8 
THE CULTIVATOR 
advantage that this 'would have, is, that there would he 
a saving of ploughing arnd sowing.” This was on a 
branch of Lewis or Snake river, of the Columbia. 
In a late journal of a passage across these mountains, 
by Mr. Oakley, of Illinois, under date of the 21st of Ju¬ 
ly, 1839, occurs the following ; “ Encamped to-night in 
a beautiful valley, called Bayou Selard, 28 miles from 
the head of the south fork of the Platte. It is a level 
prairie, thirty miles long and three wide, and was co¬ 
vered with a thick growth of flax, which every year 
springs up spontaneously.” 
Whether the Rocky Mountain flax will prove to be as 
near the common flax as is supposed by Mr,_Parker, may 
be doubted; but that it is unlike, and far superior, to 
the two or three kinds of native wild flax that have be¬ 
fore been discovered in the United States, would also 
seem to be clear. A tract of 90 square miles of flax, 
such as Mr. Oakley described, would be a sight in any 
country, and would rival the grass covered prairies of 
Illinois._ 
Hots. 
Of all the insects that irritate and injure that noble 
animal the Horse, there is none perhaps more vexatious 
or more pernicious, in all its stages of existence, than 
the Bot. Its parent, the Horse or Gad-fly of the farmer, 
the GEstrus Equi of the veterinarian, is common in the 
autumn, and it is then that the mischief which is per¬ 
formed by its method of perpetuating its species, is usu¬ 
ally accomplished. The bot itself is the larvee or cat- 
terpillar of the fly, and the manner of its introduction 
into the stomach of the horse, where it is to prepare for 
its final transformation, is a curious illustration of the 
means provided the insect to effect the end designed. 
The male of the gad-fly is rarely observed, but the 
female, during the season it occupies in depositing its 
eggs, may be seen, with the extremity of its body turn¬ 
ed under and forwards, busily engaged in darting up to 
certain places about the horse, and at every such move¬ 
ment attaching an egg to a hair, where it usually re¬ 
mains, ready, on the slightest application of the tongue 
of the animal, to throw open the lid or valve with which 
it is provided, and leave the minute bot or grub on the 
tongue, to find its way to the stomach of the horse with 
its drink or its food. Like many other insects of a sim¬ 
ilar class, no sooner has the fly deposited its eggs, than 
it either falls to the earth and dies, or slowly flies away 
to perish. 
The time occupied by the egg in coming to maturity, 
is partly depending on the temperature, or its position 
on the animal; but it never exceeds a few days ; and at 
times, the application of a moist warm hand will show 
they are ready for hatching in twenty-four hours.— 
When, by the action of the tongue, the grub has been 
removed into the stomach, it attaches itself to the insen¬ 
sible coat of that organ, by the two little hooks with 
which it will be seen the head is provided. Here it 
makes a small opening, into which its head or muzzle 
is plunged, and Avhere it feeds on the juices or mucus 
which the stomach in that state affords. In this posi¬ 
tion it remains during the winter, and until the early 
part of summer, when it detaches itself, and mixing 
with the contents of the stomach, is voided with the ex- 
crementitious matter. As soon as it reaches the earth, 
it burrows at once beneath it, where it remains in the 
chrysalis state for a number of weeks, and then emer¬ 
ges a perfect fly, busily engaged in the propagation and 
perpetuation of its species. Such is the history of the 
common bot; the one that most frequently falls under 
the notice of the farmer, and is the most injurious to the 
animal. 
Besides the above bot, there is another, called from 
its color the red bot. It is smaller than the common bot, 
and the fly which is its parent has never been satisfac¬ 
torily described. It is generally considered more inju¬ 
rious than the common one, but probably without suffi¬ 
cient reason. There is still a third species, the CEstrus 
hemorrhoidalis, or fundament bot, which makes its ap¬ 
pearance within the anus and about the tail, the egg of 
which, it is ascertained, is deposited by a fly, while the 
intestine is partially developed in voiding the excre¬ 
ments. These bots occasionally produce a little irrita- 
tion of the parts, but otherwise do not seem to produce 
injury. They are generally easily detached by the ap¬ 
plication of a little linseed oil. 
Very discordant opinions are entertained among vete¬ 
rinarians, and among farmers, respecting the effects 
which the presence of bots in the stomach of the horse 
produces on the animal. Some contend that the bot is 
never injurious ; that it never perforates the stomach of 
the living animal; that the deaths attributed to the bot, 
should be placed to the account of the colic; and that 
when the stomach is found perforated, as it frequently 
is, it is done by the insect in seeking to make its escape 
from the change that ensues after the death of the ani¬ 
mal ; and that, consequently, all the nostrums that have 
been prescribed for the dislodgment of the bot, are ab¬ 
surd if not positively injurious. An able and interest¬ 
ing discussion of this subject, was carried on in the 13th 
and 14th volumes of the American Farmer, between 
Dr. Harden, Mr. Ellis, and others, during which a mass 
of facts were adduced, proving that if death was not 
caused by the perforation of the stomach by the bot, it 
did cause death by choking up the passages leading to 
or from the stomach. This agrees with the statements 
of the best European writers on the diseases of the horse. 
