44 



Botts in Ho7'ses — European Husbandry. 



Vol. V. 



I am led to this subject by the perusal of 

 an article, in the 4th vol. of the Cabinet, 

 page 177, in which the writer records his ex- 

 perience in the removal of this malady, by 

 the use of lime and salt, and which is de- 

 serving of serious attention. But I presume 

 the lime operates merely in its alitaline pro- 

 perty or character, neutralizing the acidity 

 of the stomach, and bringing on a natural 

 state of digestion, acting also as a preventive ; 

 for it is to be supposed that the horse will 

 still continue to lick with his tongue, the 

 eggs of the gad-fly from the hairs of his legs 

 and shoulders, by which they are conveyed 

 to the stomach, in the way which is well un- 

 derstood by all ; but there being no putricity 

 in the stomach, owing to the acidity being 

 neutralized by the alkali of the lime, they do 

 not reach a state of vitality, and are voided 

 with the dung — ^just as has been observed, 

 " if a fly lays its eggs on a healthy sheep, 

 they do not come to life." It would appear, 

 therefore, only necessary to keep the horse 

 well supplied with any alkaline substance, 

 and the disease is prevented, and even cured 

 when it has been contracted ; and the very 

 natural way in which the remedy is supposed 

 to operate, is sufficient to draw our attention 

 towards it. No doubt, however, that salt 

 alone will be found to operate precisely in 

 the same way, and by the same means ; and 

 the observations on this subject, by K, in his 

 article on hay-making, in the last number of 

 the Cabinet, p. 382, vol. 4, is evidence of the 

 fact.* 



It would be well to suspend a lump of rock- 

 salt, in a net, in every animal's stall, to which 

 it might resort at all times when needful, and 

 of which, I conceive, they would be as well 

 able to judge as their masters. I beg to call 

 the attention of your readers to the above 

 article. Joseph Grant. 



The farm connected with the House of In- 

 dustry, at South Boston, contains 30 acres. 

 The produce of the farm, for the last year, 

 amounted to $5,237 91, being equal to ^176 

 the acre. 



* "That salt is advantageous to all live-stock, is well 

 known, but the giving it to them is not sufficiently at- 

 tended to and valued ; for health, it is admirable and 

 necessary, and is said to enable the farmer to increase 

 his stock, as it augments the nourishment of the food 

 eaten, in proportion to the quantity of salt consumed ; 

 and, that there can be no excess in the salt taken, give 

 as freely as you please. It is also said that salt greatly 

 improves the quality of wool, as well as its quantify ; 

 and it ought always to be kept before cattle ; and I con- 

 sider it better if it be mixed with water and pure clay 

 for them to lick, as in their wild state. In twenty 

 years' residence on my farm, at Wye, a salt-water river, 

 and always having upwards of fifty horse-kind, I know 

 of no instance of their ever having botts; and, near sixty 

 years ago, a noted country horse-doctor told me, that 

 giving salt to horses, once or twice a week, effectually 

 eecures them against botts, which I have ever since 

 well observed, and believe it to be perfectly just."— 

 Bvrdley. 



From the Farmers' Visitor. 

 European Husbandry. 



There is a great deficiency in our system 

 of agriculture, which time and perseverance 

 in the determination to change the old and 

 exhausting system of husbandry for the new 

 and renovating system, can alone rectify. It 

 should be the business of every man who has 

 the means, to commence the great work of 

 renovation ; this work is of more importance 

 to the country than I can describe ; it will 

 bless the individual who undertakes it, as it 

 will bless the whole community, when it shall 

 be generally undertaken. The improvements 

 in British husbandry, although that country 

 had been settled and cultivated for more 

 years than have transpired since the com- 

 mencement of the Christian era, are stated to 

 have increased the agricultural productions 

 of Great Britain during the last fifteen years, 

 more than one-fourth, and so striking has 

 been the example of renovation, that it would 

 not be surprising if the products should dou- 

 ble in an equal length of time from this pe- 

 riod. The new husbandry of England and 

 Scotland presents a most gratifying fact, 

 which ought to be realized and understood 

 here. Our men of capital invest their money 

 in almost any thing, sooner than in either 

 purchasing farms or making improvements 

 upon them. In England, the policy of the 

 law is, to continue the ownership of the soil 

 in a succession of families, so that the greater 

 enterprise is to be found, not in the owners 

 of the land, but in those who pay a high price 

 for the use of it : the improvements there are 

 more generally made by the tenants than by 

 the owners. 



The eminent success of the venerable 

 Farmer of Norfolk — Mr. Coke, of Holkham — 

 presents a case worthy our admiration. The 

 product of his whole estate when he came 

 into possession, was little more than two 

 thousand pounds per annum : twenty years 

 ago, his income from rents had advanced to 

 twenty thousand ; and it is now said to be 

 more than forty thousand pounds, or exceed- 

 ing tvi'o hundred thousand dollars! In add- 

 ing this great increase to his wealth, Mr, 

 Coke has not made thousands poor, as he 

 might have done, if his estate had been mo- 

 ney, and that money had accumulated from 

 use, even at no more than the lawful inter- 

 est : the value of his property has been in- 

 creased in the course of the time of his active 

 life, from thirty to forty fold, and no human 

 being under the sun is the poorer for it : he 

 has lived all the time in a style of princely 

 magnificence, and even what has been ex- 

 pended in mere ornament, has made the 

 world no poorer, but dispensed favours to the 

 poor, who have received in the expenditure, 



