SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
9a 
blood. I am sure such an investigation as this would 
have convinced him. I am equally certain nothing less 
•will. I am more certain of this, than I am that it is a 
worm which gives gapes to a chicken and kills it, although 
I have frequently twisted them out of their throat. While 
evidence of this character cannot fail to change a theory, 
however firmly fixed in the mind it may be ; yet, as there 
are so many constructions and different ways of account- 
ing for things to which w'e are not eye witnesses, it is al- 
most impossible to get the assent of the mind to receive it 
as truth. 
I will put a question to “ W. P. W.” which I should 
like to hear him answer. Can no combination of circum- 
stances arise by which the hoi'se might retain the bot too 
long in the stomach after reaching maturity 1 
I cannot, in justice, quit the subject without one pass- 
ing remark in reply to what he has said about the instinc 
tive dread of the horse to the approach of the fly. That 
the horse dreads the gad fly is a conceded point. I hold 
it is an instinctive dread, and he contends it is from pain 
inflicted by the hooks or claws of the fly. I must be per- 
mitted to put one or two more questions to him for solu- 
tion. Can there be pain inflicted upon any animal with- 
out so;-ne sign, either of blood or a swelling of the parts 
disturbed 1 If a pain corresponding with the hatred the 
horse bears the gad fly, were so often applied to the same 
places on the horse, as they are in the habit of making 
their applications, would not these parts be very much 
swolen or there be a gore of blood such as your hated flies 
produce ] Come, my friend, “W. P. W.,” speak out plain, 
and to the point ; you say I claim a good deal for the 
* horse’s instinct, and, inasmuch as it is not sufficient to 
keep him from getting the egg in his mouth, you will not 
allow him any at all. I answer, had Nature not been dis- 
cordant in her work, much of pain and suffering would 
have been avoided ; and were each of the eggs of this fly 
turnished with the sam.e buzzing note which the fly has, 
his instinct, or if you please, his brain would have kept 
them out of his mouth. While I claim instinct f@r the 
horse I claim just as much for the fly. Perhaps my friend 
would prefer the term brain. I shall not dispute that 
point, but will say it is the same sort of brain as that 
which marks the bee, the prince of mechanics. Instinct 
or brain, the fly will be certain to make the deposit at the 
right place. It (the fly) must be a very sound reasoner to 
know the horse would never find it on the hindleg; it 
must calculate well to know if put under the throat, where 
the horse’s mouth can never get, that he will be certain to 
rub it off in his manger, or if placed upon the withers, 
horses are in the habit of licking and biting each other 
upon that part. So it is, and their instincts keep up a 
constant warfare — all to give man trouble, upon the same 
principles and for the same reasons that thorns and 
thistles grow. As to the hooks in the leg of the fly, 1 
have never yet been able to detect their formidable charac- 
ter. I have never examined with a microscope, though I 
have frequently handled them in my naked hand, and re- 
gard them about the same as a butterfly’s. Neither the 
advice of my friend, ‘‘A. T. L.,” or the theory of “W. P, 
W.” have yet changed my views about the necessity and 
importance of greasing the egg, as I conceive that to be 
the only state in which the bot can be managed. It is 
said that the warm breath blown upon the nit for a few 
minutes will hatch the young bot. If the greased one will 
hatch as readily as the one not greased, I will quit the 
practice and try some other remedy. If it will not hatch 
at all (and 1 have never succeeded in hatching one) why 
not continue it I It is a simple and I regard it as a safe 
remedy. I must confess, however, I have not proved it in 
all its aspects. Let us adopt it and exterminate the bots 
entirely from the land. J. A. T, 
Xear Brownsville^ Tenn., Jan.^ 1855. 
Plowing in Gu.ano. — A correspondent of the Country 
Gentleman^ to an inquiry as to the best method of apply- 
ing guano to clay lands, says : 
“ I have tried it on clay land that had been in grass for 
tive years. On one half the field I plowed it to the depth 
ofseven inches, and on the other half harrowed in, planted 
it all in corn, and staked off an equal number of hills from 
each part. It all came up equally well, but by the early 
part of summer there was an marked difference of the field, 
which continued throughout the season; and upon husk- 
ing, that which had been plowed in [and staked off upon 
planting,] produced nine bushels, while that which had 
been harrowed in produced but five bushels, showing the 
advantage of plowing it in, even in heavy clay soil. The 
soil was a slate and the amount used was about 200 lbs. 
to the acre,” 
AGRICmTURAL SURVEYS OF THE SEVERAL DIS- 
TRICTS AND COUNTRIES. 
The following programme is marked out by Edmund 
Ruffin, the distinguished agriculturist of Virginia, for con- 
ducting agricultural surveys. Though intended for his 
own State, the principles, wdth slight modification, may be 
adapted to any other State ; 
GENERAL PLAN AND ARRANGEMENT, AND SOME OF THE 
PARTICULAR SUBJECTS, SUGGESTED FOR A REPORT OP AN 
AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OP A COUNTY, OR ANY OTHER 
AGRICULTURAL DISTRICT. 
I. General features and character of the country., in the 
following respects : 
1. Situation, extent, and natural physical characters and 
divisions, illustrated, by a map of small size. 
2. Surface and face of the country, and diversities of 
elevation and exposure. 
3. Climate, and especially any peculiarities thereof, and 
the causes. 
4. Geological characters of different parts, so far as 
known. 
5. Useful minerals, and especially such as are, or may 
be, valuable as manures. 
6. Water, in reference to uses of navigation, irrigation, 
propelling machinery, &c. 
7. Market, towns, and manner of, or facilities for trans- 
portation of products. 
II. General description and management of lands. 
1. Classes and kinds of soil, and of subsoil, to be desig- 
nated (when extensive) on the map. 
2. Quantities of arable land, or meadow, (not subjected 
to ordinary tillage, or rotation of crops,) of land, swamp, 
or marsh, and other waste or unproductive lands. 
3. Sizes of farms, usual or unusual. 
4. The usual crops, of large and of small culture. 
5. Rotation of crops. 
6. Manner and depth of plowing, and preparation for 
and tillage, and genei’al management of crops. 
7. Expense of cultivation. 
8. Agricultural products proper to be made in the local- 
ity, and which are brought from other places, and the ex- 
tent of such supplies. 
III. General market prices ofla.nds, past and present, 
and causes of rise or fall in prices. Rates of rent. 
IV. Drainage a nd embankments. 
1. Of tide marshes and swamps. 
2‘ Of swamp or otlier low and wet lands, higher than 
the tide. 
3. Drainage of arable, or high and firm lands, for either 
surface water or springs, and by either open or covered 
drains. 
