Vol. C— No. W. 



]\EW ENGLAND FARMER. 



227 



tury, wlipn (.'arilinal Xiiiienos was tlie Spanish 

 iiiiiu-ster, complaints were made to him that the . 

 sheep of Castile had deteriorated. To remcvly tho 

 evil, this minister determined to import a great 

 number from Barhary ; but as ho could not obtain i 



f.i,' u.e Ml -■■■■i' ..II. li lunaoit. the ..ocKy MuiiM 

 tains of Asm and Greece.] The largest species 

 of sheep in Europe is the breed of Flanders, which 

 the Dutch imported from India, about two centu- 

 ries apo. The smallest race is that of Scotland. . , , „ , 

 (M. Ribbe refer, t... the Hebr.dean shenp_a them by means of negociation, he kindled a war 

 small breed which wer'h from four to five pounds and invaded Morocco.— The bpanish soldiers had 

 ner Quarter when fat, and yield about one pound orders to bring away as many sheep as thej, could ; 

 of wool of virions colours.— These small animals thoy pillaged the country, and returned to Spain 

 frequently cMrry four or six horns. This breed with the precious plu .der 

 was imported into Scotland from Denmark at a The principal breeds of Spain are those which 



five or si.K inches in lencrth, and so coarse, that it , have the most beautiful wool ; those of the Gaud- 

 is fit for nothing but blankets. ; alo'<pe arc celebrated for their form and fleece ; 

 Iceland has two sorts of sheep, one large, the those of Paular have the head covered with wool 

 other small. Their wool is brown, and the inhab- and their neck full ot wrinkles ; those of Infanta- 

 ilants do not shear it, but pull It off— a most cruel do are born with coarse wool, which afterwards 

 operation The Icelanders m .ke great use of becomes very fine, and those of N^.gretti have a 

 sheep's milk.— These animals live all the year e.-^- strong and robust body, with fine wool. All these 

 posed to the sev.rity of the weather, and their races are called merinoes, and were formerly the 

 principal food in winter, is the moss, called Ice- travelling flocks of Spain; since the late wars, 

 land moss, which they obtain under the snow.— they have become stati(*ary All the fine races 

 The small species live among the steep rocks on of sheep now in Europe, were derived from the 



the mountains, and sometimes a flock is carried merinoes of Spain. 



gulf by an avalanche, 



over a precipice into 



where they remain until the warmth of the bod- 

 ies melt the snow which covers them, and an- 

 nounces to the owners, by the steam which as- 

 cends, the place into which they have been car- 

 ried. 



A letter h;is been received by the President of 

 the Pennsylvania Agricultnrtil Society, on the 

 subject of establishing aFellenberg School in this 

 state. Of the plan and scito alluded to in the let- 

 ter, we do not desire to express an opinion ; but 

 upon the principles of the Fellenberg scliools we 



In the Crimea, and some countries near the p^gg^^g j^g^g C3„ be bnt one sentiment, that of 

 Caspian sea, Ihcy have sheep that bear, when approbation. In truth, so e.xccedingly judicious 

 young,short curled woolofa blue, brown, or black ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^1^ ^^^^ appear, it is a matter of aston- 



introduced at this 



color, which is an object of commerce. That the ig^mont that they have to b. 

 wool may remain in small curls, the Tartais cov^r ^-^^ of day.— Perm. Gazette. 



the lambs with a linen cloth sewed close around . 



them, which is not taken off until Vlis animal is From ihe Hampshire Gazelle, 



killed. [The lamb-skins are celebrated, being dam- Mr Judd — The notice in your last paper, of a 

 asked as it were, by clothing the animal.] In successful operation of CEsophagotomy, perform- 

 some of the vast forests of Russia, there are sheep ed by Doct. Blood, induced me to inform you that 

 which live in a wild state; the animals which are simply tapping a creature into the paunch, and 

 so much affected with the sounds of drums and keeping the incision open, are all that is necessa- 

 trumpets, that they begin to run, leap and dance, ry to be done to any creature that is choked with 

 as soon as they hear them; and they continue a turnip, potato, or apple. Not one out of a hun- 

 these motions until overcome by excitement and Jred will die, provided the incision be made be- 

 fatigue, they are no longer able to flee from their fore the intestines become ruptured. Creatures 

 enemies. when choked swell and are in great distress, from 



[The largest breed of sheep in the world is the the pressure of the internal air. Tapping in such 

 fat-t:iiled variety ; it is raised in central Asia, Chi- cases gives instantaneous relief, and either of the 

 na, Persia, Africa, &c. The tail is a mass of f»t, above substances will in the course of seven hours 

 and often weighing 30 pounds. Another variety become so soft that the creature will discharge 

 of Asia is the lonw-tailed breed, with coarse wool; it at the mouth or swallow it. I never found any 

 its tail sometimes drass on the ground.] . had effects from tapping, out of more than twenty 



