1078 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part III. 



I feVn ""^ ^^""^ "'"" months, and to produce sometimes two at a birth : the young is of the colour of 



narS^as^bfprNonnv^,rv"'i5h ""^^u- '''f"''' u ^"^elopes might probably be acclimated and introduced in 

 parks as objects of luxury The cultivator who first succeeded in breeding them would find an amnle 

 demand at his own price if they happened to come in vogue. ^ 



7385. The camel (Camelus L.) is a genus of which there are several species, three 



of which, the dromedary, or Arabian camel 

 (Jig. 915.), the Bactrian camel, and the 

 lama or Peruvian sheep, might certainly be 

 partially acclimated in England, as the 

 first is in Italy. (297.) They live upon 

 a very little of the coarsest herbage ; might 

 have a warm house well littered to retire to 

 in winter, or in cold nights, and would form 

 a singular ornament to park scenery. Be- 

 sides their hair and skin are valuable, and 

 they might be sold perhaps to romantic tra- 

 vellers or cavalier quacks. 



7386. T/ie lama (Camelus Glama i., 

 Jig. 916.) is the camel of South America; 

 and appears to hold a middle place between the sheep, deer, and camel. 



7387. Before ths enf ranee of the Spaniards, 

 lamas were the only beasts of burden known to 

 the South Americans. Like camels, they travel 

 slowly, but are persevering, tractable, and very 

 sure-footed. Since the introduction of nudes, 

 they are much less cultivated ; but before they 

 were depended on to carry the ores dug cut of 

 the rich mines of Potosi. The lama is furnished 

 as the camel with ability to abstain from water, 

 by keeping a quantity in its second stomach. 

 Like the camel, its feet also divide, and spread ; 

 but by no means equal to those of the camel. It 

 is also furnished with a singular protuberance or 

 spur behind, which enables it thelietter to lay hold 

 on the ground. The tame are of various colours, 

 and some of them are smooth and others rough. 

 The height of the lama is about four feet, and 

 its length from the neck to the tail about six 

 feet. It has a capacity of throwing out the 

 saliva to a considerable distance, but which is 

 not possessed of any acrid quality. 



7388. The camelopard (Camelopardalis Girdffa L.), a most singular and noble animal, 

 seventeen feet high, and as tame and gentle as the camel, might also be naturalised. It 

 lives on the green spray of trees and grass, and frequents forests. 



7389. The elephant, rhinoceros, rtivsk ox, and a variety of other exotic domestics, 

 might be so far acclimated as to live in Britain as they do in the Jardin des Plantes at 

 Paris, viz., with an enclosure for each sort, and a lodge or house for protection in winter 

 or during inclement weather. Were as much attention paid to acclimating foreign 

 animals as there is directed to the same branch of culture in plants, we should soon 

 possess a rich Fauna ; and the public taste may in time take this direction. 



7390. In acclimating the more tender animals, it might be desirable to rear a few 

 generations, first in the south of Italy or in Spain, next in France, and afterwards in the 

 south of England. But the camel, musk ox, zebra, quagga, and antelope might be had 

 at once from the acclimated stock in Italy. 



7391. The dog (CsLuis fami\ih.rh) is an animal of universal utility and interest. From 

 the earliest ages he has been the companion and assistant of the herdsman ; and without 

 his aid the flocks must have been confined to narrow limits, and consequently their 

 propagation would have been greatly lessened. But hardy and bold, he watched by 

 night, and toiled by day ; securing his charge from the human thief, or the ravenous 

 predatory beasts in the one, and collecting and organising their march during the other. 

 Without the dog, sheep-fanners of the present day would be often at a loss to restrain 

 the wanderings of their flocks ; nor is he less useful in guarding the yard by nightly 

 watchings. 



7392. The genus Canis includes other animals, as the wolf, the fox, the jackal, and the hya?na : and 

 many naturalists have supposed our subject, the dog, to be only a mixed animal, originating from the 

 union of some of these. Such is the opinion of Guldenstadt, Pallas, and Pennant; while the higher 

 names of Blumenbach and Cuvier are ranged among those who assign him a distinct and specific origin. 

 Blaine, who has long successfully advocated the cause of the dog, has bestowed much research on this 



Eoint; and appears clearly to have traced the dog through his numerous varieties, to a specific origin ; 

 ut whether originating from a specific or a spurious source, the dog has descended down uito such innu- 

 merable varieties, that a detail of the forms and properties of them, as they appear among us only, would 

 be utterly impossible. The wants as well as the luxuries of man have, however, laid hold on some of 

 these varieties, and have fixed them into permanencies, by confining the sexual intercourse to their con- 

 geners alone; and of this number there are no less than forty. It would be unnecessary to draw the 

 character of the dog as stated at length by Linmeus and others ; the outlines are the same in all 



