218 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNALUS 



' When the president discovered a village it was not 

 necessary for all the company to ride thither, but the 

 geographer alone was sent to enter it. If some par- 

 ticular stone or fossil was found on the way the metal - 

 list was directed to alight ; at the sight of some curious 

 plant or insect the botanist or zoologist did his duty. 

 They took the respective objects with them, and pre- 

 pared a description, to be inserted at night in the " Trans- 

 actions," besides the name of the place where they had 

 been found. At night they all met together ; the presi- 

 dent then dictated to the secretary l the memoranda 

 collected by each companion in a regular turn, from the 

 geographer to the steward ; and if he happened to for- 

 get any remark, the companion to whose office that 

 part of the science belonged refreshed his memory.' 



This division of labour was found easily practicable 

 by the party. All did not precipitate themselves on a 



ascertain what plants are eaten and what are rejected by horned 

 cattle, goats, sheep, horses, and hogs. Linnaeus conceived the 

 design of instituting these experiments when he was travelling in 

 Dalarne. Horned cattle ate of the plants offered to them 276 

 species, and rejected 218 ; goats, of 449 kinds, refused 126; sheep, 

 of 387 kinds, refused 141 ; horses, of 262, refused 212 ; swine ate 

 of those offered 72 kinds, and refused 171. Three-fourths of these 

 (Swedish) plants are the same as ours in England. The utility of such 

 experiments is evident, as they lay the foundation of further im- 

 provements in the economy of cattle. Our hay might be much 

 improved ; for although cattle will eat in hay those herbs which they 

 reject while green and growing, yet it does not follow that all in 

 their dried state are equally nutritive and wholesome. 



1 Gieseke. This may have been the original plan, but in the 

 journal each man's observations are recorded in his own hand- 

 writing. 



