SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
299 
plant ; at the same time divesting myself of all precon- 
ceived ideas, whether enthusiastic or disparaging. I shall 
not, therefore, touch the question but to throw light upon 
honest researches. I will not seek in the new plant a uni- 
versal panacea for cattle, or a dangerous poison ; but to 
excite a renewed examination. I will confess that the 
abundance of forage has won me as it has done others; 
but with certain facts before me, duly stated, I stopped 
and reflected. Perhaps in the absence of regular accounts 
we might have deceived ourselves; but with the 
figures before us, we can come to no other conclusion ; 
at the same time requesting the practitioners to renew 
their experiments carefully. 
“The sorgho is not a violent poison for cattle ; but if the 
effects observed, not only in my cultivation, but also in 
that of many of my neighbors, be frequently renewed, we 
ought necessarily to attribute to this plant a deleterious 
influence. On a farm which I occupy myself, 25 horned 
cattle have been fed exclusively on sorgho during a month ; 
and from the precise day on which it was introduced in 
feeding tke^iBittle, the journal of the farm shows a dimi- 
nution of the profits of the dairy by one-half, and the same 
decrease was exhibited every month of feeding with 
sorgho. 
“On the other hand, there was, in respect to one of the 
COW’S, a case of wind that caused its death. Any other 
kind of food might have produced a similar accident; but 
what many of my neighbors have asserted is, the sterility 
of the cow fed on sorgho. If these are facts, sterility on 
the one hand, and a diminution of half in the production 
of milk on the other, repeated regularly in consequence 
of feeding the cows on sorgho, we must conclude from 
them that this plant is injurious ; since it hinders or di- 
minishes all kinds of production by interfering with the 
secretions, which must necessarily provoke a perturba- 
tion in the animal organism ; all morbid causes having 
their origin in suppressions of this nature. 
“I know that no improvement of the soil is possible 
without an abundance of green food; and their produc- 
tion regularly successive by a course of cropping is not 
always an easy matter. I should, therefore, regret being 
obliged to abandon the sorgho. The desire of preserving 
for a plant so luxuriant, a place in the production of 
green food, and also, on the other hand, the fear of intro- 
ducing into the midst of our cultivated plants a danger- 
ous auxiliary, ought to operate as a doubly powerful mo- 
tive for prudently and honestly renewing the experi- 
otents. MARauis de Vibrave.” 
AGRICULTURAL, SCHOOL IN 3ELGIUM-PRO- 
gi-amme of the Course of Study, &c. 
COURSE FOR THE FIRST YEAR. 
1st. Botany in all its branches. 2d. Elements of 
Chemistry and of Natural Philosophy, Divisibility, Fil- 
tration, Gravity (Affinity), Heat, the study of the Ther- 
m.ometer (of the Pyrometer), Effervescence, Evaporation, 
Sublimation. 
CHEMISTRY PROPER. 
Table of the 61 simples, Chemical Vocabulary, Crys- 
talization. Laws of Combination, the use of Chemical 
Signs and Formula, Chemical Reaction, Study of Bodies 
(properly called Metallurgy), Oxigen — its history. Natur- 
al and Chemical Properties, Compjosition, Distinct Char- 
acter, Natural state. Preparation. Same course for all the 
others. 
AGRICULTURE. 
Agriculture (properly so called), Climate, Soil, Arable 
Lands, Clay, Silicia, Lime, Mould, Magnesia, Oxide of 
Potassium, Soda, Oxide of Iron, the Earths 1st class 
Clay Soils, composition and properties of the earths which 
belong to this class. 2d. Soapy Soil, Composition, Dis- 
tinct Character, Properties and Nature, Subdivisions of 
clay soils and their properties. 3d class Limy Earths. 
4th. Manner of learning the value of arable land, 1st by 
Chemical Analysis, and 2nd, by Natural Properties. 
Chapter II — How to know lands which need draining, 
the Causes which make the earth too moist. General Prin- 
ciples ofDrainage in case of springs, Method of Draining 
in case of an impenetrable soil or subsoil. Drainage (pro- 
perly so called), the method of ascertaining lands which 
require drainage. 
Chapter III . — General principles which should guide 
in the construction of a complete system of drainage- 
draining land submerged. 
IRRIGATION. 
Advantage of Irrigation, Properties of different waters, 
Purifying them. Irrigation of Cereals, Construction of 
Reservoirs, to construct Reservoirs in proportion to the 
extent of field to be irrigated, the Use of water .in reser- 
voirs, Canal which brings the water. Ways of Irrigating, 
1st by ditches running through the land, 2nd by Filtration, 
and 3rd, by Submersion. 
AGRICULTURAL ANATOMY. 
Definition of Anatomy, Study of Tissues and their Modi- 
fications, different Modifications of the Cellular Tissues— 
1st, Tissue of the skin — ^^2nd, Mucous — 3d, Serous — 4th, 
Vascular — 5th, Glandular — 6th, Fibrous — 7th, Cuticle 
Fibre — 8th, Cartilaginous— 9th, Osseous. Nervous Tis- 
sue — Descriptive Anatomy, a Treatise on the bones. My- 
otomy, the organs of digestion, of the mouth, the lips, the 
shape of the teeth, the jaws, the palate, the tongue, the 
salival glands, the carotid artery, maxillary, sublingual, 
salivary, the pharynx, the sesophagous. The digestive or- 
gans — the abdomen, the stomach, the intestines, the liver, 
the pancreas, the milt, epiglottis. Organs of Respiration 
— organs of sensibility, organs of the senses, organs of the 
passions, organs of the hearing, organs of touch, organs of 
secretion and excretion of the urine. Mathematics, 
Geometry, Surveying and Leveling, and Algebra, during, 
the course of study for three years, with Lineal Drawing. 
COURSE FOR THE SECOND YEAR. 
Continuation of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy, 
with practical experience in the Laboratory. 
AGRICULTURE — SECOND TEAR. 
Study of Manures, Clasification of Manures, Farm- 
yard Manure, Atmospheric Manure, Manure from horned 
animals, from swine, of horses, of sheep, human excre- 
ment, of poultry, guano, folding of sheep, litter of straw, of 
leaves, of branches, of fern, &c.; Preparation and Use of 
Manure, Situation of the manure pile. 
IMPROVEMENTS. 
Organic improvements, inorganic improvements. 
NEW COURSE ADDED THE SECOND YEAR. 
Chemical Organization, Technology, Course of Political 
Economy, of Mmeralogy, Course of Agricultural Books, 
Study of horses, of cattle, of milch cows, etc.; Zoology. 
AGRICULTURE. 
Special Culture, Cultivation in the different parts 
of the world. 
COURSE FOR THE THIRD YEAR. 
Practical Study and Review of Courses, Practical 
Veterinary, the giving of Remedies, Practice in Fields, the 
Natural Garden and the Laboratory in Chemistry and 
Philosophy, Botanical Excursions and Analysis of Plants. 
The above course has been pursued by a gentleman 
v/ho is a graduate of a Belgian Agricultural School, and 
will be read with interest in the present state of feeling in 
regard to Agricultural instructions. — Eds. 
