222 
SALE OF STOCK. 
cessarily be occasioned by allowing the lambs to 
remain too long with them. 
Mr. Milward thought that the loss sustained by i 
Mr. Dyer’s friend arose from the ewes being kept 
in too poor a condition, and not from the circum¬ 
stance of the lambs being allowed to suck them for 
too long a period ; it all depended upon the food a 
flock master had to give them. 
Sir Matthew Ridley remarked, that there might 
be an evil in the too early weaning of lambs, as in 
that case the udders, from distention, unless milked 
by hand, would become sore and diseased. He 
thought that no general rule could be laid down 
on the subject, but that the weaning might advan¬ 
tageously take place when good grass was to be 
had by them, and in sufficient abundance, as both 
ewes and lambs at first destroyed the herbage to 
which they were put after weaning. 
Mr. Glegg observed, that in Scotland the Cheviot 
ewes had their lambs removed from them about the 
20th of August. 
Prof. Sewell regarded the subject as one of great 
importance; and thought that if inquiry was in¬ 
stituted amongst practical farmers and breeders of 
sheep, much light might be thrown upon the origin 
of diseases still involved in obscurity, particularly 
in the case of young stock, which he considered to 
become victims to diseases too often attributed to 
food, soil, situation, or peculiarity of management. 
He had no doubt that a statistical account of the 
time of lambing and of weaning, and a statement 
of the dates at which, in different localities through¬ 
out the kingdom, grass or green crops are usually 
ready for ewes and lambs, would be attended with 
much practical benefit, as it was very likely that 
circumstances of situation and climate would be 
found to occasion much difference in the occurrence 
of those events; statements connected with lamb¬ 
ing, weaning, and appearance of green food south 
of the Humber, not applying to districts north of 
that division of the country. 
Sawdust Charcoal. —Mr. Woolrych Whitmore 
was led to make a few observations on the success 
with which he had employed charcoal obtained 
from sawdust, and the various refuse vegetable 
matter collected on his property, as a general ma¬ 
nure for garden and field use, especially when mix¬ 
ed with bone, prepared according to the plan re¬ 
commended by Mr. Pusey, in the proportion of one 
third bone with two thirds charcoal, employing wa¬ 
ter only as the liquid for moistening the heap, and 
of promoting the fermentation, and the result that 
was obtained in the course of a month or five 
weeks; and he had found no artificial manure at 
all equal to this fermented mixture. He found that 
raw sawdust did not succeed, but that charred saw¬ 
dust, or sawdust charcoal, did admirably. He also 
ascertained that there was a mechanical advantage 
in sawdust, or w T ood charcoal, in producing this ef¬ 
fect, not to be met with in charcoal obtained from 
couch grass, and other charcoal from plants, the 
latter appearing to be more compact, heavy, and 
impervious in its mechanical condition, which im¬ 
peded its action in promoting fermentation. This 
charcoal was, therefore, employed alon6 as a top¬ 
dressing. Mr. Whitmore had not, at present, devis¬ 
ed a convenient mode of reducing his sawdust to the 
state of charcoal ; but he had no difficulty with other 
| substances, such as couch grass and other weeds, 
i the clippings of trees, cabbage stalks, &c.; these 
he piled round an upright pole into conical heaps, 
and covered them up with earth; the pole was then 
gently withdrawn, and a vacancy being thus left in 
the heap, from the bottom to the top, where the 
pole had occupied a space, a flue was formed which, 
after ignition, greatly facilitated the charring, or 
slow combustion of the surrounding vegetable mat¬ 
ter. 
Professor Way remarked that the use of charcoal 
in agriculture was by no means carried to the ex¬ 
tent to which,.’in his opinion, it ought to be. It 
was a substance that stood midway between a 
chemical and a mechanical agent; absorbing to a 
great amount various gases and vapors, and espe¬ 
cially the volatile ammonia so often produced dur^ 
ing decomposition, and allowed to escape into the 
atmosphere. Had he not just heard from Mr. 
Whitmore that charcoal and bones mixed together 
underwent fermentation, he should have thought 
that charcoal would have had the effect of retard¬ 
ing or even of preventing that process. As ammonia 
was disengaged in the decomposition of bones, the 
presence of a porous substance with the imbibing 
properties of charcoal would at once secure that 
volatile element and prevent its escape, rendering 
the artificial manure produced so much the more 
valuable. He had understood from Mr. Parkes 
that Mr. Outhwaite, a friend of his in Yorkshire, 
who was an excellent practical farmer, converted 
not only the clippings of hedges and weeds, but 
also all his refuse straw into charcoal, which he 
employed largely on his land. Charcoal had long 
been employed as an antiseptic, removing from de¬ 
caying bodies their ill odor, as well as their ten¬ 
dency to putrescence; and he believed that char¬ 
coal would be found one of the best preservatives 
from mildew in the turnip crop, that injury being 
understood to arise generally from a peculiar con¬ 
dition of the soil. 
GREAT SALE OF THOROUGH-BRED STOCK. 
We commend to the notice of our readers, 
the advertisements of Col. J. M. Sherwood, of 
Auburn, and Mr. L. F. Allen, of Black Rock. 
Their stock consists of very fine and highly-bred 
Short-Horn and Devon cattle; Cotswold, South- 
down, and Merino sheep, which will be offered for 
sale, without reserve, at the Show of the New 
York State Agricultural Society, to be held at Buf¬ 
falo, on the 5th, 6th, and 7th of September next. 
We have been long conversant with the choice 
animals bred by each of these gentlemen, and 
can confidently recommend them to all such stock 
breeders as wish to improve their flocks and herds, 
or breed cattle and sheep of the best quality. 
The offering of stock for sale in such large num¬ 
bers at our cattle shows, is a new and valuable fea¬ 
ture in the progress of the State Agricultural So¬ 
ciety ; and cannot but have a beneficial effect in 
inducing the visits of such as wish to make pur¬ 
chases. We trust that the efforts of Messrs. Sher¬ 
wood and Allen may be crowned with success, and 
prove such as to induce other stock breeders an¬ 
nually to follow their laudable example. 
