332 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Nor, 
plow; but with one or two exceptions the work v/as 
not done in a manner that would have satisfied a good 
farmer. The furrows were baulked, broken, in some 
places left flat, in others edgewise, and in others with 
the grass side up. This resulted from two' causes ; 1, 
the shortness and unsteady motion of most of the plows, 
and 2, from the work being done in a great hurry. It 
is worse than useless to plow faster than it can be well 
done; and we see no advantage in attempting any 
greater speed than could be kept up by the teams in a 
day’s work. The object is to ascertain some actual 
improvement, not to excite astonishment at something 
which cannot be reduced to profitable practice. 
The short plows here used, may answer a good pur¬ 
pose among rocks, and in rough and uneven ground; but 
are unfitted for such a soil as they put in on this occa¬ 
sion. Hence we see the necessity of adapting imple¬ 
ments to their proper situations and purposes. 
The exhibition of horticultural and dairy products * 
manufactured goods, &e., was respectable. The coun¬ 
ty has long been famous for the fine quality of its 
cheese, and its reputation did not suffer from the lots 
here exhibited. The competition in butter was conside¬ 
rable, and several of the parcels we examined were of 
a quality equal to any we have met with. The articles 
in this department being only designated by numbers, 
we had no means of learning the names of the exhibit¬ 
ors; but were informed that the cheese which was 
deemed the best, was offered by H. M. Hart, of West 
Cornwall, and that the best lot of butter was offered by 
J. C. Ambler, of Bethlem, 
The annual address was delivered by Rev. Mr. Har¬ 
rison, of Bethlem. It was a judicious discourse, con¬ 
taining many useful ideas and wholesome remarks. 
Notices of some of the farms of Litchfield county 
will be given in our next. 
HYDROPHOBIA. 
Of all the diseases to which the animal creation is li- 1 
able, there is none, perhaps, so horrible in its manifes- : 
tations as that called rabies —commonly known as hy- i 
drophobia. The latter term, however, seems to be in j 
some degree inappropriate, inasmuch as a dread of wa- ; 
ter is by no means a universal accompaniment of the : 
disease. 
Youatt, in his treatise on “ The Dog ,” has 
given the pathology of rabies in a more detailed 
form than any other author; and as the disease is one 
of which there is always more or less danger, both to 
our domestic animals and to the human race,, it may 
serve a good purpose to present a brief synopsis of his 
observations. 
In answer to the question, what is the cause of ra¬ 
bies ? Mr. Y. says—“ It is the saliva of a rabid animal 
received into a \vound or on an abraded surface.” Of 
the nature of the virus he thinks we know but little. 
“ It has not,” he says, “ been analyzed and it would 
be difficult to analyze it.” It can only be propagated 
by inoculation—it must be brought in actual contact 
with the nervous fibre. He is of opinion that it never 
arises spontaneously, and he thinks if a quarantine of 
eight months could be established, and every dog con¬ 
fined separately for that length of time, the disease 
would be completely annihilated. 
After the poison of a rabid animal has been commu¬ 
nicated to another, it lies dormant for a while—The 
length of time varying with different animals. In the 
human subject the disease usually manifests itself 
in from three w~eeks t® six or seven months; in the dog 
not less than fourteen days; and generally from five to 
six weeks—in three months from the time of being bit¬ 
ten the dog would be considered safe. In man it usu¬ 
ally runs its course in twenty-four hours—rarely ex¬ 
ceeding seventy-two hours; in the horse it runs three or 
four days; in the sheep and ox five to seven days; in 
the dog four to six. 
The disease has been communicated, either by the 
bite of a rabid animal, or by inoculation with the 
virus, to almost all kinds of animals; and in all 
it was accompanied by the same or similar character¬ 
istics. The strange and uncontrolable disposition to 
bite is generally manifested, even in rabbits, sheep, and 
in the human race. By way of experiment, two phy¬ 
sicians inoculated fowls with the foam taken from the 
mouth of a rabid cow; and after about ten weeks, the 
birds died with evident symptoms.of rabies. 
Means of prevention. —Excision of the bitten or 
exposed part has been frequently resorted to, and with 
various success—the operation is thought to demand 
great skill, owing to the difficulty of taking out the af¬ 
fected part without bringing the virus in contact with the 
fresh-cut tissue. Cauterization, (burning the bitten 
part with a hot iron,) has been practiced with little 
advantage. The application of caustic —lunar caustic 
—has on the whole proved best. “ It is,” says Mr. 
Youatt, “ perfectly manageable, and being sharpened 
to a point, may be applied with certainty to every re¬ 
cess and sinuosity of the wound. If the whole ol the 
wound has been exposed to its action, an insoluble com¬ 
pound of animal fibre and the metalic salt is produced, 
in which the virus is wrapped up, and from which it 
cannot be separated. In a short time the dead matter 
sloughs away, and the virus is thrown off with it.” He 
recommends applying the caustic a second time, but 
move slightly after the eschar has sloughed off, in order 
to destroy any part that may not have been properly 
acted on by the first operation. 
Mr. Youatt states that he was several times bitten 
by rabid dogs; but that by a timely application of the 
lunar caustic, he escaped; “and yet often,” says he, 
1 when I have been over-fatigued, or a little out of tem¬ 
per, some of the old sores have itched and throbbed, 
and actually become red and swollen.” He was once 
bitten in a very dangerous manner by a rabid cat. 
This animal is generally very ferocious when laboring 
under rabies, though, fortunately it is but seldom that 
it is thus affected. During its paroxysms, its rage 
knows no bounds. In the case alluded to, the cat had 
been the playmate of the children of the family, but 
had, all at once, become sullen and ill-tempered. It 
got into an upper room were it was allowed to remain, 
and Mr. Youatt was sent for. He gives the following 
thrilling account of the scene which ensued: 
“ It was nearly dark wdien I went. I saw the hor¬ 
rible glare of her eyes, but I could not see so much of 
her as I wished, and I said I would call again in the 
morning. I found the patient, on the following day, 
precisely in the same situation and the same attitude, 
crouched up in a corner and ready to spring. I was 
very much interested in the case; and as I wanted to 
study the countenance of this demon, for she looked 
like one, I was foolishly, inexcusably imprudent. I 
went on my hands and knees, and brought my face 
nearly on a level with hers, and gazed on those glaring 
eyes and that horrible countenance, until I seemed to 
feel the deathly influence of a spell stealing over me. 
I was not afraid, but every mental and bodily power 
i seemed in a manner suspended. My countenance, per- 
