No. 8. 



Acquired Knowledge among Farmers. 



SST 



favour. He is so far from being- useful in 

 the management of sheep, that they flee at 

 his approach. In regard to tending other 

 stock while feeding, he is here applied to 

 no such purpose. As fences are general, 

 an officer to take their place is seldom 

 needed ; and were it otherwise, I have never 

 known a dog to which such a post could be 

 trusted. But it is urged — our stock "-get 

 into mischief," and then a dog is very con- 

 venient to drive them out. Good manage- 

 ment on a farm requires such precautions in 

 securing domestic animals, that their "get- 

 ting into mischief" would be a thing so un- 

 common, that even the dog would think it 

 strange. And when such accidents do oc- 

 cur, the dog, in the state in which we have 

 him, is quite an unsuitable agent to displace 

 intruders; his headlong way of doing the 

 business may double the amount of damages. 

 The more quietly intruders are driven from 

 a grain field, the better. 



With respect to his utility in guarding 

 our possessions by night, from the intrusions 

 of man and beast, it may be observed, the 

 dog is so faithless to his trust, that he fre- 

 quently leaves home to become a depredator 

 himself. It is a plain fact, that in some in 

 stances, — and I have no doubt there are 

 many — the farmer apprehends nightly in- 

 jury from scarcely any thing but dogs. We 

 are nearly free from wild animals which 

 would annoy us; and by human thieves, in 

 the country, we are seldom disturbed; but 

 dogs are nightly prowling around us, ready 

 to devour whatever may suit their purposes. 

 Thus they cause to the public the very evil 

 they were designed to prevent. 



Conspicuous among the depredations of 

 the dog, is the ravage he annually commits 

 upon our flocks. So great is the injury 

 which farmers thus sustain, that many good 

 services must be brought to bear against it, 

 to countervail our loss. In some sections of 

 our country, a tax is levied upon the canine 

 race, to cover damages in this particular, 

 and this is an excellent provision where no 

 better can be had. But who that has a 

 sheep for whose welfare he has the least 

 concern, would sacrifice it to the dogs for 

 twice its value in moneyl The wounding, 

 mangling, and murderous butchery of a flock 

 of sheep by the wanton riot of a dog, is a 

 circumstance painfully revolting to our bet- 

 ter feelings, and calls loudly for effectual 

 redress. 



Another point in which dogs are felt to 

 be a nuisance, is the inhospitable reception 

 they give to every stranger or visitor, who 

 approaches their master's premises. They 

 act upon the supposition, that every stran- 

 ger is an enemy to the family they belong 



to, and must not be admitted until some one 

 comes to decide upon the intruder's charac- 

 ter. In olden times when men were secure 

 at home, only in walled towns or fortified 

 castles — when it was deemed unsafe to 

 walk abroad unarmed — when every man 

 was viewed with suspicion until he was as- 

 certained to be a friendly acquaintance, a 

 mastiff' might have been a very suitable offi- 

 cer at the gate of a mansion, his feelings 

 being in consonance with those of his mas- 

 ter. But these barbarous days have passed 

 away. These sentiments of jealousy and 

 deeds of darkness have vanished before the 

 beams of social order and Christian refine- 

 ment; and while all the other arrangements 

 of a farmer's establishment are tuned to 

 harmony and peace, it is sadly out of place 

 to require every one who visits him, to 

 strike at his approach, such "a peevish, dis- 

 sonant, rebellious string," as a dog. 



The last argument against dogs I shall 

 here notice, is their liabilty to madness. 

 Of this terrible malady — hydrophobia — little 

 need be said. The dread of it entertained 

 by perhaps every one, is sufficiently great, 

 but it may be observed, that without dogs 

 we should be free from it. 



In pointing out a few of the evils which 

 the community of men suffer from that of 

 dogs, I just wish to call public attention to 

 the subject. Let every one who owns a dog, 

 calmly consider whether the public, i. e., 

 himself and his neighbours together, would 

 not be better oft' without him. If he come 

 to the conclusion that he cannot spare him, 

 let him at least be very careful that no one 

 shall suff'er in person or property, by the 

 threats or violence of his dog. D. 



Cecil CO., Md. 



1 



Acquired Knowledge among Farmers. 



Those who are connected with agricul- 

 ture are not inferior in natural intelligence 

 to any other class of the community. And 

 yet it is not denied, that both owners and 

 tenants, as a body, possess less of that ac- 

 quired knowledge which specially relates to 

 the art by which they live, than those who 

 hold the same station in reference to any of 

 our great manufacturing arts. This is to 

 be ascribed to the small value hitherto 

 placed upon any other than practical in- 

 struction in reference to agriculture, and to 

 the consequent absence of nearly all public 

 provision for acquiring it. Notwithstanding 

 the acknowledged importance of the art of 

 culture, no regular course of instruction in 

 connexion with it is given in the English or 

 Irish universities. There is indeed a Pro- 

 fessor of rural economy at Oxford, but there 



