58 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



11 is saicJ that hogs thrive best when there 

 are but tiiree or four in the same apnrtment of 

 a pen. Thoy ;"•<' fomi of society, hut jire apt 

 to degenerate into a " swinish miillitude,'" and 

 •become exceedingly riotous if congregated in a 

 large assembly. As they knoiv no law, and ac- 

 knowledge no right but the right of the strong- 

 est, they sometimes condemn a weaker brother 

 in a popular assembly, as the Athenians did 

 Socrates, and proceed to execute him without 

 iudge or jury. The stye, therefore, should 

 have a number of apartments separated by close 

 partitions, and there may be a general feeding 

 trough, to which each division of animals may 

 have separate access. 



The experienced farmer need not be told 

 that fatting hogs should have now and then a 

 dose of brimstone and antimony given with their 

 food, in order to preserve their health and in- 

 crease their appetite. But there may be some 

 who never knew, or do not remember, that 

 rotlea wood thrown lo thein occasionally will be 

 devoured with avidity, and serve as an absorb- 

 ent of acrid juices, which might othei'wise oc- 

 casion a disorder which, in human subjects, is 

 tailed dyspepsia, or indigestion. It is likewise 

 said that to throw them now and then a few 

 pieces of charcoal will answer the same pur- 

 pose. At any rate, those substances can do no 

 harm, and if the sivine have an appetite for 

 them they will doubtless prove bcnelicial. 



FOR THE NEW k;v(,i.axd faemkr. 



Mr. Editor — A writer in your paper, vol. 2, 

 p. 6, states that he has heard of a cure for poi- 

 son on the skin, but does not know it to be ef- 

 fectual. I will state to you one which 1 discov- 

 ered by accident, and which 1 have practised 

 for myself and work people, fur year.^, when 

 poisoned, and with the be?t .-^ucce.ss. It is to 

 wash the parts affected with weak lye ; if this is 

 not at hand I have oomctimcs dissolved a little 

 p....i<i.-):i in cold water, and had it produce the 

 sanoe beneScial effects. I always make the ap- 

 plication as soon as the poison makes its ajipear- 

 ance. How this treatment would do in an ad- 

 vanced stage of the disease, I am unable to say, 

 having never had occasion to try it. 



LOVETT PETER.S. 



Wettborougk, Sept. 1, 1023. 



Fon THE Nr.W EJGI.AND K.ARIVIKU. 



Mr. Editor — Having, within a few years, 

 seen stated in the public prints, several opinions 

 respecting the salivation or slavers of horses 

 and none of them being sati'sfactory to me, 1 

 Mill submit to you some particulars that have 

 fallen under my observation. For some years 

 past I have been convinced that the slavers ol' 

 horses is caused by their eating a kind of grass 

 of second growth, making its appearance in the 

 fore part of July, much resembling oats, which 

 come up in fall allcr the crop has been taken 

 off the ground, but has rather more of a brown- 

 ish cast, and retains its green very late in the 

 fall. When chewed it causes a flow of water 

 in the mouth more than any other vegetable 

 that 1 have ever seen. If it has such an effect 

 on man, why should it not have on horses ? 



There is another kind of grass that can 

 scarcely be distinguished from it otherwise than 

 by tasting. 



It is, I think, but about 20 or 25 years since 

 there was anv such diiord9r among the hordes 



in this part of the country. Mine escaped 

 for some years after it had become common in 

 the vicinity. The first 1 saw in my own horses, 

 was in a horse that was turned into a small pas- 

 ture, where one had seMnm been before. In 

 another pasture, on the same hill, about 10 rods 

 distant, separated by a natural English mowing, 

 there was no such effect produced. From this 

 circumstance 1 was led to seek for the cause of 

 the slavers. Some had supposed it to be Lo- 

 belia or Indian Tobacco; on examination, it ap- 

 peared, that in the small pasture there was no 

 Lobelia, in the other there was much of it ; and 

 in no instance have I been able to tind a plant 

 of Lobelia that appears to have been bitten off 

 by cattle of any kind. This satisfied me that it 

 was not the Lobelia. 



After a few years it was the same with all 

 my pastures that had never been ploughed, and 

 at night when my cows were brought to the 

 yard for milking, streams of water ran almost 

 continually from their mouths. Some few years 

 since, being short of English hay, but having 

 plenty of rowen, instead of hay I ha<l my hor- 

 ses fed with rowen. In a short time they had 

 the slavers as bad as they had ever h id them 

 in the summer. Remembering where this row- 

 en was grown, the next season, upon examina- 

 tion, 1 found there was a great quantity of 

 Ihe grass above described. This summer my 

 horses were not afflicted with this disorder so 

 early as formerly. Previous to their being af- 

 fected with the disease, I could find none of 

 (his grass ; since that time I have discovered 

 some, though the quantity is small compared 

 with former years. 



