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AGRICULTURE.1

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AGRICULTURE. 1 We extract the following from the Farmer:— Early Maturity. "A correspondant, writing on thelSih July, supplies the following remarkable instance of early maturity :— There were dropt on Urquhart farm, Fife, this week, three fine calves. The respective ages of the dams are 15, 16, and 18 months old, and that of the sire 18 months. They were all suckled together in a park last summer, hanca the result. The dams are nursing the calves with abundance of milk." The Movement of Sheep. The reatriaticns affecting the movement of sheep contioue to excite much attention, and the numerous meetings of sheep farmers which are being held at present afford ample opportunities far having the sub- ject thoroughly discussed. "With respect to Scotland, at least, restrictions a,a considered not merely grievous and vexatious, and unnecessary, seeing that only one case of plague was reported in the returns as having occurred in that part of thekingdom; and judging from the steady rate in which cases have decreased, it is not too much to expect a clean bill of health for the country north of the Tweed in the next weekly bulletin from the Government Veterinary Department. During this and the next three months there must of necessity be innumerable transactions in sheep for breeding as well as for fattening purposes, and granting that restric- tions on the movement of sheep were necessary hereto- fore, it is evident to every one that it continuance of those restrictions, now that they ara no longer called for as a protection, will be, unless considerably relaxed, a positive evil to the community." Watering Cattle and Sheep. Oar contemporary, the Farmer, points out the great importance of having cattle and shaep supplied with a sufficient quantity of water, and more especially when being carried by steamer and railway. It says: —"Although there have of late been some heavy thunderstorms, there is a great scarcity of water in many pasture-fields; nor do we think that sufficient care has been taken in several cases which have come recently under our notice to remedy the deficiency. We know that some maintain that sheep do not re- quire water when on grass, but this is a great mistake, especially when the weather is of the excessively hot, parching nature we have recently experienced. But even when the weather has been cooler, the want of pure water in abundance tells on the health of sheep, just as it does an that of cattle and as over wet pas- tures have their own peeuliar diseases, over-dry pastures engender disease which not unfrequently we find attri- buted to other causes. A friend of ours who takes an interest in aueh matters, has been lately measur- ing the water consumed daily by his cattle, and as every drop must be pumped for them, the quantity used has been easily ascertained. The result of his observations is, that the 36 head he has grazing in two adjoining fields consume daily upwards of 900 gallons of water. Now, bearing this fact in mind, what can b9 the state of cattle or sheep carried by railway, and confined in trucks for 24, 48, or it may be 56"ho3rs, and even more, without getting a drop of water all the time, besides the terrible shaking which cattle experience during the journey, and the fatigue caused by their. being unable to lie down ? Is it possible that animals treated in this way can be healthy, or their flssh, if fat, in a wholesome state to be used as human food ? Ea.ilway cattle traffic is a matter in which the public at large, not less than farmers and graziers, are deeply coneerned. If it had been the case of a cab-horse or a costermonger's donkey at work with a galled shoulder, the Society for the Prevention cf Cruelty to Animals would be down upon th3 owner at once, and quite right; but railway folk, we suspect, are too high game to fly at, and in this way an amount of cruelty is perpetrated—unin- tentionally, we candidly believe, in most cases—of which few have any adequate idea. With respept to cattle grazing in fields where the supply of water is neither sufficient in quantity nor pure in quality, it is certain that the animals are thereby rendered much more susceptible to the influence of contagion than they would be if placed in other circumstances. The germs of disease find in the unhealthy system of the animals—rendered so from the want of an essential element of boaltti—a uoug*mVei Woxne imrwbia7a they be- come rapidly and fatally developed. In the reports given of the recent cases of diseaae which have taken place at Enfield, in the county of Meath, it is unani- mously set forth, both by those who have pronounced that disease tc be acute cattle plague and by those who ascribe it to some other cause, that the diseased animals had not access to water, and that the little they occasionally got was impure. To this both parties ascribe the disease, whether it be plague or something else, and we are quite sure they are per- fectly right. Wa therefore earnestly counsel all to look, without delay, to the supply of water in their fields. If derived from natural sources, let them see that it is abundant and pure, not stagnating in dirty holes; and if artificially provided, let them take care that the troughs are never empty."

S UPON GARDENING. ---

SPORTS AND PASTIMES. --+--

THE CHOLERA.,

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