the animal's nose and over his eyes, and, at length, to breathe in its nostrils, when it soon becomes docile 

 and conquered : so that he has little more to do than to remove the hobble from his feet, and lead or ride 

 it into camp." In confirmation of what has just been stated, we quote the following: — " The taming of 

 horses," says the Netoboum Advocate (a North Carolina new spaper), by breathing in their nostrils, seems 

 to be gaining friends. Mr. David Clayton, of Tyrrcl county, having seen an article in our paper stating 

 that horses had been rendered gentle by breathing into their nostrils, determined to try it on a young 

 mule belonging to him, who would sutler no person to handle him. Mr. Clayton fastened him in a 

 stable, and, after considerable trouble, succeeded in breathing several times in his nostrils. Before he 

 left the stable the mule became gentle, and would stand still and suffer himself to be rubbed, and would 

 nose and smell around him. He followed Mr. Clayton out of the stable, around the yard, and wanted 

 to go into the house. We advise our friends who have colts to break to try the experiment ; if it does no 

 good, it can certainly do no harm." (G. M. 18-12, pp. 328. and 574.) The subject of training horses in this 

 way is said to be mentioned by Meric Casaubon, in his Treatise on Enthusiasm, published in 1665 ; who 

 refers to one Sullivan, a blacksmith at Cork, who practised the art. The same statement will be found 

 in Stewart Rose's translation of I'arthcnopcx de Blois, and in a note in Borrow's Bible in Spain. We 

 have introduced it in this Supplement in the hope that it may induce such experiments to be made as 

 may set the matter at rest. 



BOOK III. 



THE MINERAL KINGDOM AND THE ATMOSPHERE WITH REFERENCE TO AGRICULTURE. 



Chap. I. — Earths and Soils, (p. 312.) 



8132 2100. Humus or mould exists in all soils, and indeed is necessary to constitute soils as distin- 

 guished from earths, which consist solely of inorganic matter. It was formerly thought that humus was 

 soluble in water, and in that state was taken up by the roots of plants ; but Liebig has shown that it is 

 insoluble in water ; that if it were, it would soon be washed out of the soil by rains and melting snow ; 

 and that it only supplies food through the action of the oxygen of the atmosphere, with which it forms 

 carbonic acid gas. " The complete, or it may be said, the absolute insolubility in cold water of vegetable 

 matter in progress of decay, (humus.) appears on closer consideration to be a most wise arrangement of 

 nature. For if humus possessed even a smaller degree of solubility than that ascribed to the substance 

 called humic acid, it must be dissolved by rain water Thus, the yearly irrigation of meadows, w hich 

 lasts for several weeks, would remove a great part of it from the ground, and a heavy and continued rain 

 would impoverish a soil. But it is soluble only when combined with oxygen ; it can be taken up by 

 water, therefore, only as carbonic acid. When kept in a dry place, humus may be preserved for centu- 

 ries ; but when moistened with water, it converts the surrounding oxygen into carbonic acid. As soon 

 as the action of the air ceases, that is, as soon as it is deprived of oxygen, the humus suffers no further 

 change. Its decay proceeds only when plants grow in the soil containing it ; for they absorb by their 

 roots the carbonic acid as it is formed. The soil receives again from living plants the carbonaceous 

 matter it thus loses, so that the proportion of humus in it does not decrease." (I.iebig's Chemistry oj 

 Agriculture, &c, 2d ed. p. 114.) 



8133 2212. Irrigation. Sir Humphry Davy was unable to satisfy himself as to the cause of the be- 

 nefits derived from irrigation, ascribing it chiefly to the protection of the grass from early spring frosts ; 

 but if we admit, with Liebig, that inorganic salts are necessary to the well-being of plants, and promote 

 an increased development of them, the explanation of the effects of irrigation with clear water becomes 

 easy. The clearest spring water holds in solution carbonate, sulphate, and chloride of lime, with silicate 

 and other salts of potash and soda. " Reeds and equisetaceaj thrive in ditches and streamlets, because 

 a large portion of silicate of potassa enters into their composition, and, by the frequent change of the 

 water, dissolved silica is largely supplied. The meadow grasses likewise require silicate of potassa, and 

 they are furnished with it by the water which flows over them while under irrigation. The carbon also, 

 and the carbonaceous excrements of plants contained in the soil, require abundance of oxygen to pro- 

 mote their decay and conversion into carbonic acid. Now the water of rivers and streams holds oxygen 

 in solution, and if, during the process of irrigation, the water be frequently renewed, no matter how 

 thin the sheet of it with which the meadow be covered, it will communicate large supplies of oxygen, 

 and promote the decomposition of the organic matters contained in the soil. Stagnant water, on the 

 contrary, retards their conversion into carbonic acid by preventing the access of air. and hence arises the 

 sterility of bogs and marshes. In order to convert them into luxuriant meadows, it is only necessary to 

 remove the stagnant water by draining, and, where practicable, to irrigate them by means of water 

 rapidly renewed." (Trim?ncr's Chemistry for Farmers and Landowners, p. 199.) 



8134 2217. Ilotation of crops. The theory of the rotation of crops adopted by Liebig is thus ably 



given in an abridged form by Mr. Trimmer. Formerly the soil was supposed to contain a variety of 

 substances, some only of which could be assimilated by one family of plants, others by another ; and that 

 each plant absorbed those substances which were suited to it, and rejected the rest. " Subsequent ob- 

 servations caused the following modification of this theory ; viz., that plants absorb indiscriminately 

 whatever is presented to their roots in a state of solution, retaining that which is suited to assimilation 

 by them, and expelling as excrement that which is unsuited. Some experiments were made by Macaire 

 rrinceps, in which plants were made to vegetate in a weak solution of acetate of lead, and were sprinkled 



