282 



INEW ENGLAND FAlliMER, 



Blar. 26, 1830. 



i.iii)ru|icr. For a ploiig'i ill the rougli state in They are peculiar for tukiitg up ilie slice, (li>>turb- 

 which il comes Crum llio fuuiidry, unJ one of lliu ing iho arrnngeiiient uf \l3 iiartiilcH, delivering it 

 same piittern tliiit liui been [lolishcd liy the turn- completely inverted into the furrow, and placing; 

 iiig of acres are DO dilVureiit in point ofilrari, ill llie all the loose earth, (detached from the under 

 luovcineiit in the land, in the hands ufllic ploii<{h- .side of the slice in turning) upon the siirfucc which 

 man, and in the delivery of the furrow-shce that gives it the appearaiu-c of having hcen harrowed 

 it is often a ditiicult task to convince a »itraii(;er | lightly, and leaves the field in fine order for Bow- 



that they arc the same, with the exception of the 

 sand on the surface of the irons. I have used 

 cast iron [iloughs of the following patents : Wood's, 

 Seaver &■ Foy'» self sharpening, Wright's, War- 

 ren's and two si^es of Tice ; the Tice, A. 2. cer- 

 tainly is the he it of these. This plo<igli has re- 

 ceived a number of prerniuius at the ploughing 

 inatchcH at Brighton. Five out of six were 

 aviarded to them in 182t;. This plough will turn 

 under u great qnanlity of vegctahlo matter grow 



lUg. 



I apprehend that wc do not suiliciently appre- 

 ciate the difference in ploiigh.s either with regard 

 to draft, on the condition of the land after the op- 

 eration. Gideon Davis in his spccificaiion, com- 

 iiiunicnted to the patent office, Oct. 182.'), states, 

 that from experiments he is satisfied that the 

 lock coulter |)lough requires 22 per cent, greater 

 power of draft than the detached, or knife, or 

 sword coulter. I should think 33 per cent. Hear- 

 ing on the surface, viz : a crop of gra.ss that would j cr the truth. Some ploughs leave the slice al- 

 yicld more than a ton of hay to the acre, and rye inost as stiff and hard as before, while others 

 more than three feet long, maki:ig clean work for | leave it so light and loose that it v/ill scarcely bear 

 plmiting. There is a peculiar twist of the mould ja person walking over it. Now, here we perceive a 

 board which thru -t forward ami downward all the { difference in favor of the knife coulter of about 

 vegetable matter .-tanding on the slice, anil com- 1 one ipiurter the pnwcr. 



jiletely buries it in the furrows. liut there are A plough will probably turn over 200 acres of 

 some disadvantages attending Ibis plough ; such land, say 50 cents per acre for the plough, niak- 

 ufl the wooden part has generally been of a bad ling $100. C)ne fourth of this is $2-5 ; the con- 

 dition of the land as left by one is as much in its 

 favor as the difference in draft ; so that we find 

 one plough to be as cheap at $20 as another 

 would be at the common jirice. Suppose we es- 

 timate the difference in the work of ploughs at 

 only 5 cents per acre then multiplied by 200 gives 

 $10 ; about the jirice of the plough. 



As I have now finished the land I bad struck 

 out, and sufficiently exhausted the patience of the 

 reader, 1 will therefore drive off and turn out my 

 team. Yours truly, 



J. MEARB. 

 Dorcluaier, March 11, 1S30. 



(jualily and as badly constructed , the breast, or 

 front part of the mould board and innd side not 

 coming up to the beam, but being ;oiinectcd with 

 it by a wrought iron standard, vbicli is often 

 breaking, makes a bad place for weeds, &c. to 

 lodge upon the plough. The concavity of the 

 mould hoard causes it to load up with eattli in 

 ploughing old land that is moist, am: in sward land 

 ])erniits ;i huge portion of the loo.--; friable earth 

 (which is detached from the unierside of the 

 slice in the act of turniug) to escape at the heel 

 of the plough, filling up a portion of the furrow 

 where it forms a bolster for the cext slice to rest 

 upon which gives the field the ajipcaraiice of clap 

 boarding. 



In May, 1829, I received ofD. Prouty, of Han- 

 over, Mass. a nuMiber of D. Hitchcock's patent cast 

 iron ploughs, and during the past season have giv- 

 en them a thorough trial, in ploughing about 20 



DISEASE IN SHEEP. 

 Mk Fessende.n — As I have hud some expe- 

 rience in, and have made a lew observations upon 

 the disease in sheep mentioned by ' A. L H.'* I 

 may jierhnps be able to throw some light on the 

 acres of green sward,beside» old land stubble,and I 8"f\j*-'C'' '^'bo disease appears to be something 

 cross ploughing ; wo have had 4 and 5 ploughs of ''^e what is called in England Ui)dropick rot, or 

 the different patents above referrcil to in the field 1 ^^y preeminence, the rot. Sheep kept en high 



at n time, carefully and attentively watching their 

 movements, in old land, and guaging them to cut 



and dry grounds are never affected with this dis- 

 ease ; but upon side hills, Av here the springs oo/.e 



equal furrows in green swanl, with the same team, O'" through the grass rather soaking than ruii- 



and testing the power of draft by the Dynamanie- 1 "'"Si ""d nearly drying u[) in very hot weather. 



tcr. If 'be shqep arc kept through the month of .'Vu- 



Aithough much prejudiced in favor of the i "ust, all, or most of them will probably be affected 



