226 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
or on his or her confession, before any one or more Justice or Justices 
of the Peace for the county, district, or place, wherein such offence shall 
have been committed, shall forfeit and pay any sum not exceeding ten 
pounds, nor less than twenty shillings, for every such offence, together 
with all reasonable costs and charges attending such conviction, such 
costs and charges to be ascertained by the Justice or Justices before 
whom such conviction shall take place ; and so toties quoties as often 
as any such sheep or lamb shall be so turned out, kept, or depastured. 
“ II. And be it further enacted, that, from and after the said Twenty- 
fifth day of Decembe7\ one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, the 
owner or owners of each and every sheep and lamb of the age of three 
months, which shall be turned out, kept, or depastured on any forest, 
chase, wood, moor, marsh, heath, common, waste land, open field, or 
other undivided or uninclosed land, shall cause such sheep and lambs to 
be marked with the initial letters of his, her, or their Christian name and 
surname, dr Christian names and surnames, or with such marks with 
which such sheep or lambs have for three preceding years been usually 
marked, such letters or marks not being less in length than three inches ; 
and in case of neglect thereof, the owner or owners shall, for each and 
every such sheep and lamb not so marked, forfeit and pay any sum not 
exceeding two shillings ; and so toties quoties as often as any such sheep or 
lamb not so marked shall have been so turned out, kept, or depastured.'’ 
Other clauses provide for the recovery of the fines and 
penalties, but not one word is said about the sending of 
such sheep to fairs or markets, the selling of them, nor the 
driving them along roads, &c. 
Here then is a great blot in the law, and one which 
ought at once to be removed. The present session of Par¬ 
liament should not be allowed to close without a strong effort 
being made to remedy this defect. The ^ Cattle Contagious 
Diseases AcP comes on for renewal, and, therefore, a most fit¬ 
ting opportunity is offered for that being done which we have 
suggested. This measure will require a great modification 
at an early date; indeed, a thorough revision of it is even 
now needed. We, however, refrain from going into these 
particulars at this time, contenting ourselves by earnestly 
recommending agricultural societies and farmers’ clubs to 
forthwith petition the House to amend the law as applicable 
to the scab in sheep. 
THE ASSIMILATION OF NITROGEN BY PLANTS. 
It is well known that all vegetables contain nitrogen, but 
whether this element be obtained entirely from the oreranic 
and inorganic azotized compounds contained in, or added to, 
the soil in which they grow; or whether, on the contrary, it 
