however, when it is only partial, is to wash the part with soap, and to anoint it with an ointment of grease and turpentine. Mercurial ointment, rubbed on the sore, or on the hams of the sheep, is a certain remedy. The sheep should, in this case, be kept dry for some days. This has also the advantage of freeing them from lice or ticks. When the sheep are sheared, a good washing with soap suds, and a weak decoction of tobacco, will

free them from the seeds of the scab. It is thought essential not only to the health of the sheep in Spain, but to the beauty of the wool, that they should have a full supply of salt. While I am speaking of the maladies of sheep, let me mention one that occasions more destruction among them than all the others put together—the bite of dogs. This animal is an ab solute nuisance in the old settled countries, however useful he may be in the new ones. Nothing can be more vexatious, than, after a man has laboured for years to have an improved flock, to see them destroyed in one night: yet this has happened to me more than once, sometimes from my own dogs, and some times from those of others. The remedy for this evil lays with the legislature; a heavy tax upon all dogs that were seen, without a collar, containing the master's name on a brass plate, and permission to kill them; together with a light tax upon all dogs furnished with collars, would raise a considerable revenue, and diminish their number. The master should in every case be answerable for the damage done by his dogs. Without this few people will be at the expense of 100 % for a ram, besides the risk and trouble of importing him. You, gentlemen, will judge how far a matter so material to our agriculture and manufactures will merit the attention of the legislature.

In England, where more attention is paid to the beauty of the form and the early fattening, than to the wool, and where in these points they have attained an astonishing degree of perfection, it is thought essential to provide such food as will furnish plenty of milk to the lambs, and so to manage, that they

never fall off, but are kept in a growing state till they are fit for the knife.

Their winter food is turnips fed on the ground, potatoes, cabbage, &c. winter vetches, tares, rye sown early, are the spring provision. I see no reason why all these may not be ob tained here on easier terms than in England. The land and taxes are lower, though labour is somewhat higher. Turnips may, I think, be raised without any other expense than the seed. When the last ploughing is given to the Indian corn, harrow it smooth and sow turnips. The largest may be drawn, and the remainder fed on the ground when it is bare in the winter or spring. Pumpkins would, I believe, keep the flock in fine heart till January, and, if preserved from the frost, to a much later period. I have seen them sold in Paris through the whole winter. Vetches sown on light land, and dressed with gypsum, would yield a certain crop, and give the ewes a flush of milk, and thus save the pastures, that are injured by early feeding, and preserve the grass for the dry season. Wheat or rye sown early, and turnip seed with it, has been tried to advantage. The turnips are fed off when the ground is dry or frozen, and the grain, though fed down, has been benefited by the trampling and dung of the sheep, more than to compensate this inconvenience.

I should, before I conclude, say something upon the migration of the Spanish flocks, to which the fineness of their wool has been attributed. The travelling Merinos of Spain amount to above 5,000,000; they are driven (to the great injury of ag riculture) from very remote parts of the kingdom, to the mountains, where they pass the summer, and are wintered in the plains. This keeps the wool from degenerating, by saving the sheep from the fold, and affording them that shade, water, and nourishment that they could not meet with in the dry pastures of Spain during the hot season. But experience has demonstrated, that this is not essential where they are well kept on

the plains. There are many stationary flocks of Merinos in Spain, whose wool is not inferior to that of those that travel. On the other hand, there are large flocks of sheep in the northeast of France, that do travel to the mountains during the summer, and yet bear very coarse fleeces. The Merinos introduced into France and Sweden never travel, and yet their wool has not degenerated..

I fear, gentlemen, that I have trespassed too long upon your patience, but I confess to you that I consider the improvement of our flocks by the intermixture of this breed, as an important object in agriculture, and as one that must form the basis of our woollen manufacture. Happily we have the means of extending this improvement. Col. Humphries has imported from Spain or Portugal a large flock of Merinos, and, I am told, lets out the rams to such as may require them. My small flock from France, together with those I expect out in the spring, will extend the breed to the northern parts of the State. Some other gentlemen have rams, and the prohibition upon the export from France having been taken off last autumn, more will probably be imported. Even the half blooded rams will contribute greatly to improve our flocks, and of these I presume many may now be procured. The samples of wool which I procured while I was at Paris for your inspection, will show the progressive improvement by crossing with all the different breeds of sheep that could be got in France.

Having been among the first to introduce the use of gypsum and clover in this State, and, by precept and example, to enforce a system which I have now the satisfaction to find general, in spite of the prejudices by which it was at first opposed, I flatter myself with the hope of being also instrumental in effecting another important improvement in agriculture, and of laying the foundation for a useful manufacture, in fewer years than it has taken to introduce the gypsum; which, indeed, by the im provement it has made in our grass grounds, has laid a foun dation for the amelioration of our sheep. It is to the substanVOL. 1.

16.

tial farmers that we must look for the first steps toward this improvement. They will not be deterred by the advances which the first cost in the selection of the best ewes and rams may occasion. They will not suffer them to degenerate through want of proper pastures in summer, and good clover hay, with potatoes and turnips, in the winter. And by wearing the wool of their own flocks, they will convince their fellow-citizens of the practicability of supplying their wants with cloths, equal, at least, to those of foreign manufacture, and at a much inferior price. It may, indeed, till we have made some further advances in dying and dressing, want that gloss which it receives in foreign fabrics; a gloss which wears off in a few days, and is known, without adding to its softness, warmth or beauty, to injure its strength.

T.

REVIEW.

The Planter's and Mariner's Medical Companion; treating, according to the most successful Practice, 1. The Diseases common to warm Climates and on Shipboard. 2. Common Cases in Surgery, as Fractures, Dislocations, &c. 3. Complaints peculiar to Women and Children, &c. By JAMES EWELL, Physician in Savannah. 8vo. pp. 328. Philadelphia. Bioren.

1807.

Melius est aliquid nescire quam cum periculo discere.

ST. JEROME.

FIELDING endeavours, in one of his essays, to prove that an author will write the better for having some knowledge of his subject. This is perfectly lawyer-like, to take the wrong side of a question through choice, to show how ingeniously he can argue; or perhaps indeed in law the proposition may be true, ́as it is affirmed by some to be so in philosophy. In medicine the case is precisely reversed, those writers being by far the clearest who know least about the matter. For those authors whose minds are deranged by study and reflection, write so obscurely, and describe diseases so vaguely, that they candidly acknowledge that penetration, judgment, and God knows what besides, are necessary in those who attempt to apply their doc trines and principles to practice; whereas, popular writers, as they are termed, whose minds have never been perverted by reading, lay down such plain and simple rules, that no man can mistake a complaint, or err in the application of the proper re medy, provided he can understand bad English. While the former, who, for the sake of distinction, are called professional writers, as their works are intended for the profession exclusively, condemn their votaries to expend their money and waste