1825.] 



NEW ENGLAND FARMED?. 



1205 



sjjirils, the great curse of the land, recommend 

 it to our patriotism as well as our prudence and 

 our ecnnomv, and ought to induce every friend 

 of reliction and virtue, lo unite in promoting its 

 general cultivation. 



Among the more general, but not the least effi- 

 cacious means of promoting agriculture, I would 

 earnestly call your attention to the sulistitution 

 of oxen for horses, in every kind of agricultural 

 labour. It is well known that an ox does not 

 cost half as much as a horse ; that he is ke[)t at 

 less than half the expense ; that he is less liable 

 to disease and longer lived ;* and, that when he 

 becomes unlit for work, he makes excellent 

 beef; his tallow, his hide, and even his horns 

 Loofs and hair, being all useful. It is known that 

 from the steailiness and quietness of his motion, 

 he is better adapted to almost every kind of ag- 

 ricultural labour than the horse. Ail this is well 

 known ; and yet the effect of it on the whole 

 conditron of tlie agricultural community, and, in- 

 deed of the country in general, has I believe 

 been very iillle considered. Suppose that iu 

 Maryland ten thousand horses are kept for ag- 

 ricultural lahour, and that at the proper age for 

 work, they cost eighty dollars each, to those who 

 purcliase or breed them. This is a mere con- 

 jecture, but probably it is not far from the truth. 

 They will amount to eight hundred thousand 

 dollars. Suppose their place to be supplied by 

 an equal nnniber of oxen, at forty dollars eacli, 

 which is a very high price. They will cost four 

 hundred thousand dollars, and there will be a 

 clear saving of four hundred thousand dollars 

 to the agriculiural interest. 



But as there must be some horses on every 

 f;irnB,bccau'=e there arc some uses for which pv- 

 en are not fit ; suppose that instead of ten thou- 

 sand farn) horses in the slate, there should be 

 only three thousand; the places of the remain- 

 ing seven thousand being supplied by seven 

 thousand oxen, at half price. The saving would 

 then be geSO,000 in the first cost. 



Suppose these horses to cost annually ^50 

 each for keeping, shoeing, and replaci-ng those 

 that die. The amount will be ;^350,000 annu- 

 ally ; and if, as I apprehend must be admitted, 

 the OS cost only half as much, the annual saving 

 by subslituling oxen for horses will be Jjil 75,000. 

 It we adil the value of a good beef for every ox 

 that becomes ton old for work, the annual sav- 

 ing will lie raised to nearly or quite two hundred 

 thousand dollars. 



It is, 1 believe, a commrii opinion in th is part 

 of the United Slates, that oxen are not adapted 

 to so warm a climate as ours, and that they are 

 so much slower in their movement than horses, 

 as to be far less til for many purposes of draft, 

 liut these opinions I bciieve to be in a great de- 

 gree erroneous. Much depends on the breed of 

 I he ox, and on his training. Some breeds, like 

 Fome of the horse, sustain heat far better than 

 otliers. It should be our care lo procure those 

 that sustain it best. If the training of the ox be 

 commenced early, and skilfully conducted, he 

 may be accustomed to a step nearly as quick as 

 that of the horse ; and where the draft is heavy, 

 his superior steadiness gives him a deci<led ad- 

 ■vantage. On this subject I can speak positively, 

 f^-om my own observation. In the course of the 

 last three years I have had occasion lo make 



two journies, in those parts of the United Slates 

 where oxen are almost cxclusiv('ly employed, in 

 farm work of evciy description. They would 

 be exclusively employed, in every thing Ihat 



From the yir[:inia ^rgus, 



THE SCAB IN SHEEP. 



Mr Editor,— I have long thought of commu- 

 does not require a quicker gait than a walk, if j nicatiiig to the public a remedy for the cure of 



every faimer were not obliged lo keep one or 

 two horses, for purposes which do require a 

 quicker gait. — These of course, when not so 

 employed, he does not srtlTer to be idle. They 

 plough and sometimes haul, but not more 

 quickly than the oxen which work by their sides- 



*U is not good husbandry lioivcver to Iceep liiin till he 

 i? very old : because although he will labour well till 

 an ad/anced age, he becomes very dilRcult to fatten. 



From the Connecticut Mirror. 



TYROLIGNEOUS ACID. 



We published some weeks ago, a communica- 

 tion from Litchfield County,* on the subject of 

 pyroligneous acid, and the following is sent in 

 as a reply to it. We consider ourselves in fair. 

 ness bound to publish it. 



