Vol. X.— No. 17. 



AND UOIITICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



133 



Mag. 



Ill lliaiory. 



THE ROT IN SHEEP. 

 Most of your leadi-is .-ire nvvare tliatl)y tlje fre- 

 quent and rcpenteil molateiiiiig of land llie griiss 

 n-rows in aliii.iilance, mucli mure quickly, and has 

 a more luxuriant iip|)earance, paniiularly wlieii 

 the weather is close and warm. It is this quick- 

 ness of ii.s growth which I think is the great 

 cause of tiie uiiscliief. VVIieii grown .slowly, time 

 in allowed for that hitter principle to be more fully 

 elaborated, on which depends the good quality of 

 our grasses, which is the ca^e in a moderaiely dry 

 season, and when also the disease does not make 

 its appearance. But whcti, contrary to this, the 

 grass grows too quickly to allow that change ta- 

 king place, and it does not contain that bitterness, 

 but has a more delicate appearance, or what is 

 termed squashy, the sheep become diseased from 

 the loss of that u.-rual stimulus to the bowels, the 

 bitter principle of well grown grass. In conse- 

 quence of this they become torpid, the food not 

 well dige^ted, the secretion of bile sluggish ; and 

 here is the foundation of that mass of disease in 

 the liver. How far this opinion may be correct I 

 leave to the judgment of others : but should it 

 prove so, the remedy will he simple when taken in 

 the first place, that i.s, before the mailer is formed 

 in the liver. I presume that for the want of that 

 stimulus to the bowels the liver does not perform 

 its functions, and becomes overlonderl with bile, 

 part of which is again circulated v%ilh the blood ; 

 but in lime, from ils stagnation it becomes pulrid, 

 and matter is formed upon the liver, in small lii- 

 bercles, which bursling into each other become 

 abscesses, in which are found the hydatids or 

 flukes. By what means they get there is at pre- 

 sent a maltcr of conjecture. It is certain tliey 

 are animiilmlae, as tiny have been seen to move 

 several hours after their removal from the slieep 

 It may he asked by some, How are we to know 

 the rot in iis liist stage ? The weather, tlie situa- 

 tion of his laud, together with his own judgment 

 as to the probability of the flock becoming diseas- 

 ed are the slie|dierd's best guides. The slieep. 

 themselves, in an early stage of ihe disease will 

 appear slothful, and llnir eyes dim, witii a tinge of 

 yellow ; i. e. having a jaun<liced appearance. In 

 this state, I should give a few doses of mild 

 mercurials, saline aperients, ami then a mild biiter 

 infusion, such as infusion of chamomile or of 

 gentian, two or three times a day. 



ground in all directions. I thought I also saw j bled. On Ihe Thursday previous, also, the pleasure 

 some flying, and alighting round about. Ilereiip- bpat (but partially finished) Governor Brown, from 

 on I caused one on the ground to mount my hand, ] ';''rcleville, made her first entry into the waters of 



with the forceps in ils tail, which it turned over ils 

 hark, anil used with admirable udroilness. They 

 flew ably, and in curves of short diameters. This 

 instance is very similar to ihe one related in Kirby 

 and Spence's Introduction to Entomology, vol. iv. 

 p. 514. — lohn Denson. Bayswater, July 12, 1831. 



Mount Auburn, in the vicinity of Boston has 

 been eonseeraled as a place of sepulture for the 

 city dead. It is spoken of as a place of unri- 

 valled rural heauly. Boston hits set a laudable 

 example to the cities and crowded villages of our 

 country. To relaint heir dead within their walls 

 is 10 hoard up connigion and death for their in- 

 habitants — ills to drown the solemnily of death in 

 s(^enes of active life and the solemn 

 the grave in the tuin'jlt of business.- 

 per. 



stilli 



-A. Y. pa- 



To obtnin the Skehlons of Small Fislies. — My t 

 method is this : — I suspend the fish by threads at- I 

 Inched to the head and tail, in a horizonial position, 

 in a jar of water such as is found in ponds where j 

 tadpoles abound ; and change it often, till the tad- j 

 poles have finished their work ; which, if two orj 

 three tadpoles are allowed to work on a fish of a | 

 small size, they will complete in tweniy fuurj 

 hours. I always select the smallest sort of tad- 1 

 poles, as they insinuate themselves between the 

 smallest bones, without destroying their articula-j 

 tion.' [T. Bluett, in Philosophical Magazine, \ti\., 

 vii. p. 151.) 



OPENING OF THE OHIO CANAL. 



It will be seen by the follow ing extracts that great 

 rejoicings took place at Columbus, Ohio, on the°arri- 

 val of the first boats, through the canal at that place. 

 From tlie Cnhimbiis (Olii.i) Monilor. 



JVeio era to the Scioto Valley. — Canal navigation is 

 now opening from the lake to this place, and to Cir- 

 cleville, 26 miles further south. The pleasure boat 

 Gov. Brown, of Circleville, made her first trip from 

 Circleville to this place on Thursday last ; being the 

 first canal boat that ever entered the waters of the 

 Scioto. She was well filled with gentlemen and la- 

 dies. Her arrival was cheered by the discharge of 

 cannon, ringing the state house bell, music, huzzas, 

 waving of handkerchiefs, and e.xhibitions of joy of the 

 citizens of this town. 



