The Express.
London, England, 1847-12-27 00:00:00

DEVONSUIBE.

A PHYSICIAN'S ADVICE TO FAEMEUS.—At the re-
sent dinner of the Barnstaple Agricultural Society, Dr.
Bassett Paid he could not help thinking that the beef and
veal in the district were slaughtered before they were ripe.
The latter especially was generally very poor. Animals uo
sooner began to acquire fat, and consequently to pay their
owners, than they were consigned prematurely to the
slaughter-house, thereby involving a loss to the owner in
the quantity of meat produced, and to the public both in
its quantity and its nutritive properties. It was a com-
plaint of many first-rate judges (and be named Mr. Hughes,
of Court Morgan, as one) that while the North Devon
bullock was perfect in every other respect, it fell off in the
bind quarter. Would the breed be improved by a mom
with the Hereford, in which the hind-quarter was parti-
cularly good? Referring to the breed of horses, he consi-
dered that we were in this district lamentably deficient
You might ride a whole day, and not meet witk &thoroughly
good horse of native breed. The horses had no crest, and
their appearance altogether was disregarded by the breeders.
They were not choice enough in their brood mares; and no
excellence in the stallion could compensate for that defect.
Then they worked their colts too young, before the sinews
had acquired strength ; the frequent consequence was, that
their joints protruded. Mr. Bassett then went into an in-
teresting illustration of the assistance which chemistry af-
forded to agriculture, by assisting both in the adaptation of
crops and manure.; and remarked on the bounty of nature
in providing such inexhaustible quantities of the nitrates of
soda and potass, as will as other valuable manures which
were to be found in Peru, the East ladies, and
elsewhere. He also recommended to the study of gene-

tical farmers, the elements of mensuration, as of great
assistance in every day life; and the knowledge of the use of
the spirit level, which was easily acquired, and of great ad.
vantage in draining; so the use of the barometer, in indi-
cating the altitude of the land, and dictating the cultivation
of barley and other crops, for it was well known that barley
w. uld not grow much above the level of the sea, and all
crops were better so they were nearer to that pane. Hs
recommended the use of soot in turnip growing, both as •
preventive to the fly and as food to the plant. He com-
plained that the tenure of land in this country was often
moat hostile to good farming; be bad lately seen a case in
which a valuable racehorse had been seized as a heriot on
copyhold ; a defined tenure on defined terms was eaten-
tie' to profitable cultivation. He also complained of the
absurdity of many of the clauses introduced in farm
leases. They were made by lawyers, who knew nothing
about fanning, and who followed the precedents which were
laid down a century ago. Thus that valuable crop, the rape,
was generally altogether prohibited • while at the same time
corn crops might he permitted to be grown in succession on
certain terms ; altogether good farming would not tolerate a
succession of wkite crops on any terms. The fact was, the in-
terest, of both farmer and landlord were correlative ; and the
less a farmer was fettered in his lease, provided he understood
his business and had capital enough to conduct it (and the
landlord should not take him otherwise), the bett• r for both
parties and the public too. Land near Edinburgh let at
treble the rents of land near London, because the pro-
prietors granted leases and did not restrict their
tenants as to the mode of cultivation. He advo-
cated a registry of estates, and a simpler mode of
conveying land. He complained of the farm buildings in
this neighbourhood generally as both badly built and incon-
venient, and recommended dry sheds for the storing of roots.
He gave a abort chapter on veterin .ry science,and recom-
mended aloes for horses instead of drenches or alomel, and
strongly deprecated the use of corrosive sublimate for sheep.
After incidentally recommending the use of Croskill's roller
as a very valuable implement, Dr. Bassett concluded rather
a discursive speech by noticing the late losses of sheep by
stealing in this neighbourhood, and recommended the farmers
to adopt better means for their mutual peotection."

LITERATURE.
CAristmas Postolication

Christmas, as a Helicon of prettmeseee, is well nigh
exhausted. The poets and the essayists, accustomed
annually to dip their urns in the Chnstmaa fount, have
only half filled their vessels, and that at times with
mere dregs, being obliged, some of them, even to recur
to their own old water-csaks. The proportion of
poetry in the annuals has been yearly decreasing,—
and, indeed, it would be little matter were that de-
crease even greater. Not that we have any objection
to verse. It is the fat of the meat (to use a Christman