FARMERS' REGISTER— YELLOW LAMMAS WHEAT— HAY MAKING. 161 



besides a sunTicicncy of wliolesome food, nothin<f 

 can conlribute more tlian an uiilimilcd supply of 

 salt. And I am inclined to tliink, that lliose cows 

 wliich have .i sufficiency of this article, are more 

 apt lo escape tiie disease. 



Mankind have been lonp; disposed to rely on tar 

 and otlicr strong scented suijstanccs for the preven- 

 tion of disease. Surely tlic smell of goats miglit 

 stand a fair candidate for the honor, if any stink- 

 ing scent could charm away distemper. 



Candor requires, that some facts that seem to 

 oppose the opinion advocated above, in relation to 

 the mode of contagion, sliould l>e noticed. Cows 

 have been known lo die with syn)ptoms of distem- 



()er in tiie heart of cities, while confined in close 

 ots, and secluded from nil intercourse with other 

 cattle. I admit this to be a fad, and feel the force 

 of the difficulty arising from it. The solution, 

 however, may depend on minute circumstances 

 with which I am unacquainted. The only case of 

 the kind, which has come under my personal ob- 

 servation, was that of a cow, which died in three 

 weeks after being closely confined in a lot in Rich- 

 mond. Being ignorant of the time which may 

 elapse between the period of exposure and of at- 

 tack, we cannot determine that this animal did not 

 contract the disease on her way to Richmond. Hut 

 admitting that she took the disease after ar- 

 riving in her lot, I know no more probable suppo- 

 sition of the mode, than that her hay or other food 

 had been accidentally besmeared with the saliva of 

 some distempered animal. This, in a country, 

 like that around Richmond, filled up with infected 

 cattle, would appear not at all improbable. Very 

 possibly, she was fed on food hauled to town by 

 oxen of this description, and their driver would be 

 apt to permit them to have access to their load. 



The distemper may be called a summer disease, 

 occurring according to my observation, between 

 the first of June and the first of December. Much 

 the larger number of cases occur in the heat of 

 summer, and very few, as the cold season ad- 

 vances. This may possibly be, because there is 

 less grazing in cold weather, and the herd of each 

 owner is confined to itself, so that there is less op- 

 portunity of spreading thedi.sease in winter. But, 

 a tendency to peculiar prevalence at some particu- 

 lar season of the year, is a characteristic of, per- 

 haps, every infectious disease, in man or beast. 

 Whether the period between exposure and attack 

 is limited as in most infectious diseases, or without 

 limit, as in hydrophobia, is a question unsettled. 

 It is very certain, that hot weather operates pow- 

 erfully in exciting the virus to action. From my 

 observation, I would judge the period, between ex- 

 posure and attack, to be, within the limit of three 

 or four weeks, and that an animal having escaped 

 for this length of time, is in no danger until a fresh 

 exposure. A large number, howevej-, of those 

 exposed, escape entirely, or have the disease so 

 mildly that it is not perceived. 



The object of this communication is chiefly to 

 excite inquiry. If it should be found on farther 

 investigation that the disease owes its continued 

 existence to those animals solely, which have been 

 subjects of it — then there would he hope of exter- 

 minating it, liy removing from our farms, every 

 one on which suspicion could possiiily rest, and 

 supplying their places, by an entirely new stock. 

 The custom now is, to place a higher value on 

 those cattle which ha^■e recovered from the disease. 



Vol. 1—21 



under the inqnession that such will enjoy a future 

 immunity from its attacks. This may long be 

 the case, in cities and villages, where a family 

 rarely keeps more than one cow. But surely no 

 farmer would desire to keep an animal, whatever 

 might be its intrinsic value, couki he once clearly 

 ascertain, that it carried about it, a poison capable 

 of perpetuating such a disca.sc among his stock. 



A. B. Oi 



VRI.LOW LABIMAS WHEAT, AND HAYMAKING; 



To the Editor of the Farmers^ Res^isltr. 



Sin, — I hail the appearance of your neat and 

 well filled journal, as one of the cheap and effi- 

 cient means of disseminating information, and, of 

 gradually correcting the unprofital)lo management 

 and slovenly culture among us Farmers. It liaS 

 [jiobably been owing to the wantof such journals, 

 that attempts to get up and keep alive Agricultu- 

 ral Societies have proved abortive, in so many in- 

 stan(es in this state. It seems to me, that a perio- 

 dical destined to be as deservedly popular as 

 yours, could not fail in efforts to revive and keep 

 up one Common, and sundry Auxiliary Societies. 

 And would they not have as salutary an effect up- 

 on your paper, as it would have upon them.'' Of 

 the advantages of this reciprocal action, you are 

 better qualified to speak than I am. 



In the pr'^sent comparatively low slate of Agri- 

 culture in Virginia, it is proper that we should 

 seek a knowledge of the improvements that have 

 been made both at home and abroad — and commu- 

 ni( ate, for the public benefit, whatever, in oui* 

 own practice, may be thought usefiil. I trust that 

 your call for communications, and for a free and 

 generous interchange of o[)inions, will not be un- 

 heeded. I avail myself of your invitation to do 

 so, and ask of some of your readers to inform me 

 where I can procure about fifty bushels of seed 

 wheat, of the kind cultivated in Virginia some 

 thirty years ago, and called 



YELLOW LAMMAS WHEAT. 



It was a favorite with many persons. Mr. 

 Richards who hiid long experience in the mil- 

 ling business in Richmond, thought it greatly 

 preferable to any of the new sorts to which it has 

 so generally given place, — the cultivation of it has 

 been abandoned probably by many persons, more 

 from the love of change and of new Ihinga, than 

 from a careful comparison with other varieties. — » 

 All that I know of it myself, is, that a judicious 

 Farmer in Amherst never could be persuaded to 

 try any other kind, and that his crops were better 

 than his neighbors'. But he has been dead more 

 than twenty years, and I have not ascertained 

 whether or not the family have " kept in tiie seed.'* 

 It is a bad practice, too hastily to give up old 

 things for new ones, without properly testing their 

 comparative merits. Among the wheats of " oldea 

 time," the purple straw has retained so much 

 favor as not to have been discarded. 



I am a young Farmer ; but I am old enough in 

 the business to know, that, the best and the wor- 

 thiest men, and some of the most intelligent minds, 

 are frequently deceived by false theories and ar-* 

 (lent sanguine temperaments. If this remark 

 should i)e thoiigiit more ])eculiariy applicable {o 

 Politicians, Pliysicians and Metaphysicians; yet, 

 it may ho. too f)ftcn justly applied to Farmers. — 

 Hence it is, that scientific researches and de- 



