172 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 2y. isaft. 



[PEEPABED FOn THE .NEW E.VGL.4ND FARMER. 



ailed 



A LAPLAND SUMMER, 



Including also what in other countries. 



spring and autumn, consists of fifty-six days, as 



follows : 



June 28, Snow melts, 



July 1, Snow gone, 



9, Fields quite green, 



17, Plants at full groivth, 

 25, Plants in full blow, 



2, Fruits ripe, 

 10, Plants shed their seeds, 



18, Snow. 



From this time to June 23, the ground is every 

 where covered with snow, and the waters with 

 ice. 



BRITISH AVORKS ON AGRICULTURE. 



Aug. 



the establishment of the Board of Agriculture, in 

 17'J.3, ought to form a new era in the history of 

 the agriculture and rural economy of Britain. j 



A professorship of agriculture was established j 

 in the university of Edinburgh, in 1790, and the : 

 professor, Dr Andrew Coventry, is well known as j 

 a man of superior qualifications for fulfilling its 

 duties. ! 



Professorships of agriculture, and even of horti- 1 

 culture, or rather of culture in general, are said j 

 to be partly provided for, and partly in conlompla- ; 

 lion, both in O.xford and Cambridge. ' 



The reports of the different counties, many of; 

 tlieui surveyed a second time, and now reprinted, ^ 

 according to an uniform plan, have been followed j 

 by the General Report of the Agricultural State j 

 and Political Circumstances of Scotland; and a 

 similar work for England was understood to be in , 

 the contemplation of the board. But the continua- ( 

 In 1765, a treatise on agriculture was publish- j tj^^ ^f that institution was deemed unnecessary j 

 ed by the Rev. Adam Dickson, minister of Dunse, ! j,y parliament ; and its annual vote for its support | 

 in Berwickshire, which is decidedly the best work ; (j^j^g withdrawn, it ceased to e.vist in ISlO. i 



on tillage which has appeared in the English lan- 

 guage, and was and still is held in universal es- 

 teem among the practical farmers of Scotland. 



In 1777, Lord Kaimes published the Gentleman 

 Farmer, being an attempt to improve agriculture 

 by subjecting it to the test of rational principles. 

 His lordship was a native of Berwickshire, and 

 had been accustomed to farm in that country for 

 several years, and afterwards at Blair Druoiniond, 

 near Stirling. This work was in part a compila- 

 tion and in part the result of his own observation ; 

 and was of essential service to the cause of agri- 

 culture in Scotland. 



In 1778, appeared Wight's Present Slate of 

 Husbandry in Scotland. This is a valuable work ; 

 but the volumes not appearing but at intervals of 

 some years, it was of less benefit than might have 

 been e.\pected. 



In 1783, Dr Anderson published his Essays re- 

 lating to agriculture and rural affairs ; a work of 

 science and ii'genuity, wliich did much good both 

 in Scotland and England. 



In ISUO appeared the Farmer's Magazine ; a 

 quarterly work, exclusively devoted to agriculture 

 and rural affairs ; and which has done more to en- 

 lighten both the proprietory and tenantry of Scot- 

 land than any other book which has appeared. It 

 was at first conducted jointly by Robert Brown 

 farmer of Markle ; and Robert Somerville, M. D 

 of Haddington. Afterwards on Dr Somerville't 



phor, on air. They arc said to rush on a foe with 

 impetuosity ; and it is asserted that some of theoa' 

 when wounded in battle, will withdraw to a spol 

 where their master may be secure ; and if he fall,^ 

 they will neigh for assistance ; accordingly their 

 value is derived from their singular agility, ani 

 extreme docility, and an uncommon attachment ti 

 their master. The Arabian steeds are sornelim 

 bought at excessive rates by the English atMnrlia.'' 

 The duke of Newcastle asserts, that the ordiniry' 

 price of an Arabian horse is £ 10()0, £2000, orl 

 even £.3000 ; and that the .\rabs are as careful inlf 

 preserving the genealogy of thei' horses, agl 

 princes in recording that of their famili ;s ; the'* 

 grooms are very exact in registering the names oB 

 the sires and dams of these aniiniU ; .and some off 

 them are of very ancient date in this specie-- of{ 

 pedigree. It is affirmed that Arabian coU,s arftj 

 brought up'ttith camel's milk. — Loudon. '-^ 



The Code of Agriculture, publishel in 1819, by 

 Sir John Sinclair, may be considered as giving a 

 succinct view of the most improved practices of 

 British husbandry as actually practised by profes- 

 sional farmers. It is a work which has already 

 been tran.-ilated into several foreign languages, 

 and passed through more than one edition in ibis 

 country. 



THE nUNG OF PIGEONS 



Is SO highly prized in Persia that many pigeon- 

 houses are erected at a distance from habitations 

 for the sole purpose of collecting their manure. — 

 They are large round towers, rather broader at 

 the bottom than at the top, and crowned by conic- 

 al spiracles through which the pigeons descend. — 

 Their interior resembles a honeycomb, forming 

 thousands of lioles for nests ; and the outsides are 

 painted and ornamented. The dung is applied al- 

 most entirely to the rearing of melons, a fruit in- 

 dispensable to the natives of warm countries dur- 

 ing the great heats of summer, and also the most 

 rapidly raised in seasons of scarcity ; and hence 

 the reason that during the famine of Samaria a 

 cab of dove's dung was sold for five pieces of sil- 

 ver. ('2 Kini^s, vi. 25.J The Persians do not eat 

 pigeons. — JMorier's Secottd Journey, S^-c. 141. 



