638 Abstract Report of Agricultural Discussions. 
land as he occupied, they depended much during July and August 
upon the early dwarf-rape, — a variety which, he believed, was not 
commonly used. He had had his from Dorsetshii'e, and it had turned 
out to be of very great value. He sowed it 18 inches apart, and har- 
rowed it frequently, and in eight or ten weeks it made the best and 
most fattening food for sheep that he had ever met with at that par- 
ticular time of the year. It was unfortunate that in the course of the 
last three years, as Mr. Coleman had shown, the supply of sheep in 
this coimtry had greatly diminished, whilst the population had gone 
on increasing. This pointed out the special necessity for increasing 
the breed of sheep. 
Mr. Holland drew attention to the great mortality amongst the 
sheep in Lincolnshire, owing to the attempts which had been made to 
cure the scab in particular by means of mercurial preparations, which 
were generally used as an ointment. This ointment had the effect of 
shutting up all the pores of the skin, but not until the mercurial pro- 
perties had had an injm-ious influence upon the health of the animal. 
Scores of sheep had died from this cause ; and after death it had been 
discovered that where the mercury had entered into the system the 
meat was bad for human food. It stood to reason that, if the pores of 
the skin were stopped over the whole surface of the animal, those 
particles which ought to escape from the body — such as carbonic acid 
gas — would be driven into the system and become mixed with blood, 
and so the whole system be deranged. Now, this ought to be guarded 
against by farmers ; and he was glad to hear from the Professor that 
the proper dressing ought to be given in a liquid form, and not as an 
ointment. Analogous to the filling up the pores of the skin of the 
grown-up animal with ointment was, that practice of covering the 
lamb which had lost its dam with the skin of another lamb, which 
caused many deaths every year. In the same way this practice 
stopped up the pores of the skin, and at best produced a diseased and 
imhealthy animal. 
Professor Colkman stated, in reply, that nets were not used on the 
College farm, because the l&nd there was so exceedingly shallow — 
the soil being only 3 or 4 inches in depth — that they coiild not keep 
up the nets with stakes. Nets, however, where they could be used, 
offered the great advantage of easy removal. Of course, the existence 
of game in large quantities would constitute a fatal objection to their 
use; but that, he believed, was an exception rather than the i'ule. 
The size of the mesh might be easily altered, so that the sheep could 
not get their heads through the opening. The sheep on the College 
farm were principally Cotswold, and they answered exceedingly well. 
There was some trouble at first, and care and patience were, necessary ; 
for the labourers — and farmers, too, for that matter — were sometimes 
so prejudiced against any alteration, that they would not give a new 
food or a new system a fair trial. With regard to the washpool, he 
did not think its use need be restricted in aU cases to the summer ; on 
tlie contrary, he was of opinion that ewes, up to the period when they 
were half-gone in lamb, might be washed in winter. 