Tice plough, I must admit that tllo Hitchcock pa- 

 tent ploughs, in point of construction and adapta 

 lion of form to the performance of the various kinds 



the ensuing winter anil spring. The cause of 

 the disease appears to be marsh miasm, produced 

 by the decomposition of vegetable matter. The 



of service ri;quired, more particularly to raifie and p'l'P'^'"''""^'-' "n dissection where this disease has 

 turn over the slice with the least power,and at the 'continued for a long lime, is a complete disap- 



samc time leave it in as loose, and friable condi- 

 tion as possible, do combine the greatest number 

 of improvements, and are the moat perfcctinstru- 

 iiicnts that I have met with. The break of these 

 ploughs fi>riiis the segment of an ellipsis, be 



pearance of everything like fat ; the cellular sub- 

 stance containing small quantities of water, some- 

 times perfectly limpid, sometimes slightly tingnd 

 with yellow. In the cavity of the chest a <pian- 

 tity of water, and on the liver, and among the in- 



ning a little back of the point and sweeping round I 'estines nunioroiis hyd-atids. When it has had a 



till it meets the beam; the object of which is, '""P"' course the bodies Imvo been too oflciisivo 



that straw and other matter may be forceil up. fi^'' niiniitc investigation, but the general appenr- 



ward till it nearly reaches the beam when it fulls :"'ees indicate a greot disturbance in the biliary 



over and falls off by its<iwii weight, and is buried system. 



in the furrow. After the mould board has he- '^i'lco writing the above, I have seen an urlicle in 



come bright, it is as uiiconinion an occurrence for '''" Journal of Science, on Malaria, which I ihiiik 



one of these to load up with earth as it is for the ~vT7"r7^~o,m^ T.i~ T' 'i r .i i.i — 



, . , ', , , , , ^•-«' P-^K" 209 ol the current volume of the Now 



eoinnion lock coultcrod plough to work c can. — England Karnicr 



goes far towards confirming my theory. It is sa. 

 that sheep in England may be secured from tl 

 r(.t,by fielding them on high ground through tl ' 

 r.ighl anil until the deW is off in the moriiin| 

 ■ his iinduubtedly arises from the miasm which 

 extricated during the night and absorbed by tl 

 dew, and is afterwards exhaled with it by it 

 heat of the sun. Consulting a medical friend i 

 this subject, he mentioned the typhoid diseases 

 our country, which are probably produced f.r. 

 like causes, and sometimes assuming a rapid i 

 putrid form, and sometimes terminuting in ili< 

 sy, i^c. Perhaps, the reason why the terminati 

 is usually more rapid in the human race than 

 animaLs, is the difference in the tendency to ii;!' 

 Illation between omnivorous, and franiini\' 

 animals. That the bloody murrain in li> 

 !^tock is a disease of the same nature I haw 

 doubt, as I lost two fine short horn calves 

 aIx months old by this disease, and the ajipei 

 aiices was almost exactly the same as iu slit 

 which die of the rapid rot. Great agony bi f 

 death — and rapid jmlrefactiou after. I 

 seen two instances, where the rot has as;-; 

 these different appearances. In one install. ^ 

 was principally in a flock of yearling sheep « 

 were all affected in the chronic iiiunuer. In 

 other instance it was in a flock of full gro 

 sheep, where it assumed an acute form, de 

 generally supervening four or five days after 

 first attack. In the cases which has come uii 

 my own observation where it has assumed i 

 acute form, the carcass has become putrid 

 mediately after deutJi. While in chronic ca 

 the bodies have scarely weighed I'lvc or six pom 



In most of the cases which I liave seen 

 known of, the sheep have been in high order, 

 in these cases the a[>proach of the disease 

 been so rapid as almost to prevent the possil 

 of trying experiments, but in the chronic cas 

 have strong hopes of finding remedies. On 

 first appearance of the iliscasc the sheep shouli 

 separated from the others, not from fear of in 

 tion but that the strong may not beat the weak a 

 from their food. The fiiieat tut! best of first . 

 hay should now be given tliew. tC this does 

 produce a favorable change in « /Stw davs hi 

 gill of good barley may be given pi cnth si 

 and gradually increased to a gill, M |ljis I w 

 gradually add juniper berries uimM y«u arriv 

 the quantity of half a gill fur oach sbvep. T 

 act both as diuretics and deubstruPiil.", niul bi 

 is much more stimulating than other gntiu.-^ : a b 

 same time, great care should be taken titat li • 

 sheep be not exposed to cold ruin orfuHsoroi #< 

 They should have comfortable shelter to lie 

 der, and a large yard for air in the day (ii» (, 

 For the weakest the barley should be ground, 

 the sheep be iireventeil troni getting chu cd hi 

 most careful attention. Should the) -liyyj- 

 symptoms of this, oats should be subhtiiuuid r 

 barley for a few days. In the most violent t 

 I would advise the use of hhiek pepper, or e 

 cum, perhaps the cheapest and bpsl «oulil In 

 smallest reil peppers raised in the garden ; i 

 pulverized might be made into pills with tloiii 

 given in such quantities as might seem lit. 

 case of a very valuable sheep where iJic e.\|i 

 could be art'ordeil 1 uould uiMse the u.sc of 

 or the sulphate of Uuiiiine. Wlieii the spri 

 so fur uilvaiirrd that you wish to luni tliei 

 grass, care must be taken jhnt they are imt « 

 cd by the succulent herbage. They should hi 

 in a dry paaluro where licallhy sheep havo 



