156 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
as predicting the changes of the weather; the rising of the mercury 
announces the return of dry weather, and its sinking warns us of rain 
and storms. We can regard these variations but as signs; but they are 
signs much more certain than those which country people derive from 
the changes of the moon. 
PROPERTIES OF MOULD. 
Land owes its fertility mostly, if not wholly, to the presence, in a 
greater or less abundance, of principles analogous to those constituting 
mould. These principles are furnished by manures, and by the decom¬ 
position of plants; but each harvest causes a diminution of them, a part 
being washed away by rains, and a part absorbed by the crops which 
are raised; thus the soil is deprived by degrees of its nutritive qua¬ 
lities, till at length nothing remains but an earthy residuum, deprived 
of its nourishing juices, and completely barren; it is to restore its fer- 
titity that land must be manured afresh, after having yielded several 
crops. 
Dews —Suggestions to render them beneficial to vegetation. 
The aqueous vapors suspended in the air begin to be condensed and 
precipitated at sunset, and with them is deposited the greatest part of 
the emanations which have risen from the earth during the day ; these 
exhalations, though beneficial to vegetation, are almost always injurious 
to man, and it is not without reason that he fears and shuns the night 
damps. In southern climates, where the heat of the sun is more in¬ 
tense, and rains less frequent than in northern, vegetation is supported 
by the dews, which are very abundant. In order that the dews of night 
may produce their best effects upon vegetation, it is necessary that the 
soil should unite certain qualities, which it does not always possess. 
When the soil is hard and compact, and forms by the action of the 
air an impenetrable crust, the dew is deposited upon its surface, and 
evaporated by the rays of the sun, without having moistened the roots 
of the plants, or softened the earth around them; so that of the organs 
that serve to convey nourishment to the plants, the leaves are the only 
ones benefitted by the dew, while the roots, which are the principal ve¬ 
hicles of nutriment when the plant is fully developed, are not in any de¬ 
gree benefitted by it. It is necessary, in such cases, that the soil should 
be softened, lightened and divided, so that the air may convey the water 
with which it is charged, to the roots of the plants, and to every part of 
the earth surrounding Ihem, to a certain depth ; then the plant can im¬ 
bibe, through all its pores, the reviving moisture ; and that which is re¬ 
ceived by its roots is more lasting than that which it absorbs in any 
other way, because the roots being sheltered from the direct rays of 
the sun, evaporation takes place less rapidly, and the moisture is re¬ 
tained, whilst the leaves are speedily dried by the heat. Besides, that 
earth which is most easily affected by the dews, yields most readily to 
the action of ’•oots, whether it be to fix the plant firmly by their exten¬ 
sion, or to draw from the soil its nutritive properties. 
This explains, in a natural manner, the origin of a custom observed 
by all agriculturists, and of which all acknowledge the advantage.— 
When vegetables, such as peas, beans, potatoes, and other roots, are 
sowed in furrows at equal distances from each other, the soil in the in- 
vals is howed, or dug, with the utmost care, and thus rendered light, 
soft, and permeable to the air, whilst at the same time weeds, which 
would be hurtful to the cultivated plants, by depriving them of nourish¬ 
ment afforded by the ground, are destroyed, and the soil rendered more 
fit to receive the rain, and convey it to the roots. I do not deny that 
these benefits are real, but I hold them to be secondary, and subordinate 
to the advantage derived from opening access to the air, and permitting 
it to deposite its dews upon the roots, and upon the earth in contact with 
them. 
I have uniformly observed the effect of this method to be equally 
speedy and favorable in the cultivation of beet roots, and I have never 
employed any other, to restore their vegetation to its freshness when it 
becomes yellowish-and drooping; in three or four hours it will become 
of a beautiful green, and the leaves spread themselves out, although no 
rain may have fallen; and this often when the soil had not contained a 
single weed. I have observed the same effect produced upon the other 
culinary roots. 
Elemejits of Practical Agriculture, 
By David Low, Professor of Agriculture, &c. 
DISEASES OF SHEEP. 
The diseases of these valuable creatures are sometimes of a very for¬ 
midable nature, and baffle all the means of remedy which are known to 
us. Of these diseases the most dreaded is rot, which often extends 
over whole districts of country. 
It is known that this disease is favored or produced by a humid state 
of the soil and atmosphere. It is in wet seasons that it prevails the 
most, and is the most fatal. By draining land the tendency to it is les¬ 
sened or taken away. Often sheep are rotted by pasturing on the wet 
parts of the farm, whereas if kept from these parts they remain free 
from disease. Nay, a single sheep that has a disposition to pick up its 
food in moist places will die, while the others will not be affected. 
