Vol. X— Nn. 2. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



13 



SYiMPTOMS AND rilOGRESS OF THE ROT 

 IN SHEEP. 



In the first sta?e of tlio rot, tlie sheep is in 

 the frequent h.iliit of nibliins tlie upper lip against 

 the folil, or ils own fure legs, or any hard suh- 

 stance ; iilso of drinkiiii; a greater quantity of water 

 when at the sheepfold tlian those that are sound, 

 and sliowing a disposition rather to liclj oH" tlie 

 moisture from, than to crop the grass. In the 

 second stage, the lips, nostrils and throat hecome 

 swollen -, the animal is feverish, insaiiahly thirsty, 

 nnd almost incesasntly visited by a sort of dry 

 coifh. In the third and last stage, the eyes be- 

 come sunken ; the eycveins, small, discolored and 

 nearly liloodless, the eye-balls, livid and dim, with 

 whites exceeding pale, the burrs of the cars swollen, 

 and free from wax ; the liver, lights, and throat 

 ulcerated ; and the passage of respiration being 

 stopped, the ainmal is suffocatecL ' I was led to 

 this experience," says the writer, ' when very 

 young in business, by an old shepherd who hail 

 been more than forty years upon the farm. Point- 

 ing to a sheep rubbing its lip against the fold, and 

 actin" otherwise in the manner above described. 

 That sheep, master, said he is touched with the 

 rot. The best thing I can recommend you to do 

 with him is, to take him home before he is too far 

 "one, give him some ground oats, and make him 

 lidydish meat and kill him.' I did so, as sheep 

 will thrive upon oats for some time after they are 

 first affected ; and when the sheep was opened, I 

 discovered that the liver was full of things resem- 

 bling plaice, and its lights just beginning to become 

 ulcerated. The next sheep I foiuid in the first 

 stage as above mentioned, I suffered, by way of 

 experiment, to take its cliaiice, and it died, by 

 suffocation in the third stage, as above stated, 

 which was the residt of at least a dozen exjieri- 

 mcnts.' — jV. IT Memoirs. 



chrysales of the cocoon — the moth having eaten 

 out,deposited her eggs and the eggs having hatched, 

 the worms are now eating the leaves, and the 

 whole has been done in the short space of throe 

 weeks. Mr C. obtained this variety of the insect 

 from Baltimore. — Dcdham Politician. 



SILK FIL'^TIJRE. 

 We have been gratified with seeing the progress 

 of the silk culture in this neighborhood. Mr 

 Cobb has the silk reeled with great evenness in 

 liis own family ; and several families in the neigh- 

 borhood have been engaged in rearing silk worms 

 for him this season, and as he reels all that comes, 

 to advantage, it is probable that this useful branch 

 of industry will be rapidly extended. We under- 

 stand that when Mr C. buys the cocoons he pays 

 from 25 to 50 cts. per pound — and that the silk as 

 it comes from the reel fetches from 4 to 6s. per 

 pound. Mr C, has in press a mainial on the cul- 

 ture of silk which is to be distributed to each of 

 the towns in the Conmionwealth, at the public 

 expense. This manual is calculated to give plain 

 practical directions on the subject so that a person 

 who never saw a silk worm may take it up and 

 with proper attention may proceed in the business 

 with advantage. He has lately introduced to his 

 garden from New York the morns multicaidis — a 

 kind of mulberry tree bearing leaves one foot in 

 length, and which is said to bo superior to nil others 

 for the nursing of the silk-worm, and wliich he 

 recommends to general cultivation in the State of 

 Massachuselts. We saw at Mr C.'s house five 

 varieties of the cocoon. It is said that the large 

 wliite cocoon, o( the French insect is the most 

 rich and ought to be preferred by the cultivator, 

 on account of its being best for wiiite silk ; of tlie 

 small Chinese worm, from four to five crops can 



HIGH CULTIVATION. 

 It is not an uncommon complaint among farmers 

 'that the times are hard. ' Is it wonderful that 

 with some they are so ? They are ' bard ' because 

 their crops are small, because they fail to bestow 

 the proper cultivation upon them. Concentrated 

 action is efficient action ; and it is this only which 

 gives large agricultural results. But to this an ob- 

 stacle presents itself nearly insurmountable. Onr 

 farms are in general too extensive, ami the labor of 

 the farmer is spread over too extended a surface. 

 And yet, instead of selling a single acre, most of 

 our farmers covet many more. If farmers how- 

 ever, would thrive, they must change their policy; 

 thev must concentrate their labor; they must give 

 to- few acres the care, now usually bestowed on 

 many ; and if necessary to this, they must diminish 

 their fiirms. Many an acre of corn, and many of 

 rye now yield only 10 or 12 bushels and even less. 

 Many an acre is mowed, whose burden — if it may 

 be called a burden — amounts to scarcely half a ton. 

 How much wiser — how much more grateful, to 

 give to these acres a proper cultivation and gather 

 bushels for pecks, and nearer tons for hundreds ! 