Thus the Cyclopedia issued by the Society for the 
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, says, “ In a few instan¬ 
ces, the bot has been decidedly injurious; fastening 
themselves on the edges of the opening into the wind¬ 
pipe, they have produced a cough, which no medicine 
could alleviate, and which, increasing with the growth 
of the bot, has ended in an irritation under which the 
animal has sunk. They have also travelled farther than 
the stomach, and have irritated and choked the first in¬ 
testine, and thus destroyed the horse; and even in their 
natural habitation, under probably some diseased state 
of the stomach, arising from other causes, they have 
perforated it and caused death.” 
Mr. Youatt, in his work on the Horse, says the bot 
“ cannot be removed by medicine, because they are not 
in that part of the stomach to which medicine is usual¬ 
ly conveyed; and if they were, their mouths are too 
deeply buried in the mucous coat of the stomach, for 
any medicine that can safely be administered to affect 
them, and last of all, in due time they will detach them¬ 
selves and come away.” 
That the most useless or pernicious methods are re¬ 
sorted to at times, for the removal of the bot, is evident 
to all who are acquainted with the treatment to which 
the horse is subjected in the hands of the ignorant. A 
correspondent in the last vol. of the Cultivator, mentions 
an instance in which a horse was cruelly killed by turn¬ 
ing boiling water from a tea-kettle down his throat, to 
cure an attack of the bots. That no substance can be 
given as medicine, sufficiently powerful to destroy the 
bot, or make him let go his hold, that would not be fa¬ 
tal to the animal, is evident from the following table of 
experiments, which is copied from the Medical Regis¬ 
ter, and which were performed under the direction of 
Mr. Green. jjThe bots were about two-thirds grown, 
were vigorous and active, and were exposed to the ac¬ 
tion of the several substances for the time stated. 
Immersed in, Lived hours. 
min. 
Rum,. 
.25 
00 
Decoction of tobacco,. 
11 
00 
Strong elixer vitriol,. 
2 
18 
Essential oil of mint,. 
2 
5 
Volatile spirit,. 
0 
56 
Spirits of turpentine,. 
0 
45 
Decoction of pink root,. 
10 
00' 
Fish oil,. 
10 
00 
Linseed oil,. 
10 
00 
No 
Tincture of aloes,. 
10 
00 
effect 
Brine,. 
10 
00 
Solution of indigo,. 
10 
00; 
Bots placed in a strong solution of camphor, and in 
one of corrosive sublimate, lived, in the first, till taken 
out ten hours afterwards, and in the last, six hours with¬ 
out injury. Strong vitriolic acid alone compelled them 
to let go their hold on the stomach, but this, as is well 
known, would be death to the horse, if administered.. 
From our experience, we are inclined to the opinion 
that in this case, as in many others, prevention is easier 
than to cure. If, during the few weeks the horse is ex¬ 
posed to the attacks of the gad-fly, the spots where the 
eggs are deposited were to be slowly rubbed with a cloth 
moistened in warm water, or even by the naked moist 
hand, so large a proportion of the young larvm would 
be disengaged at every operation, that little danger or 
injury could ensue to the animal. Moisture and warmth 
are required to cause the insect to open his covering, 
and if this is applied in any other way than by the tongue 
of the animal, the larvae is infallibly destroyed. 
The cut (fig. 1,) with the accompanying description, 
copied from Mr. Youatt’s great work on the Horse, will 
show the appearance of the insects in their several sta¬ 
ges of existence, and the magnified eggs show the ope¬ 
ning through which the worm is attached to the tongue 
of the horse in the process of licking. 
a and b, The eggs of the gad-fly, adhering to the hair of the 
horse. 
c, The appearance of the bots on the stomach, firmly ad¬ 
hering by their hooked mouths. The marks, or depressions, 
are seen, which are left on the coat of the stomach, when the 
bots are detached from their hold. 
d, The bot detached. 
e, The female of the gad-fly, of the horse, prepared to de¬ 
posit her eggs. 
/, The gad-fly by which the red bots are produced. 
g, The smaller, or red bot. 
Carbon of Plants—Use of Rotation. 
All are aware that a large part of the substance of 
plants is carbon; the proportion varying from ten or 
fifteen to fifty-three or fifty-four. It is clear then that 
carbon forms the most important ingredient provided by 
nature for the nutrition or growth of plants, and the 
manner of its appropriation, and the source or sources 
from which it is derived, become inquiries of th most 
important nature to the agriculturist. The experiments 
of Saussure and Davy, prove, that of charcoal, in its 
crude state, however fine it be made, or however inti¬ 
mately blended with the water furnished the plant, not 
a single particle is ever taken up, consequently this sub¬ 
stance is only available in the shape of carbonic acid 
gas, when combined with water, or derived directly from 
the air, of which this substance forms apart. That car¬ 
bon is absorbed by plants directly from the atmosphere, 
is proved by the beautiful experiments of Woodhouse, 
which have been repeated and verified by De Candolle, 
in which it is shown that plants perform a sort of res¬ 
piration, during which air is decomposed, the oxygen 
being thrown off and the carbon retained for the use of 
the plant. 