The animal affected does not all at once show symptoms of disease; 
for sometimes it remains a considerable time in apparent health, and 
long after it has been removed from the place of infection, droops and 
dies. Sheep are every year purchased in seeming health, and yet after 
a time they are found to be affected. A moist and even luxuriant au¬ 
tumn is dreaded above all things by the owner of sheep; for the seeds of 
infection are then often spread to appear in the following spring, or af¬ 
ter the lapse of a longer period. 
The signs of rottenness in sheep are familiar to all shepherds. The 
animal becomes emaciated, its eye becomes dull and glassy, a black 
purging generally takes place, the wool on being pulled comes readily 
away from the skin, the breath becomes fetid, and the urine is small in 
quantity and high coloured. As the disease proceeds, the skin is mark¬ 
ed with spots, and the emaciation increases continually, until the sheep 
dies. In short, the term rot expresses truly the state of the animal. 
The disease proceeds with various degrees of rapidity; sometimes it 
attacks the entire flock suddenly, and sometimes its progress is gradu¬ 
al, and it affects only a given number of individuals. Graziers often 
avail themselves of the period of the animals beginning to decline to 
rid themselves of an infected stock. During the first period cf being 
‘ainted, the sheep have frequently a strong tendency to feed, and if killed 
in time the flesh may not be perceptibly affected. 
In all cases of rot the disease is accompanied by a morbid state of the 
liver. During the progress of it, the fluke, a small animal, Fasciola 
hepatica, appears on the parts connected with the liver and the gall¬ 
bladder. At first the number of these creatures is small, but as the 
disease advances they increase, and before death are generally very 
numerous. In the last stage of this disease they have extended to the 
stomach and other parts. 
Frequently the disease terminates favorably, the inflammatory action 
going off without destroying the parts. But even in this case, the taint 
is rarely removed, and years afterwards, when the animal has been 
fattened and killed, the liver has been found to be diseased, the flukes 
being in great numbers. 
The best preventive of rot is to render the soil dry; hence on all 
sheep pastures, the importance of draining. But should the disease, 
in spite of all precautions, appear, then we should, without loss cf 
time, remove the sheep to a drier pasture, and supply them liberally 
with proper food. It is only, however, in the early stages of the dis¬ 
ease, that a change of food will usually avail. If the disease has pro¬ 
ceeded to a considerable extent, even though it should not have evinced 
itself by any great change in the external appearance of the flock, the 
animals will often perish hourly amidst the most wholesome food with 
which they can be supplied. 
Of all the medicines that have been proposed for this fatal disease, 
salt alone is that whose virtue has been established by any satisfactory 
testimony. The beneficial effect of salt in the prevention and even cure 
of rot, has been confirmed by the observation of farmers in this and 
other countries. 
Salt indeed will not in all cases prevent or cure the disease; for some¬ 
times the tendency to it from particular causes is too strong to be coun¬ 
teracted, and, when it has once attacked the flock, too violent in its 
progress to be arrested. But though salt is not a specific, it is the 
best means of remedy with which we are acquainted. 
If salt be placed near the animals in troughs or on flat stones, they 
will eagerly lick it, and when disease threatens them, it may be given 
to them in any quantity in which they will consume it; for it is then 
seen that they are obeying a natural instinct in having a recourse to the 
remedy; and in a wet season when disease may be apprehended, no 
one should grudge the trouble of so cheap and simple a precaution. 
Much has been written upon the subject of this disease, but all that 
has been written has nearly left us where we were with regard to the 
remedy. It had been long known that wetness of the soil, however 
produced, gave rise to rot; that the best preventive was pasturing on 
dry ground and giving sufficient food, and that the best remedy where 
disease appeared was a change of pasture. To these results of old ex¬ 
perience is to be added, the using of salt. 
Besides the rot properly so termed, sheep are subject to inflammatory 
putrid fevers, which occasionally seem to be epidemic; and these are 
sometimes termed rot. Another disease to which the term rot is appli¬ 
ed, is called the hunger-rot. This arises from the want of sufficient 
food, which produces an unhealthy state of the viscera, leanness, and 
death. In this disease the wool falls off, and hence it is sometimes call¬ 
ed the pelt-rot. 
Another disease, arising from a different cause than the rot, but like 
it ending in emaciation, and the death of the animal, is provincially 
termed pining. This disease is accompanied by a costive state of the 
animal, whereas the rot is never accompanied by costiveness; and in 
the rot the liver is always affected, while in the pining the liver is 
sound. 
This disease seems to arise from the want of exercise, and from the 
