1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARIMER. 



555 



land. Wool, being lighter, and easily kept on 

 hand foi' a better market, is a more convenient 

 product than mutton for remote localities. The 

 Down sheep, of which the famous South Downs 

 were so long regarded as the type, are recommend- 

 ed by Mr. Fay as the best for all purposes. His 

 own flock of Oxford Downs, from which he has 

 done much to sujiply our farmers, give him the 

 best foundation for this opinion. There are larger 

 breeds, and there are finer-wooled breeds, and 

 there are breeds which mature earlier, but consid- 

 ering quantity and quality of wool, and of mutton, 

 eai'ly maturity, fecundity, aptitude to fatten and 

 hardiness, the Oxford Downs probably stand at 

 the head of the list, though other crosses of the 

 Downs may not be far below them. Many farm- 

 ers find it profitable to sell their lambs, so as to 

 keep down their stock through winter. Early 

 Iambs often bring more in the meat market, than 

 the same animals Avould bring, at eighteen 

 months. 



conclusion:. 

 This volume contains many valuable essays, but 

 it plainly indicates the want of any clear compre- 

 hensive head, to give it shape and system. Per- 

 haps such a report is worth what it costs the gov- 

 ernpient, but certainly it does no credit to the 

 country, or its compiler. A private publisher, 

 ■who should -issue such a series of blunders in or- 

 thography, or a work so devoid of system, would 

 be disgraced. We hope to see a government re- 

 port upon agriculture, that we should not be 

 ash^ned to send out of the country 



H. F, French. 



SAIiT AND ITS OFFICES. 

 Some modern agricultural writers have doubted 

 the necessity of giving animals salt. The re- 

 marks as to the effects of salt upon health, by 

 prof. Johnston, may be relished by those who still 

 put salt in their own puddings, and allow their 

 cattle a little now and then. He says : 



The wild buffalo frequents the salt licks of 

 Northwestern America ; the wild animals in the 

 central parts of South Africa are a sure prey to 

 the hunter who conceals himself behind a salt 

 spring ; and our domestic cattle run peacefully to 

 the hand that offers them a taste of this delicious 

 luxmy. From time immemorial it has been known 

 that, without salt, man would miserably perish ; 

 and among horrible punishments, entailing cer- 

 tain death, that of feedin^j culprits on saltless 

 food is said to have prevailed in former times. 

 Maggots and corruption are spoken of by ancient 

 writers as the distressing symptoms which salt- 

 less food engenders ; but no ancient or unchemi- 

 cal modern could explain how such sufferings 

 arose. Now we know why the animal craves salt, 

 ■why it suffers discomfort, and why it ultimately 

 falls into disease if salt is, for a time, withheld. 

 Upward of half the saline matter of the blood — 

 57 per cent. — consists of common salt, and as this 



is partially discharged every day through the skin 

 and the kidneys, the necessity of continued sup- 

 plies of it to the healthy body becomes sufficient- 

 ly obvious. The bile also contains soda as a spe- 

 cial and indispeusal)le constituent, and so do all 

 the cartilages of the body. Stint the supply of 

 salt, therefore, and neither will the bile be able 

 properly to assist the digestion, nor allow the car- 

 tilages to be built up again as fast as they natu- 

 rally waste. 



MUCK— TREATMENT OF. 



The kind of muck to which we shall in the 

 present instance refer, is that found in low jilaces 

 in u))lands, or forming the soil of fresh marshes 

 on the edges of rivers, in consequence in part of 

 washings from the upland, and in part from sedi- 

 mentary deposits from overflowings. Such muck 

 usually contains a large amount of organic, and a 

 still larger proportion of inorganic matter, result- 

 ing from the decay of organisms during all time. 



For want of aeration this muck is frequently 

 acid, and' therefore requires treatment before it 

 has any value as manure, unless it be intended to 

 be used as a manure for ])otatoes, for which pur- 

 pose it is generally successful if placed in the 

 drills, and the potatoes thrown upon it, and al- 

 ways successful if the muck be accompanied with 

 slight applications of wood ashes, or the lime and 

 salt mixture we have so often recommended. For 

 all other crops, however, the muck in its raw state 

 has not sufficient value as a manure, to pay for its 

 carriage, manipulation, etc. 



If treated in the following manner, muck may 

 be rendered of high value. It should be dug in 

 the summer or fall, and left exposed on the ditch 

 banks for the winter; if deposited sufficiently 

 early in the season on this ditch bank, to part with 

 its water, it may be mixed with the lime and salt 

 mixture, first thoroughly prepared, at the rate of 

 four bushels of the mixture to each cord of the 

 muck. The following spring it will be ready for 

 use, not as manure, but as a valuable adjunct in 

 the vicinity of a manure shed. Near stables, etc., 

 and underlying the bedding of animals, it has a 

 high value, for it receives the nioxious gases em- 

 anating from the surface of their bodies, absorbs 

 urine, and acts generally as a deodorizer ; on the 

 removal each day of the solid excretia from the 

 stalls, this may be mixed under the manure shed 

 with sixteen times its bulk of the decomposed 

 muck, and all the gases emanating from the de- 

 composition of the manure be absorbed and re- 

 tained by the muck. 



The treatment at the ditch bank is quite neces- 

 sary to save cartage, for if treated there as we 

 have recommended, it will lose half its weight 

 without parting with any of its value ; the por- 

 tions parted with being simply water, M'hile the 

 freezings and thawings, assisted by the lime and 

 salt mixture, will tear it apart, correcting its acid- 

 ity, and rendering it as pulverulent as ashes. 

 Some prefer leaving it exposed for the winter, 

 carting it in the vicinity of their barn-yards, and 

 there mixing the muck with the lime and salt mix- 

 ture ; where wood ashes can be procured, they 

 may be used instead of the lime and salt mixture. 



In the compost heap, this decomposed muck 

 has great value, not only as a divider of manure, 

 and in being capable of absorbing all gaseous and 



