54 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



briars, evergreens (those of the laurel will kill them), 

 aud of more than a huudi-ed different plants, if within 

 their reach. 



REPORT OF THE TRANSACTIONS AT THE 

 VETERINARY SCHOOL OF ALFOKT. 



During the last sessional year, students at this val- 

 uable institution have had rare opportunities for 

 acquiring a knowledge of various branches, in veteri- 

 nary science; from their annual report, we learn that 

 the number of animals admitted for treatment, and 

 returnable defects, or as subjects of surgical aud 

 therapeutic experiment, are as follows: 



Of the horse tribe 1041 



Of the bovine tribe '22 



Of smaller species 883 



1446 



Animals submitted to consultation were, — 



Horses G510 



Cows 33 



Asses and mules 80 



Dogs " 397 



Goats _ 17 



Cats '.'...'.'.'.'. 4 



Pigs 3 



7044 



Making in the aggregate 8490 animals over which 

 the students have extended their observations. 



" If we add to this the number returned the pre- 

 vious scholastic year, 7994, it will be seen that the 

 pupils receiving their diplomas, after having spent 

 two years at school, have had opportunities of in- 

 struction in veterinary medicines and surgery from 

 the considerable number of 16,484 subjects of difier- 

 eut species." 



We sincerely hope that ere the year 1853 has 

 passed, to be able to report on the transactions of an 

 American veterinary school! Such an institution is 

 surely needed; for the people of this country are now 

 in the same condition regarding veterinary matters, 

 as existed among those of the mother country previ- 

 ous to the endowment of her veterinaiy university. 

 And if ever we should be visited by those fearful 

 epidemics, or epizootics, that have to such an alarm- 

 uig extent prevailed throughout the British dominions, 

 the pestilential sword wfll be no less keen, nor de- 

 structive here, than it was in the former country. 

 But we have enough at the fresent time to arouse 

 our agriculturists from their long slumber of indiffer- 

 ence to united action for the advancement of a science 

 which has, and is still calculated to sow broadcast the 

 germs of usefulness. It is well known that there are 

 constantly occurring among various descriptions of 

 live stock, thousands of premature deaths, and a like 

 number of unnecessary cases of disease, every year, 

 which might be prevented by the aid of veterinary 

 science. Many of our farmere have, to their sorrow 

 and mortification, discovered that the offspring of 

 many fine and costly animals rapidly degenerate, and 

 they know not the why nor the wherefore. Then, 

 again, observe the countless number of malformed, 

 and otherwise defective horses that are to be met 

 with in all parts of the Union; inheriting through 

 ancestral descent a broken down constitution, a wedv, 

 porous, bony structure, which sends out its morbid 

 growths, in the form of spavin, riagboue, spleut and 



other osseous deformities, to the utter ruin of the 

 subjects reputation, and his owner's anticipations. 



Does the farmer seek a remedy? If so, he should 

 read the Book of JVatwre, as it is written by Omsii- 

 potcnce on the face of universal creation, and recog- 

 nize there through the intelligence of man, in germi- 

 nation, growth and maturity of both animate and 

 inanimate matter. Let the I'arnier who is thireting 

 for knowledge, knock at the door of veterinary 3<n- 

 ence, and it shall be opened unto him, and he ahull 

 there learn by what means races of animak degene- 

 rate. It has been discovered, and the same is true 

 of brutes, that malformation, decrepitude and pre- 

 mature death result from disregarding the immutablo 

 laws of nature. Ask the surgeon how aud by what 

 means the sons of Adam deteriorate, and he will tell 

 you they have violated God's uncompromising laws, 

 as they apply to our mental and physical natures. 

 Do you desire proof of this? If so, you are referred 

 to the Nobles of Spain and Portugal — to the lunatics 

 of this and other countries, and to the countless hosts 

 ot weak, puny, living — yet half dead — of all nations, 

 that are to be met with — the architects of their own 

 infirmities. If other and more convincing proof be 

 needed, we have only to contrast the stalwart frame 

 and iron constitution of our departed ancestors with 

 the present exotic and diminutive race, and the dif- 

 ference appears ahnost as great as that now existing 

 between the lion and the lamh. Hence there is a 

 fine field for American talent and iudustiy, in that 

 Ijranch of veterinary science known as comparative 

 physiology. Finally, if it were not for the enterprise 

 manifested by our wealthy agricidturists, in importing 

 stock from abroad, and thus mingling good blood 

 with the common herd, the live stock of this country 

 would be little else than walking skeletons, fit subjects 

 only for some friendly epizootic. Let a small portion 

 of the money, now expended for the purchase of for- 

 eign stock, be invested in standard works on the 

 collateral branches of veterinary science, to be studied 

 in our schools and universities; and a little sum be 

 appropriated for endowing a school like that at Alfort, 

 then our native stock might be so improved and per- 

 petuated as not to need foreign aid. — George H. 

 Dadd, in the JYeiv England Farmer. 



The American Threshing Machine at Mr. 

 Mechi's. — Yesterday, Tiptree Hall was the scene of 

 an interesting experiment, the trial of the American 

 Threshing Machine, or Moffitt's Grain Separator, 

 wliich excited so much interest in the New York 

 Exhibition. The machine is the invention of Mr. J. 

 R. ^loFFiTT, of Piqua, Ohio, and has been in Oj)cr.i- 

 tion for more than two years in the United States, 

 where it is superseding most others. The whole 

 weight of it is only 12J cwt., or not more than two- 

 thirds the weight of a common road wagon; and one- 

 third that of an ordinary machine calculated for the 

 same amount of power. As to price, the cost, we 

 understand, is not hkely to be more than half that 

 of the machines now in use; and at the raoderate 

 speed at which it was working yesterday, it threshed 

 a bushel of wheat per minute — or even more than 

 that, for gentlemen who tried it found that it threshed 

 the bushel in one case in 45 and in another in 49 

 seconds. The work was only limited by the difficulty 