It seems generally to have been taken for granted that 
the carbon acquired by plants during their growth is 
derived from the earth, and that consequently the ex¬ 
haustion of the soil will always be in direct proportion 
to the crops taken from it, or that no more actual weight 
of crops can be taken from a soil, than there is carbon 
existing in it at the time, or is applied in the form of 
manure. In consequence of this supposition, it has been 
laid down as an indisp utable axiom by most agriculturists, 
and by none more strongly than by the justly celebrated 
Yon Thaer, that “the exhaustion of the soil is propor¬ 
tional to the quantity of nutritive matter contained in 
the crops.” 
That this principle is not strictly correct, is obvious 
from the fact of the absorption of carbon from the air; 
but we are not aware that any statements of the pro¬ 
portion furnished by the earth, or by the air, have been 
made, or experiments instituted to determine this point, 
except those of M. Boussingault, an interesting ac¬ 
count of which is given from the French in the Quarterly 
Journal of Agriculture. M. Boussingault’s first experi¬ 
ments were to ascertain the correct principles on which a 
rotation of crops should be conducted, and it struck him 
at once that the few tons of farm yard manure applied 
per acre on the fallow ground at the commencement of 
of the rotation, could not be sufficient of themselves, to 
cope with the weight of valuable matter, derived from 
the soil during the course of this rotation. This defi¬ 
ciency in the relations of apparent cause and effect, be¬ 
came more conspicuous, when it was remembered that 
at the expiration of a well conducted rotation, notwith¬ 
standing the amount of crops taken from the soil, the 
land was in a better condition, than when the rotation 
commenced. 
In his remarks on rotation, M. Boussingault makes 
one assumption that cannot be admitted, and this is, that 
if the desired quantity of manure could always be ob¬ 
tained, the necessity for rotation would be done away 
with. The experience of many farmers shows that this 
assertion is defective. We are well aware that let us 
manure our lands as highly as we may, a crop of Avheat 
for instance, cannot be profitably grown upon it for ma¬ 
ny years in succession. To the last, manure will pro¬ 
duce a great growth of straw, but the berry will be 
Avanting, and nothing but rest or rotation can prevent 
such a result, hoAvever liberal the use of manure. Skil¬ 
ful rotation establishes the rule by which the proper pro¬ 
portion of supply for each crop annually is ascertained, 
and by which uniformly good crops of the several kinds 
used in the course, can be maintained. Still as most 
of the substance that goes to the formation of the plant 
is derived from the soil, it is clearly necessary after each 
course to bestoAv upon it a good dressing of manure, to 
prevent its deterioration, and preserve it in a healthy 
productive state. 
In order to determine how much of the carbon of the 
plants was derived from the soil, and how much from 
the air, M. Boussingault made his experiments with great 
care, on a considerable surface, and repeated them until 
all reasonable doubts of correctness were done away. 
His unit of surface is the hectare, which is to the acre as 
2: 11. The result is almost always derived from a mean 
of six years. The dung employed was farm yard dung, 
half fermented; the unit of its bulk was a measure of 
Avhich the weight had been found after numerous weigh¬ 
ings to be 1818 killogrammes of two lbs. three oz. each; 
(or 3976 lbs.) The grains, the straw, the roots, the tu¬ 
bers, were analyzed with the greatest care, each of those 
substances haA r ing been subjected to at least four ana¬ 
lyses. Before being analyzed, all those substances were 
dried at a temperature of 230° of Farenheit, for a con¬ 
siderable time, and this is the course followed by M. 
Boussingault. 
“ Potatoes or red beet, dunged; wheat, clover, wheat, 
oats. It Avas found that in the dung consumed on the 
hectare, there were 2793 killogrammes of carbon; in the 
suite of crops produced by this dung, the carbon was 
raised to 8383 killogrammes. The weight of the carbon 
furnished in culture by the carbonic acid of the air was 
thus raised at least 5400 killogrammes. In the same ro¬ 
tation, the azote primarily in the dung weighed 147 killo¬ 
grammes. In culture the weight of this article attained 
251 killogrammes, the atmosphere thus furnishing 94 kil¬ 
logrammes of azote. In another very productive rota¬ 
tion the carbon of the crops surpassed the carbon of 
the dung by 7600 killogrammes ; and the azote in excess 
was as high as 163 killogrammes.” 
In a three years rotation, the carbon taken from the air 
was 4358 killogrammes, but the azote acquired did no: 
exceed 17 killogrammes. M. Boussingault adds, “the 
Jerusalem Artichoke is, of all the plants of which I can 
discuss the culture, that which draws most largely from 
the atmosphere. It is evidently alternate cropping and 