Europe did not possess any fine wooled sheep cases. The operation is very simple and safe, 

 until the twelfth century. The Roman writers when rightly performed. Any person can inform 

 raention that fine wools and stuffs were imported himself while slaughtering a creature, by observ- 

 from Spain, but this only proves that the Spanish ing where the paunch adheres to the side. Tap- 

 sheep were better than those of the rest of Europe, ping is the best remedy, I think, for the disease 

 In the twelfth century some African merchants called blown or hoven. The effect of the wound 

 sent to Cadiz a few sheep, the wool of which was is not so bad as the inflammation in the throat 

 remarkable for its fineness and whiteness. They after giving alkali. ' A. L. 



were purchased by a Cadiz merchant, and placed j 



on his country estate, where they succeeded, but 

 he found no imitators. 



About the year 1350, Peter, king of Castile, hav- 

 ing been informed that there was a race of sheep 

 in Barhary, which had precious fleeces, sent sev- 

 eral persons into Rlorocco to buy a great number 

 of bucks. Prom this epoch commenced the rep 



THE COFFEE TREE. 



As it is not every one that has seen this singu- 

 larly useful tree, a short description of it may be 

 worth giving. It sometimes attains the height of 

 12 feet with a trunk of 15 inches in circumference, 

 and very much resembles an apple tree of eight 

 or ten years standing. The branches, which 



pliible; tho bark is of a whitish color, and rather 

 rouL'h ; and the leaves, in shape not unlike thosi 

 of tue citron tree, are of a glossy dark green. — 

 Tho blossoms, white as the jessamine flower, and 

 of a delicate fragrance, shoot out at the stem ol 

 the leaves. When tho blossom drops, a small 

 green berry appears in its place, which growing 

 red as it ripens, like a cherry, contrasts beautiful 

 ly with the green fruit and numorous fresh bios 

 soms, which appear upon the tree at the same time 



LIGHTNING RODS. 



The Americnn Journal of Science contains llie following obser- 

 vations of Professor Hare, of Philadelphia. 



" I should not consider a metallic rod, terminat- 

 ing, without any enlargement of surface, in the 

 water or the earth, as an adequate protection a- 

 gains: lightning ; but were such conductors ti- 

 terminate in metallic sheetg, buried in the earth 

 or iimnersed in the sea, or by a collection duly 

 made as with the {ton pipes, leilh ivhieh our city 

 (Philadelphia) is watered, or the copper with which 

 ships are generally sheathed, I should have the 

 most perfect confidence in their competency." 



" It i.s not only important that the points of con- 

 tact, between the metallic mass, employed to af- 

 ford lightning an adequate passage, and the earth 

 or water, in which it terminates, should be so 

 multiplied as to compensate for the inferior con- 

 ducting power of tho earth or water ; but it is 

 also necessary that the conducting rod be as con- 

 tinuous as possible. When conductors are to be 

 stationary, as when applied to buildings, they 

 should consist of pieces screwed together, or pre- 

 ferably joined by solder, as well as by screwing, 

 Where flexibility is requisite, the joints should be 

 neatly made, like those of the irons in fall top car 

 riages ; and should be rivctted so as to ensure ft 

 C-lose contact at the junctures. 



"If a pointed rod be cut into parts so as to pro- 

 duce inter\als, bounded by blunt terminations, its 

 efficacy will not be much greater than if it had nc 

 point; because the fluid will in this case pass io 

 sparks, instead of being trtinsmitted in a current. 

 It is on this account I object to chains, or rods 

 joined by loops, or hooks and eyas." 



Protracted Lactation. — Dr. Morton concludes, 

 1. That, if children are sucklei! for an undue 

 length of time, that is, beyond the period of nine 

 or ten months, they vvill be liable, in consequence, 

 to inflammation of the brain. This proposition .is 

 supported by seven cases of children affected witt 

 cephalitis, where the period of lactation had been 

 considerably protrncted. 



2. That the same effect will take place, where 

 the milk is furnished beyond the above period tc 

 a child, though that child may not have been at 

 the female's breast from the beginning. This ie 

 supported by only one case. 



3. That if the disease in question be not devel- 

 oped at once by the said protracted lactation,* 

 predisposition to cephalic disease will be estab- 

 lished. Supported by eight examples. 



4. That children too long suckled, when take* 

 ill with other diseases, are much more liable tC 

 suffer in the head than children reared in a differ- 

 ent manner. — Mtdi. Chir Review. 



itation of the wool of Castile. In the l<3th cen- 1 stretch all around like an umbrella, are extremely 



The American Dictionary of the English Lan 

 guage, by Noah Webster, L. L. D. which is muct 

 looked for, is in press, and will be published as sooa 

 as a careful reading of the proof sheets will adtptt. 

 It is supposed that the work will be completed « 

 bout the close of the present year. 



