58 



SILK MANUAL, AND 



OliEANINGS THi HUSBANDRY, 



BY THE EDITOR. 



Agricultural knoioledge may be adapted to dif- 

 ferent climates and circumstances. "However 

 different be the natural production of countries, 

 and however necessary it be that the farmer adapt 

 his operations to these difterences, yet there are 

 rules and maxims in the art common to the hus- 

 bandry of ail countries ; and he who is thorough- 

 ly acquainted with one good system of practice ap- 

 plicable to any one situation of the farmer, has the 

 means by an easy analogy, of applying his knowl- 

 edge to other and similar cases. A person thor- 

 oughly trained to practice on the banks of the 

 Tweed would make a good farmer on the banks 

 of the Po or the Oliio. He has received the kind 

 of instruction which is useful under all circum- 

 stances, under which they can be applied." — Pro- 

 fessor Row. 



Potatoes for Sheep. — " Gen. Murray uses pota- 

 toes for fattening sheep as well as for lean stock. 

 He has now 196 fat wethers, that eat very near 14 

 bushels of potatoes and 100 weight of hay per di- 

 em; it may be reckoned 14 bushels for 200 Sheep. 

 If they have as many ])ofatoes as they will eat, 

 they do not require more than half a pound of hay 

 each per diem. — You7ig''s Annals, Vol. II. p. 285. 



It will be proper in feeding cattle with potatoes, 

 or other roots to give them but a small quantity at 

 first, increasing it by degrees as they become ac- 

 customed to that sort of food. It will be better to 

 give a little every day than large messes, once in 

 three or four days or a week. — Vol. II. p. 57. 



Faltening Hogs. — If your object is merely in 

 fattening swine it will be advisable to take time 

 for the process. A farmer, stating the result of 

 some experiments in the Bath Society papers, Vol. 

 VI. p. 382, says : "I invariably found that the 

 quantity of food consumed (by fatting hogs,) in- 

 creased every week, till the animals became three 

 parts fat; after this period they ate but little, and 

 ali7iost all they eat turned to fat. It is, therefore, 

 good policy to make them completely fat, and that 

 can only be done, by giving time." 



Lynch law among Swine. — It is said that hogs 

 thrive best when there are hut three or four in the 

 same apartment or pen. They are fond of socie- 

 ty, but exhibit the vilest propensities of a "swinish 

 multitude" and become very riotous if congregat- 

 ed in a large assembly. As they know no law 

 but Lynch !aw, and acknowledge no right but that 

 of the strongest, they sometimes condemn a weak- 

 er brother m a popular assembly, and proceed to 

 execute him without Judge 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. 



Salt hay has usually been hurt by lying too 

 long in the swaths. Dr. Dean directs to cock it 

 the next day after it is cut, and carry it in, with- 

 out delaying more than one day, and put a layer 

 of some kind of dry straw between load and load 

 of it in the mow, to prevent its taking damage by 

 over heating. The straw contracts so much of 

 its moisture and saltness, that the cattle eat it very 

 freely, and the hay is far better than that made in 

 the common way. 



Water Plants. — Water is apparently the medi- 

 um by which all the matter of nutrition, in what- 

 ever form is (onvcyed into the roots of plants, and 

 without which, accordingly, vegetaticn is never 

 known to take ])\Hce —■ Loiv's Elements of Agri- 

 culture. 



Seaweed for Manure. — Seaweed consisting of 

 differenl species of Fucus and other marine jdants, 

 is greatly used upon the sea coasts of Great Brit- 

 ain and Ireland as a manure. It is very transient 

 in its effects ; but is nevertheless of much value in 

 situations where it can be obtained. The most 

 common method of using it, is to convey it direct- 

 ly to the land, and apply it fresh as a top dressing 

 to the growing crops. If left in a heap by itself 

 its more soluble i)arts are exhaled, and a dry fi- 

 brous matter alone remains. If it is not applied, 

 therefore, in its recent state, it should be formed 

 into a compost with dung, or with a mixture of 

 dung and earth. 



Seaweed is chiefly valuable for light and dry 

 soils. It is of less comparative value for the stiflT- 

 er clays; and hence when a farm has access to it, 

 it is better to apply the seaweed to the lighter, and 

 the dung to the stifler soils on the farm. — lb. ■ 



Peat. — Peat is a substance which may be used 

 as a manure, but iinle.ssfreed of its acid pij^nciple it 

 may remain for' years exposed to water and air 

 without undergoitii decomposition, in which state 

 it can afford no nourishment to platits. Pure peat, 

 should, therefore, be made to undergo decompo- 

 sition before it is applied to the soil. This may 

 be done by long exposme to the air, or by mixing 

 it with (piick lime, vviiich decomposes its woody 

 fibre, and forms a kind of compost which, howev- 

 er, is not greatly valued. 



Soft Beds. — Children and youth who are ac- 

 customed to sleep on soft or feather beds during 

 the warm season require more than ordinary force 

 of constitution not to be injured by it. The hair 

 matrass is best adapted both for summer and win- 

 ter. — It is thought that feather beds tend to induce 

 consunjption. 



