1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



41 



PATENT OFFICE EEPORT FOB 1859. 



^^ FEW weeks since 

 i^£$ 'W6 gave atten- 

 tion to some of 

 fZs= the leading arti- 

 ^ cles making up 

 Ms"/ ^ this report for 

 s^ 5lk^ the year 1859, 



vS^^^a^iS^J^SfJ^^s/^ tinue notices of 



^_o;jy5^«3j^y some others, 



mj3^e3_j^^ which will be 



'^"-fi^^^^vi f^'vy^ found interest- 

 ing and profita- 

 ble. We are 

 /m>^:t:^.>^ m'% glad to find at- 

 tention turned 

 ^ ^^^^^^ to the subject of 



Veterinary Sci- 

 ence and Art, a 

 science too imperfectly understood by our people, 

 considering the progress that has been made in 

 other departments of our agricultural pursuits, 

 and hope for new light that may enable us to 

 treat the diseases of our animals in a more ra- 

 tional way. 



VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ART. 



There are three articles on the various branch- 

 es of this subject, and one on the Acclimation and 

 Domestication of Animals, which is said to be a 

 proper object of veterinary science. 



Dr. B. F. Craig, of Washington, the writer of 

 two of the above articles, makes quite a different 

 statement of the results of medicine on the hu- 

 man race, from that lately expressed by his broth- 

 er Holmes, of this city. He quotes the Genevan 

 statistics, extending from 1549 to 1833. 



"If we take from the Geneva tables the per- 

 centage of the whole number born, who survive 

 to different periods of adult or useful life, we will 

 find it to have varied in different centuries, near- 

 ly as follows : 



Of 100 Persons, there In the IQth In the In the In the 



lived century. \"th. ISth. 19th. 



To the age of 20 39 45 56 66 



To the age of 30 30 37 49 59 



To the age of 40 20 30 43 52 



To the age of 50 14 22 35 44 



To the age of 60 9 15 26 32 



By this table we see that where, in the six- 

 teenth century, nine persons lived to their sixti- 

 eth year, thirty-two persons do so now ; and if 

 we take the average number of survivors for all 

 periods of adult life, it will be found to be at the 

 present time considerably more than double what 

 it was three hundred years ago." 



Having shown that medical science has done so 

 much for the human race, the writer urges the 

 importance of extending its benefits more gener- 

 ally to our domestic animals. 



ENGLISH PLOWS AND PLOWING. 



Our Associate, Judge French, who visited Eng- 

 land a few years since, gives in this article his 

 observations and impressions on this subject, in- 

 cluding a notice of English and American steam 

 plows. His observations were critical, and those 

 who are curious in this matter will do well to 

 read the whole article with care. 



FARM JOURNALS. 



We notice this brief article by Mr. J. L. Gow, 

 of Washington, Pa., for the purpose of repeating 

 one of the many advantages which he enumer- 

 ates of keeping Farm Journals : 



"Young men, and even children, participating 

 in them, become more and more interested iu the 

 matters of the farm, not only learning to Avrite, 

 (which of itself is important,) but at the same 

 time to express any particular subject or event in 

 proper ideas and words, thus acquiring that hap- 

 py faculty which, with many, is the labor of years 

 — to write clearly and forcibly." 



GREEN SOILING STOCK. 



D. S. Curtis, Esq., of Madison, Wisconsin, 

 furnishes an article on soiling. He says that "it 

 can be clearly shown that the system will pay,., 

 several times over, even in the new States, where- 

 lands are cheap and plenty." That soiling or 

 keeping cattle all summer in barns or yards, and 

 feeding them on green food raised and cut for the 

 purpose, might be adopted by some of the dairy- 

 men near the large cities of the olden States, we 

 have little doubt, but we think Mr. Curtis will 

 make slow progress in convincing the stock- 

 growers of the South and West that the system 

 will answer with them just yet. 



SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. 



An essay, with sixteen illustrations and many 

 more capital hits, by Samuel D. Backus, New 

 York. Our own style of building and that of our 

 ancestors is thus contrasted : 



"Indeed, it is doubtful whether, in view of the 

 available means and opportunities of the people, 

 the earliest houses on this continent were not 

 better than the most recent ones. * * * xhe 

 very abundance of our resources, and the freedom 

 of our choice, instead of inciting to a wise dis- 

 crimination, seem only to have developed an in- 

 considerate lawlessness." 



He defines architecture to be "the construction 

 of our buildings so as best to suit us, with the 

 very best use of the means at hand," and not, as 

 many suppose, "an inflexible set of rules, made 

 by infallible authority." 



METEOROLOGY. 



Prof. Henry, of the Smithsonian Institute fur- 

 nishes an article of some 64 pages on "Atmos- 

 pheric Electricity." We hardly know why this 

 paper should be headed as it is in the Patent Of- 