An nrlicle lately ap[)eared in your paper sign- 

 ed Goshen, Litchfield County, calculated to de- 

 preciate the merits of the genuine Pyroligneous 

 Acid. The writer having noticed it as one of 

 those things which may add to the comforts of 

 life, very candidly confesses that he has had 

 some, and as we .should infer from the sequel of 

 his remarks, a very limited acquaintance with 

 the subject. Our object in making this state- 

 ment is that the public may not be deceived by 

 a spurious composition, styled the Purified Py- 

 roligneous Acid, in contradistinction to the gen- 

 uine, which, while it contains some of the pro- 

 perties ot the latter, is partially destitute of 

 those which are esscniial to the preservation 

 and flavour of the substance lo which it is an- 

 plied. The aulhor of the article alluded lo, 

 seems lo think that the jiungent ta«te of which 

 he speaks is a consequence of its distillation in 

 iron retorts, and to remedy what he esteems a 

 defect, undoubtedly performs the same opera- 

 tion in " brass," which, as is well known must 

 necessarily increase its pleasantness to the taste. 

 The mode of extracting this acid with which 

 we have been acquainted, one properly to 

 which the writer so frequently alludes by the 

 term tar, (which indeed seems lo be his only 

 ground of allack) is not only wholly absent, but 

 not even one of the properties of the mtilter 

 from which the essence is extracted. 1'he 

 Empyreumatic oil to which he probably refers 

 by ihe appeflation of tar, il not extracted, would 

 make the acid of a very dark and blackish col- 

 our. But the extraction of this oil, together 

 with the hydrogen gas with which the wood 

 abound.-, renders it of a colour somewhat simi- 

 lar to wine, whilst, at the same time, it retains 

 all its smoking and antiseptic properties, of 

 which the colourless is in a measure necessarily 

 deprived. To reduce it to a water colour by 

 rcdistilalion, has a powerful tendency to destroy 

 not only the colour and Ibivour which it pro- 

 duces upon meat in its genuine state, but mate- 

 rially to diminish its other properties. The 

 genuine Acid has been m:inufactured in this 

 stale for nearly three ytars — has ever met vvilh 



the rot and scab in sheep, which I have n)ade 

 use of with very great success. In Ihe year 

 1806, my flock was so very indifTcrent, that from 

 ninety sheep I sheared only 130 weight of wool, 

 so sorry as to be barely fit to make clothing for 

 young negroes. Immediately after shearing, I 

 made nse of the following mixture : — Three gal- 

 lons of tar, and three do. of train oil, boiled to- 

 gether, to which was added three pounds roll 

 brimstone finely powdered and stirred in. This 

 quantity was sufficient for the above number, and 

 was poured on with a kitchen ladle, from the 

 top of the head along the back bone to the tail. 

 At the next shearing (in 1C07) from 78 of the 

 same sheep, I sheared 360 pounds of very good 

 wool, and instead of 20 to 23 sorry lambs, com- 

 monly raised from my flock, I raised 55 as fine 

 as ever I saw. Since this application I have fre- 

 quently been asked by my neighbours, where 1 

 got such fine sheep from. This remedy was ta- 

 ken from an old eastern paper, which 1 am sorry 

 to say I have lost or mislaid. It may be neces- 

 sary to add, Ihat I have continued to make use 

 of this application with the same success, and 

 that when train oil is difficult to be bad, any kind 

 of grease, such as is used for plantation leather 

 will answer. 



I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 



J. NELSON". 

 Mecklenburg, 15th June, 1808. 



From the Medical In'.Migencti. 



EGGS. 



The eggs of birds are a sipiple and whole- 

 some aliment. Those of Ihe turkey are su- 

 perior in all the qualifications of food. The 

 white of eggs is dissolved in a warm tempera- 

 ture, but by much heat it is rendered tough 

 and hard. The yolk contains much oil, and is 

 highly nourishing, but has a strong tendency to 

 putrefaction ; on which account, eggs are im- 

 proper for people of weak stomachs, especially 

 when they are not quite fresh. Eggs boiled 

 bard or fried are difficult of digestion, and are 

 rendered still more indigestible by the addition 

 of butter. All eggs require a sufficient quantity 

 of salt, to promote their solution in the stomach. 



is a proper food for persons recovering from in- 

 disposition, and may even be given to febrile 

 patients in a very weak state ; but it afifords less 

 nourishment than the flesh of the same animal 

 in a state of maturity. The fat of it is lighter 

 than Ihat of any other animal, and shows the 

 least disposition to putrescency. Veal is a very 

 suitable food in costive habits ; but of all meat 

 it is Ihe least calculated for removing acidity 

 from the stomach. 



a rapid sale — been much a}fpioved in this and 

 the adjnin'ng state*, as will appear by the re- 

 spectable names which are annexed to its re- 

 commendation ; while the Puniied, as it is styl- 

 ed, is as destilute of recommend iiion as colour. 



*See New Ecglaud Farraer, vol. iii. page 165. 



When this is the flesh of a bullock of middle 

 age, it affords good and strong nourishment, and 

 is peculiarly well adapted to those who labour, 

 (or take much exercise. It will often sit easy 

 upon stomachs that can digest no other kind of 

 food ; and its fat js almost as easily digested as 

 that of veal. 