From the above mentioned circumstances and 

 Tacts, 1 am led to conclude, that the grass which 

 I have described is the true cause of slavers in 

 liorses. 1 leave it for the examination of oth- 

 ers, and to those more acquainted with diseases 

 than 1 am, to prescribe a remedy. 



LOVETT PETERS. 



tVestborovgh, Sept. 15, 1823. 



From Letters of Ajricola. 

 In the year 1S06, 1 was one afternoon leaning 

 over the grave of Burns, and reading the plain 

 inscription on his tomb-stone erected in the 

 church-yard of Dumfries. This town was the 

 concluding scone of the Scottish Bard; and 

 here terminated his follies and his crimes, the 

 last breathings of his muse and of his life. I 

 was indulging in one of those moods, in which 

 [>ain and pleasure are so equally blended, that 

 the mind is thrown into a sort of delightful 

 melancholy : for while I retraced many gay and 

 lively recollections, 1 was forced by present ob- 

 jects to check the rising emotions, and embitter 

 them with grief. His enchanting and splendid 

 \erscs were contrasted, in the eye of fancy, 

 with the dark shades of his character; the 

 strength an<l manly independence of his intellect 

 with the silly and inconsistent waverings of his 

 moral perceptions ; the bright and propiising 

 morning of his lite with the ominous and black 

 cloud, which settled on the evening of his days. 

 I was riveted to the spot; tears filled my eyes ; 

 my whole soul was absorbed in contemplation; 

 it was a moment of rich enjoyment. A slow 

 .md (altering step struck my ear, and turning 

 round I discovered an emaciated, but venerable 

 figure approaching', in the last decrepitude of 

 old age. 



"Stranger, said he, you are paying the la 

 tribute of respect to the memory of our poe: 

 and I must beg pardon for this abrupt intrusion 

 There was such an air of good nature in It 

 old man, heightened by the sense of his hel 

 lessness, that I additssed him frankly in repi 

 and showed no reluctance to engao-e in co 

 versalion. He sketched lo me, with all the 1 

 quacity characteristic of his years, the habii 

 the faults, the drunken broils of the man, whi 

 at the same time he appeared an ardent admi 

 er of the faithful coloring, the playful wit tl 

 winning sprightliness of the writer. 



" Come, said he, along with me to the hilloi 

 where Burns alternately brutified his senses, 

 exalted them by the varied inspirations of ^ 

 lyre." I accomjianied him, and we ascendi 

 together the mound of earth, on the top 

 which is the seat— once the favorite haunt 

 this immortal and extraordinary genius ; a 

 alike remarkable for witnessing his fits of into 

 ication, and in favored intervals, his effusions 

 poetic rapture, it is still shown to the curioi 

 lies within the precincts of the town, and coi 

 mands a fine prospect of the surrounding coii 

 try. We sealed ourselves on the grassy tUi 

 anil grown familiar by an interchange of sen 

 menl, we conversed on the most intimate fod 

 ing. From Burns we soon passed to other t^i 

 ics, possessing novelty or interest. 



" The country, said I, in every direc 

 around, and wherever 1 have travelled, is mi 

 ly arable, and highly cultivated. The red 

 white wheats prevail universally, and are Si 

 soLMuingly by the farmers in equal quantities, 



" \es; replied the old man, there is a ' 

 dorful change in this district, since I was of 

 age ; for I can recollect the time, when t 

 ivei!e neither enclosures nor wheat in all 

 country." 



" Is it possible, I answered, that all these i 

 (irovements are of so recent a date, as to be wij 

 in the reach of your remembrance ? i shot 

 like, if you would relate to me the ancfc ' 

 stale of the country, the condition of the U f 

 ants, and the progress of agriculture." 



That 1 shall do with all my heart, rejoin 

 my acquaintance, his eyes brightenino- as 

 s|)oke ; lor like myself he seemed fond of' 

 subject. 



I was born, continued he, in 1719, inLocIi 

 ben, and am now 87 years of age. The oli 

 thing I recollect, is the great riot which 

 place, throughout the whole of this shira 

 1724, in consequence of the landed j)roprie 

 beginning to enclose their estates on purpoi 

 stock them with black cattle. The sm:ill 

 ants were turned out, to make way for thiSj 

 provemont : and the ground was fenced 

 sunk ditch and wall, called then park-d 

 Great distress was felt in the country on aco 

 of this alteration ; and the tenantry rose t 

 mob, and with pitchforks, spades, and matli 

 proceeded to level all tliese enclosures, i 

 the one end of the country to the other, 

 lather was unfortunately concerned in that' 

 turbance; and alter it was quelled by the I 

 of two troops ot dragoons brought t'rom B, 

 burgh, he was banished to the American puj 

 lalions for his crime. I lived afterwards,*! 

 was brought up with my uncle in NightAl 

 about 20 miles hence, who rented there a ■> 

 farm of about 100 acres, and assisted hij' 

 ivorking it. The general produce of allit 