 This, I conceive, is, at present, the great error of 

 our farmers generally. They adopt a dift'usive, 

 desultory mode of operation, which keeps their 

 lands poor, and themselves poor also. The only 

 method by which the benefits of a thrifty, produc- 

 tive husbandry can be enjoyed, is to change the 

 present system for one more compressed and more 

 vigorous. It should be written on every fartn 

 house, and in the centre of every lot, .as a memento 

 to its occu[)ier — ' Till hut little, and till thorough- 

 ly.' — Rev. Mr Goodrich. 



ed will rest the defence of those privileges civil 

 and religions, which we now Bo eminently enjoy 

 —on their honesty, intelligence and firmness we 

 nay always rely to perpetuate the enjoyment of 

 these privileges. — Host. Pat. 



It has been justly said of the Farmer's occupa 

 tion, that it involves as much skill, as much inter 

 est, and as much honor, as any object within the 

 range of the attention, or the action of man. 

 It was certainly man's first em)doymcnt, and with- 

 out doubt, the happiest in which he can be en- 

 gaged. True he labors hard, and by the- sweat 

 of his brow earns his bread ; and this is common 

 to most avocations into whicli manual labor en- 

 ters. But then he has his season of enjoyment, 

 and is at all times relieved from the responsibility, 

 anxiety, and the risk of the merchant, or the in- 

 tense a|)plication and fearful solicitude of the pro- 

 fessional man. The occujiation of agriculture 

 being more steady and less liable to the fluctua- 

 tions exi)erieucecl in almost eveiy other voca- 

 tion, more especially to those immediately depen- 

 dent on commerce, tends to a more regular, sim- 

 ple, and consequently, to a more moral life. It 

 is this favorable tendency of their habits and 

 mode of living, which has entitled the yeomanry 

 to that polititical importance, which attaches to 

 them in almost every other, but more particularly 

 in this country — our government being founded 

 on equality of riglit, and our institutions recognis- 

 ing equity as the rule of conduct. The yeoman- 

 ry were the instruments by wliich our Indcpcn- 

 lieir bosoms the re- 



PEACH TREES. 



The observation in your 40th member, that 

 peach trees in a pasture not tilled, are in a healthy 

 and sound state, while those in the gardens and 

 cuhivat(^d fields have decayed, appears to be con- 

 firmed by the following facts. In a door yard 

 which has been uncultivated for eighteen years 

 past (well covered with blue or shear grass, trod- 

 den hard) are six peach trees that were planted 

 in 1809, in a healthy sound state, that have always 

 produced remarkably well. About 20 rods from 

 this yard, there is an orchard of peach trees that 

 was planted the same season, has been well tilled, 

 and every possible care taken to preserve the trees 

 from worms, notwithstanding which, the present 

 trees are the third generation, the first two being 

 entirely gone. On the margin of this orchard, in 

 the wot-ni of the fence, are two jieacli trees of the 

 first planting, in fine condition are now full of fruit. 

 The ground about the roots is well sodded and has 

 been so ever since they were |)lanted. On a pas- 

 ture lot with a different exposure, there are eight 

 trees of the same age in good health. The ground 

 has not been ploughed for twenty years. What 

 is still more remarkable, the trees in grass ground 

 have produced fruit in several seasons that those 

 on tilled ground were killed by the frost. You 

 will perhaps be siniirised to learn, that I have 

 nursed the trees in the orchard with great care, 

 pursuing the different methods recommended to 

 protect them from injury, witboi^t profiling by a 

 daily view of these circumstances ; yet such is the 

 fact, in it is a striking proof of our inaptitude to 

 appreciaie the operation of nature. I shall not 

 pretend to theorize on these phenomena, but the 

 infeience appears natural that we may have over- 

 doctoreil the trees, as is sometimes the case with a 

 learned (irofession in curing diseases incident to 

 human nature. It is not improbable that the reme- 

 ly has been worse than the disease — Western Tiller 



deuce was achieveil — from 

 be raised in a season. Mr C. has himself these pnblican spirit was transfused into our jiolitical 

 worms now which three weeks since were in the I institutions — and with thcin by whomever assail- 



Strength diminished by Jllcohol—Tlio acquisi- 

 liou of strength is found to be only temporary; 

 dulness, both of the passions and intellect suc- 

 ceeds, together with a diminution of the muscular 

 power ; a tendency to sleep ensues : ami it is seen 

 that the subsequent exhaustion is in reality propor- 

 tionate to the previous excitement ; in short, that 

 the drinker, instead of increasing, has only used up 

 his vital powers, and is now weaker than before. — 

 Hence it is that, althougii spiritous liquors create 

 a temporary energy, which may, under some cir- 

 cumstances, possibly enable him who drinks them 

 to accomplish more than at another period, yet the 

 reverse is the case in the long run ; and, both as 

 regards a consecutive series of daily labor, and 

 the jirolongation of life, alcoholic drinks are a real 

 disadvantage. The experience of all those who 

 haveeniiiloyed numerous workmen, and who have 

 made coluparative trials, is decidedly confirmatory 

 of what we here allege. In mechanical strength, 

 in thecapability of enduring hardships and fatigue, 

 in the force and clearne.ss of the intellectual pow- 

 ers, the intemperate can stand no comparison with 

 individuals endowed with the same natural advan- 

 tages, who abstain totally from the use of ardent 

 ^epkUi'.— Philadelphia Med. Society Report. 



