116 



BancrofCs Address. 



Vol. IX. 



of the animal." A German writer, Bock, 

 advises that sheep infested with ticks, be 

 dipped in a decoction of the leaves of the 

 common maple. 



Sheep are exposed to the attack of a flesh- 

 fly, Musca carnaria, which deposits its young 

 in any offensive matter collected in the wool 

 on any part of the animal ; and these attack 

 the flesh with such voracity, that unless 

 speedy relief is afforded, the poor creature 

 may be said to be literally eaten alive. It 

 is remarkable with wliat instinctive cer- 

 tainty these flesh-flies will collect around 

 an animal already "struck," prepared to 

 contribute their part to its destruction. Oc- 

 casionally the effects of this fly are severely 

 felt in this country, but in a slight degree 

 compared with those experienced in Europe. 

 When a sheep is discovered to be infested 

 with maggots, it should at once be removed 

 from the flock, which should bo taken from 

 the field to another, as a partial preventive 

 from the fly. The diseased animal should 

 be thoroughly washed in strong soap-suds — 

 the wool and all filth carefully removed, to 

 show the extent of the evil ; all the insects 

 visible picked out of the lacerated flesh, and 

 the wounded parts completely washed in 

 spirits of turpentine. In the few cases that 

 have occurred in our flocks, this course has 

 proved entirely successful; a single applica- 

 tion of the turpentine, if the wounded parts 

 are thoroughly penetrated by it, bringing 

 out the insects that may be concealed from 

 sight. It may here be remarked, that we 

 have found this application of turpentine the 

 best remedy in all cases where sores or 

 wounds in animals have been attacked by 

 flies, and if used previous to the attack, it 

 is one of the most certain preventives. — 

 Transactions of the N. Y. State Agricul- 

 tural Society. 



Bancroft's Address. 



Delivered at the N. Y. Slate Agricull ural 

 Fair, Foughkeepsie, on the 19th ofdlh mo. 



We are indebted to the Poughkeepsie Telegrapli of 

 the 25th, for a copy of this Address. We Iiave 

 read it with much pleasure, and regret tliat il was not 

 our privilege to hear it. The following e.xtraofs will 

 serve to show, that although it was not so matter-of- 

 fact and thoroughly practical, as might seem bsst 

 adapted to an audience of working men, it was yet 

 such as every intelligent farmer would listen to with 

 delight. There is a debt we owe to the great pioneers 

 in enterprises, which, at the time seemed ahead of 

 their age, and from which we are every day deriving 

 profit and comfort, that can scarcely be better paid, 

 than by infusing into the public mind a disposition to 

 appreciate the benefit; and when we justly award to 

 others the high character of benefactors, we only show 



that wc are not unworthy gatherers of a harvest for 

 which they had laboured while we slept, or before we 

 entered on the field of action.— Ed. 



I wouLn not limit the achievements of the 

 farmers of New York to the subjection and 

 beautiful adornment of its soil. The great 

 works of internal communication, making 

 this State a wonder to the world, were com- 

 menced by the enterprise of yourselves, 

 and undertaken when farmers held power. 

 Call to mmd the immense structures which 

 iTiake this State the astonishment of the 

 world ; its channels for inward communica- 

 tion earned upwards to the waters of the 

 St. Lawrence, stepping aside to the Ontario, 

 and united at the north-west with the illim- 

 itable wilderness of our inland seas ; and 

 then join me in paying tribute to those who 

 were the servants of the public mind in 

 commencing this gigantic system. To De 

 Witt Clinton, whose capacious mind grasped 

 in advance, the sum of its infinite benefits — 

 whose energetic, vehement and commanding 

 will, was to the enterprise like a powerful 

 mill-stream, as it dashes on an overshot 

 wheel of vast dimensions. To Van Buren, 

 who, when the bill for the construction of 

 the canal had almost been abandoned by its 

 earliest friends, put forth those noble-spir- 

 ited, well-remembered exertions, which re- 

 suscitated it when all seemed lost, and re- 

 stored it to the approbation of your legisla- 

 ture. Well might tliose chiefs in the world 

 of opinions, embrace each other in the hours 

 of their success. If" in action they were 

 often divided, in thia great service they 

 share a common glory. 



But the farmers of New York are not 

 content with improvements in the material 

 Vv'orld alone. From their generous impulses 

 springs your system of free schools. They 

 have proved themselves the liberal benefac- 

 tors of academies and colleges. They, too, 

 have been careful for the means of their 

 own special culture, and have founded and 

 nurtured societies for promoting agriculture. 

 For an example of the virtues of private life, 

 I name to you the farmer of Westchester 

 county, the pure and spotless Jay, who as- 

 sisted to frame our first treaty of peace, 

 which added Ohio and the lovely West to 

 our agriculture. Side by side with him, I 

 name the friend of his youth, Robert R. Liv- 

 ingston, the younger, the enlightened states- 

 man of our Revolution, whose expansive 

 mind succeeded in negociating for our coun- 

 try a world beyond the Mississippi, and 

 gained access for our flag to the gulf of 

 Mexico. Here, on the banks of the Had- 

 .son, he is celebrated as it were by every 

 steamboat, and remembered on your farms 



