1-855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



41 



Ilectolitres. 

 Scarcity . . . l^^lo to 1821 . . . Excess of Imports . . . G.247,000 

 Plenty .... 1*22 fo 1327 ... " Exports . . . 1,258.000 



Scarcity . . . IS'iS to 1S.32 ... " Imports . . . 9,528,0(J0 



Plenty .... 1S3-3 to 1837 ... " Exports 914,000 



Mixed .... 1S-3S fo 1^42 ... " Imports .... 1,126,(100 



Scarcity . . . 1843 to 1847 ... " Imports . . . lS,e97,000 



Plenty 1848 to 18 j2 ..." Exports . . . 13,188,0u0 



The hectolitre ("2<j.i gallons wine measure,) con- 

 tains 22 imperial gallons, or three hectolitres are a 

 tritle more than a quarter, (4 SO lbs.) It will be 

 observed tliat the imjjortation of wheat in France, 

 in years of scarcity, is very small when compared 

 with ours. Thus, in the period of 1843 to 1847, 

 while wheat averaged 50s. — a very high price in 

 that country — th.' whole imports in the five years 

 were only 20,161,000 hectolitres, from which, de- 

 ducting 1,164,000 of exports, there remained for 

 consumption only 18,CLI7,000, or 6,400,000 qrs. 

 In the period of scarcity, from 1816 to 1821, when 

 the price was 54s. 5d., the imports were only 6,- 

 247,000 hectolitres in six jears, or about 345,000 

 qrs. annually. 



The five years from 1847 to 1852 were years of 

 abundance both in France and Britain. Supposing, 

 then, that the change takes place quinc^uennially, 

 we should now be at the commencement of a peri- 

 od of scarcity, and that the present year fulfils this 

 character in manifest i'rom the state of the markets 

 on both sides of the Channel. The French average 

 for the first two weeks of November, as given in 

 the Moniteur a few dajs ago, was 29.97 per hect, 

 or 68s. lid. per qr. — a famine price in France; 

 and the l^ritish average for the whole of Novem- 

 ber was 71s. Id., making rather severe dearth. It 

 is, therefore, a question of some importance, wheth- 

 er we are to regard the present defi<,-ient crop as a 

 pure "casualty," an evil which an opposite casual- 

 ty the next year's abundance may redeem, or as 

 the first of a series of bad crops. In our opinion, 

 the hypothesis of a five years' cycle, embracing the 

 latter conclusion, though not established beyond 

 challenge, has a sufficient probability to render it 

 ■worthy of entering into the calculations of farmers, 

 corn merchants, contractors lor public works, and 

 even ministers of state. 



A hypothesis offered to explain anomalous or 

 seemingly discordant physical facts is more readily 

 accepteil when we trace in it the operation of some 

 physical cause. In the Scohiimn of the 6th of 

 September, 1845, we gave an account of a me- 

 moir published by Schwabe, a German astronomer, 

 on the spots of the sun, in which he maintained 

 their periodicity, that they increased for a certain 

 lerm, then diminished for an equal term, and that 

 the interval between the maximum and minimum 

 was about five years, so that the cj'cle was comple- 

 ted in about ten. This conclusion rested on the 

 observations of 18 years, which (as Colonel Sabine 

 informed the British Association at Belfast) have 

 been since extended to twenty-six years, and with 

 the same result. Now, as the light and heat of the 

 sun are obviously essential to the success of grain 

 crops, it occurred to Gautier, a French or Swiss 

 man of science, to compare Schwabe's cycle of 

 the solar spots with the results of the harvests in 

 France, as shown by the price of corn ; and he 

 found that, taking the years in groups, to eliminate 

 accidental influences, those in which the sun had 

 few or no spots coincided with years of abundance, 

 and those in which the spots were numerous with 

 years of scarcity. We have here, then, a glimpse 

 of a physical cause to account for these alternating 



periods of scarcity and plenty, which experience 

 has forced upon the attention of our farmers. It 

 is true that the spots of the sun cover but a very 

 small portion of his surface at any time, but the de- 

 crement of heat in a bad year is also small com- 

 pared with the whole quantity which the earth re- 

 ceives from the sun ; and it is not improbable that, 

 besides causing a direct loss of light and heat pro- 

 ! portioned to their size, spots when abundant may 

 ; indicate a general enfeeblement of the heating 

 ' and illuminating power of the whole surface of the 

 sun. 



The progress of science is constantly adding to 

 jour knowledge of the latent ties which connect°the 

 most distant parts of nature. Those minute devi- 

 ations from the normal position of the ma"netic 

 needle, called its diurnal variation, were discov- 

 ered a hundred years ago, and gave plain indica- 

 tions of solar influence. It was only known with- 

 in these few years that these variations were them- 

 selves subject to variation — were greater in some 

 years than in others — and that another class of 

 phenomena, called "magnetic storms," sudden and 

 seemingly unaccountable disturbances of the nee- 

 dle, disclosed themselves. It is now found that 

 these are periodical also. To use the words of 

 Colonel Sabine, "there is a periodical variation or 

 inequality affecting alike the magnitude of the 

 diurnal variation, and the magnitude and frequen- 

 cy of the disturbances of storms, and the cycle or 

 period of the inequality appears to extend about 

 ten of our years, the maximum and minimum beinuf 

 separated by an interval of about five years." 

 Perhaps by-and-by the hopes and prospects of the 

 husbandman may be read in the vibrations of the 

 compass. 



TO PROMOTE THE HEALTH OF CATTLK 



Mix occasionally one part of salt with four, five 

 or si.x parts of wood ashes, and give the mixture to 

 different kinds of stock, summer and winter. It 

 promotes their appetites and tends to keep them 

 in a healthy condition. It is said to be good against 

 bots in horses, murrain in cattle, and rot in sheep. 



Horse-radish root is valuable for cattle. It cre- 

 ates an appetite, and is good for various diseases. 

 Some give it to any animal that is unwell. It is 

 good for oxen troubled with the heat. If animals 

 will not eat it voluntarily, cut it up fine and mix it 

 with potatoes or meal. 



Feed all animals regularly. They not only look 

 for their food at the usual time, but the stomach' 

 indicates the want at the stated period. There- 

 fore feed morning, noon and evening, as near the 

 same time as possible. 



Guard against the wide and injurious extremes 

 of satiating with excess and starving with want. 

 Food should be of a suitable quality, and propor- 

 tioned to the growth and fattening of animals, to 

 their production in young, and milk, and to their 

 labor or exercise. Animals that labor need far 

 more food, and that which is far more nutritious,, 

 than those that are idle. 



In dry time see that the animals have a good 

 supply of pure water. When the fountains are 

 low, they drink the drainings of fountains, streams, 

 and passages of water, which are unwholesome. 



If barns and stables are very tight and warm, 

 ventilate in mild weather, even in winter. 