More welcome arrivals. — On Monday three canal 

 boats arrived at this town, viz : the Cincinnati, Red 

 Rover and Lady Jane, from Cleaveland. These 

 were the first boats that had passed the Licking 

 Summit. The first fruits of navigable commerce 

 with the lakes, and the state of New Vork to the 

 town of Columbus, was welcomed by the filing of a 

 sixpoundcr, the ringing of the state house bell, a 

 procession of citizens, and an address from a com- 

 mittee, and a collation, partaken in common by the 

 boat's company and citizens. The scene was in- 

 tensely gratifying to the man of business, and ad- 

 mirers of internal improvement ; and it is hardly less 

 animating to the youth, and very many of the adults 

 in this place, who had never «ecn any water craft 

 superior to an Orleans flat. The sightof these boats 

 was marvellous to some slow calculating pioneers of 

 these ' western wilds,' who never believed that in 

 their day, a canal boat would reach Columbus, from 

 the lake. The first boat was adapted to heio-hlen 

 the marvel. It was the Cincinnati, which had been 

 built at the city of New York, and actually floated 

 on the ' briny waves ' in that harbor ; had passed up 

 the majestic Hudson; the great western canal ; the 

 boisterious lake Erie, and plied the Erie and Ohio 

 canal, a distance of about 2-10 miles. Six years ago. 



The Fad of the Flight of Earwigs I had long 

 known, on the credit of others, but not at all from 

 inspection, till May 12, 1831. Between 5 and 6 

 P. M. the atmnsphere was warm and most exciiing, 

 when, in an area belweeii two ranges of lioi-bed 

 frames, I saw ni;nicrous specimens of Forficnia 

 minor, all in highest ecstasies, aiid traversing the 



on the 4th of July last, this gigantic canal was com- 

 menced. It is now finished 40 miles farther south, ' '""""t^^'"/- , " "'"'t. 'or ye"s to come, purchase lU 

 and it is expected next year to mingle its waters : ""PP'^ f ,<:l«'hmg many ot its other necessaries, 



passed the Licking Summit 



Tiie reception of these several boats, with their 

 music playing and their flags flying, was peculiarly 

 gratifying. The occasion was duly honored by tho 

 citizens of this town, aud the proceedings were en- 

 livened by the presence of hundreds of spectators, 

 who were attracted to the scene by the ringing of the' 

 bell, and by the sound of the cannon upoii tire bank 

 of the River. The committee of arrantjements met 

 the first boat, at the wharf, where an "address was 

 made on behalf of the town by Col. Wm. Doherty, 

 and appropriate salutes were iired from the bank aud 

 returned from the boat. 



The man of enterprise, the merchant, the farmer, 

 the mechanic, and indeed, every class and conditio!! 

 of society, must feel the impoitance of opening canal 

 navigation to this town. It may well be considered 

 our entrance upon that prosperity which is to mark 

 our future growth, and which will give an impetus 

 to the future wealth and commerce to this portion of 

 Ohio. Several of the boats, we understand, were 

 built in New York, and alter floating up Lake Erie, 

 have come among us as it were from another hemis- 

 phere, extending their proffered reward to many 

 years of toil, and holding before us the reflected im- 

 age of that energy which planned and matured this 

 noble work. Amid a scene so animating, we may 

 well turn back to the patrons of the project, and offer 

 our gratitude to those whose zeal and industry, and 

 untiring perseverance, have accomplished what a 

 few years ago were locked in the mares of mystery 

 and doubt The canal commissioners have each an 

 honorable share in the recollections of a grateful 

 public on this occasion, but for the success of the 

 work to this town, and on that portion of the canal 

 in which Columbus is more immediately interested, 

 we are indebted to the energy and exertions of Al- 

 fred Kelly, acting canal commissioner, whose pres- 

 ence animated the scene described, and who, we 

 could perceive, "p,-vrticipated largely in the gratifying 

 spectacle he had contributed to produce. 



The Scioto Gazette, speaking of the Ohio canal, 

 in which in a few days there will be a continuous 

 navigation of two hundred an<l fifty miles, from Lake 

 Erie to Cliilicotlie, says that, in anticipation of that 

 event, many merchants have already purchased their 

 supplies ot fall and winter goods at New York, and 

 have contracted to have them delivered at that point. 

 The entire cost of Ireiglit commission and insurance 

 (with the exception of the risk on the lake) will only 

 amount to $1,87 the hundred pounds. Before this 

 communication was opened, the foreign commodities 

 disposed of in that market were brought by the way 

 of Pittsburg and the Ohio, and the average cost of 

 their transportation was about .f 4,75 per hundred. — 

 Thus there is a saving of nearly three dollars per 

 hundred of all the foreign merchandise off'ered there 

 for sale, which if estimated at five hundred thousand 

 pounds' weii;ht, not to speak of salt, coal and various 

 other domestic articles- There is also a gain of 

 fourteen or fifteen days in time, which is often as 

 valuable to the merchant as money itself- 



That section of country, it is added, is essentially 

 agricultural, and will be, if not already so, the 

 greatest exporting district west of the Allegany 

 mountains- It mu.st, for years to come, purchase its 



pected 

 with the Ohio 



j and its luxuries, with its agricultural productions, to 

 send which to market by any other conveyance than 

 F.-nm iiie C'oiiMiihiis (Ohio) Sentinel of Pppt. 37. j by water, (or one equivalent in cheapness,) would 



Reception of the first Boats — On Monday last, the consume almost their entire value, in the cost of 

 three boats ; Cincinnati, Red Rover, and Lady Jane, transportation. How important this communication ! 

 were welcomed to our wharves by a great concourse it is truly said, by which ihi? produce may be carried 

 of citizens, under the discharge of artillery, and to market, uiibiirthened by a tax conveyance which 

 amidst the joyous greetings of the multitude assem- ' would amount in fact to a prohibition. 