ARABIAN HORSE. 



The horse is of all the animals of Arabia the 

 most valuable. This animal is said to be found 

 death, by Brown alone ; and subsequently, on the | ^vild in the extensive deserts on tihe north of Ha- 

 lalter gentleman's declining it, by Cleghorn, W. j dramant : this might have been the case in an- 

 K., one of the most scientific agriculturists of Scot- cient times, unless it should be thought more 

 land. The frequent recurrence that is made probable, that the wild horse of Tartary has pass- 

 -to The Farmer's Magazine in the course of this ed through Persia, and has been only perfected in 



RKCLAIMEi:) LAND. k 



The Raleigh Register says, Mr David Justics^ 

 jr. of that county, has made the present season 17J 

 barrels of corn, 2 wagon loads of pumpkins and a* 

 large quantity of peas from one acre and ten poleg' 

 of marshy ground,which was usually covered with; 

 water, but had been drained, and was cultivated i 

 for the first time this season. i 



work, will show the higii value which we set on 

 it. The Husbandry of Scotland is the next work 

 deserving of notice in this sketch of Scottish au- 

 thors, published by Sir John Sinclair in 1810 ; and 

 which may very properly complete the series, as 

 it fulfils in an able and complete manner what the 

 title possesses. 



The rapid progress of agriculture in Britain is 

 shown by nothing more clearly than the great 

 number of societies that have been lately formed : 

 one or more in almost every county, for the diftu- 

 sion of knowledge, and the encouragement of cor- 

 rect operations, and beneficial discoveries. Among 

 these, the Bath and West of England Society, es- 

 tablished in 1777, and the Highland Society of 

 .Scotland, in 1784, hold a conspicuous rank, and 



nly per 



Arabia. The horses here are distributed into two 

 classes, viz. the kaJischi, or common kind, whose 

 geneiilogy has not been preserved, and the kochla- 

 ni, or noble horse, who-e breed has been ascer- 

 tained for 2000 years, proceeding, as their fables 

 assert, from the stud of Solomon. They are rear- 

 ed by the Bedouins, in the northern deserts be 

 tweeji Bassora, Merdin, and the frontiers of Syria; 

 and though they are neither large nor beautiful, 

 their race and hereditary qualities being the only 

 objects of estimation, the preservation of their 

 breed is carefully and authentically witnessed ; 

 and the offspring of a Kochlain stallion with an 

 ignoble race is reputed kfidischi. These will bear 

 the greatest fatigues, and pass whole days with- 

 out food, living according to the Arabian meta- 



HEMOPTYSIS, OR SPITTING OF BLOOD. 



Tiic great heat, in tiie month of June, brought 

 into tlie hospical several cases of Hemo; tysis. On 

 [the 18th, three cases came in together, and Mr 

 Recamier determined to show his pupils the eft'ecl 

 of large doses of nitre, in this complaint, as em- 

 ployed by the Italian physicians. To each of tlie 

 i patients, therefore, he gave half an ounce of nitre, 

 j dissolved in a mucilaginous mixture, to be taken, 

 in tlie course of the day. In one patient who had 

 been bringing up blood freely for four or five days 

 previously, and who had taken no other medicinCf 

 the hemoptysis was completely arrested during 

 the first day at the hospital. The day after it re- 

 turned, and was again stopped by the same medi- 

 cine, and did not afterwards recur. This patient 

 took the half ounce of nitre in the course of four 

 hours and some disagreeable sensations were pro- 

 duced in the stouiach and mouth, but no other ef- 

 ' fects. In the second case, bleeding had been in- 

 effectually employed,and the hemoptysis continued 

 abundant. On the second day of the administra- 

 tion of the nitre, no trace of blood was perceptible 

 in the expectoration. The medicine was continu- 

 I ed for two days more, as a precautionary measure. 

 I In this patient, no inconvenience in the stomach 

 j was produced by the nitre. The third case, was 

 that of a man 45 years of age, who had been sub- 

 ject to severe hemoptysis for ten years previously,' 

 the attacks recurring about once in two years ; 

 I and generally giving way to blood-letting and 

 I leeches. The hemoptysis had this time continued 

 1 three days, accompanied by great embarrassment 

 I of breathing, and a crepitous rattling in the lower 

 I part of the left side of the thorax. He had been, 

 bled several times before he entered the hospital') 

 I both locally and gcnerally.but the hemoptysis con-; 

 tinued. Like the two other patients he took thft 

 nitrous mixture. The second day he felt much 

 less enfeebled — the expectoration was not s* 

 bloody. The treatment was continued, and thS 

 expectoration soon became untinged with blood 

 and puriform. I'ltimately, however, the patient 

 sunk with regular hectic fever, presenting, on dis- 



i 



