22 



Oat Fodder for Horses. — Wonders of Insects. Vol. XI. 



exceed the duration of a healthy tree. Ve- 

 getable, however, like animal life in indivi- 

 duals, appears to have its limits fixed by na- 

 ture, and immortality has alike been denied 

 to the oak and to the mushroom ; to the 

 being' of a few days, and of as many centu- 

 ries. The general law of nature must be 

 obeyed, and each must yield its place to a 

 successor. The art of the planter readily 

 divides a single tree into almost any number 

 that he wishes; but the character of the new 

 trees tlms raised, is very essentially different 

 from that of a young seedling plant; they 

 possess a preternatural maturity, and retain 

 the habits and diseases of the tree of which 

 they naturally formed a part. 



All efforts which have hitherto been made 

 to propagate healthy trees of those varieties 

 which have been long in cultivation, have, 

 I believe, been entirely unsuccessful. The 

 grafts grow well for two or three years, 

 after which they become' cankered and 

 mossy, and appear, what I consider them 

 really to be, parts of the bearing branches 

 of old diseased trees. 



When I first observed the unhealthy state 

 of all the young trees of these kinds, I sus- 

 pected that it arose from the use of diseased 

 grafts taken from old trees, and that I should 

 be able to propagate all tJie valuable varie- 

 ties by buds taken from young newly grafted 

 trees, as these can scarcely be said to take 

 any of the wood of the old stock with them; 

 but to remove still farther every probability 

 of defect which might be communicated 

 from the old tree, 1 inserted the young 

 shoots and buds taken from newly grafted 

 trees in other young stocks, and I repeated 

 this process six times in as many years, each 

 year taking my grafts and buds from those 

 inserted in the year preceding. Stocks of 

 different kinds were also used ; some were 

 double grafted, others obtained from the 

 branches of apple-trees which had emitted 

 shoots from cuttings, and others from the 

 seeds of each kind afterwards inserted in 

 them, under the idea that there might be 

 something congenial to the fruits in stocks 

 of this kind. The grafts grew tolerably and 

 equally well in all ; but there was a want 

 of hardness and elasticity in the wood, and 

 at the end of three or four years, all began 

 to canker. 



Oat Fodder for Horses. 



At a discussion had at a meeting of the 

 Darlington (Eng.) Farmers' Club, Dec. 8th, 

 on the best and cheapest mode of keeping 

 draught horses, during winter, Mr. Trotter 

 said : 



" I have paid some attention to the subject 



of keeping draught horses during the win- 

 ter; for the last three years I have adopted 

 quite a different mode from what I previously 

 followed. My method formerly was, to allow 

 my draught horses each two bushels of oats 

 per week, together with one bushel of beans, 

 and as much hay as they could eat, generally 

 clover hay. For the last three winters, I 

 have fed them almost entirely on cut oat- 

 sheaf — cut into half inch chaff — which has 

 been a very great saving to me. 



" In an oat crop of about forty stocks per 

 acre, which might yield near 60 bushels, the 

 feed of a draught horse averages two sheaves 

 per day, or fourteen sheaves per week, which 

 would be about a bushel and three pecks per 

 week, if they had been threshed out, which 

 is a saving of a peck of oats per week, each 

 horse, from what I formerly gave them ; be- 

 sides, I save the bushel of beans per week, 

 and the clover hay, which was a very consi- 

 derable item. When I first changed my 

 mode of feeding, the horses improved in con- 

 dition wonderfully, thus showing that it suits 

 them well. When they are very hard work- 

 ed, I allow them half a peck of oats at din- 

 ner time, besides the cut sheaf. 



" Last winter I had only eighteen acres of 

 oats; these kept twelve draught horses, be- 

 sides four young ones occasionally. This 

 quantity of oats would not have served me 

 through the year, had I not pursued this 

 system of feeding." — London Agricultural 

 Gazette. 



Wonders of Insects. 



A SKILFUL naturalist has been able to per- 

 ceive that in the body of the lowest cater- 

 pillar, which in the common opinion, is one 

 of the most degraded existences on earth, 

 there are upwards of two thousand muscles, 

 all of which can be brought into action with 

 as much facility, at the will of that insect, 

 and perform their several offices with as 

 much accuracy, promptitude, and precision, 

 as the most perfect animal. It would be no 

 easy matter to make some men believe that 

 the most minute insect, whose whole life may 

 be calculated for only the duration of a few 

 hours, is, in all parts, for the functions it has 

 to perform, as complete as the majestic ele- 

 phant, which treads the forests of India for 

 a century. Little do they suppose, that, 

 even in its appearance under the greatest 

 magnifying pov^'ers, it is as elegant in every 

 respect, and as beautifully finished, as any 

 of the largest animals. Unlike the paltry 

 productions of man, all the minute parts of 

 these works of God appear in greater per- 

 fection, and aflbrd to us a greater degree of 

 admiration, the more minutely and accu- 



