Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1868-05-07
AGRICULTURAL.
PARH, GlRDRu AND HOUSEHOLD.
FREsH Earth ron ErABnRD ANllA1.l

FRESH EARTH ron Stabbed ANIMALS
--'H," Of MorristoWn, New Jersey
writes as follows: ''From on expert
ence Of many years / am satisfied o
the beneficial results from givinl
stabbed animals--horses, cattle, OF
swine what fresh earth they will eat
say twice a week, or oftener. II pro
notes and regulates their digestion
gives tone to their appetites, prevent,
disease, keeps their coats in fine con
dition-promoting their general health
| usually lay in good supply of thick
ly cnt sods, and throw some into theil
troughs twice week. Let those whC
have doubts try the experiment, givin(
the same to part Of their stock anc
Withholding from the rest for few
weeks, and their doubts will be re-
moved" All cattle in grazing occa
sionally pull up tuft OF grass, and ca
It, roots, earth and all. This certainly
does no harm, We are not surprised &
learn that in ''H. 8" long experience he
has found earth to supply want of th,
animal economy, essential to the high
est state of health. - american Aqricul
aS.ist. -
THE IMPORTANCE OF AaRIoU1TURE. -
What must be the feelings OF happiness
and eontentment Of the. man who, by
skillfully turning to proper account his
intimate knowledge OF the peculiarities
Of his land, has succeeded without
increased labor or capital, in gaining
from it permanent increase OF pro.
duce? For such result is not only O
personal advantage to himself, but q
most important benefit conferred upon
all mankind. How unimportant and
do all our discoveries and
inventions appear, compared to what
is in the power OF agriculture to
achieve.
All our advance in arts aud sciences
are OF 10 avail in increasing the con.
1itioDs of humaR existence; and tho
a small fraction of society may, by
their means, be gainers in intellectual
enjoyment, the load e0f Misery, weigh.
ing upon the great mass of people, re-
mains the same. A hungry man cares
not for preaching, and child that is to
earn anything at school must not be
sent there with an empty stomach.
Every step in advance, however,
made by agriculture, serves to alleviate
The sufferings and troubles of mankind,
and 10 make the human mind suscepe
tible aAd capable of apprsciating the
good andabeautiful that art and science
present to US, Improvements in agri-
culture constitute the only solid
for fugther progress in all
other branches of kpgwledge = Liebig
SHEAR1NG SHEEP EARLY. -"Wool
Grower" writes to the Western Rural
on this subject as follows:
Last year some on9shaving deep
interest in the poor man recommended
early shearing, saying the "wool would
be in better condition; beside, the
sheep would do, much better" The
result was a loss i'll Michigan of from
10000 to 10000 sheep, which died
from being shorn to early, and loss
of one to two pounds to the fleece OF
all thus early shorn. The wool sold
for no better price than heavier feeces
taken off late in the season. I never
change my opinion for the sake of be-
ing popular with men or party.
1t seems that wool growers who are
tolerably sharp at a bargain are not to
be held strictly to any rule; they ap.
ply only to such as can bear the wool
pulled over their eyes by the buyer,
Last season, saw a neighbor sell at
full price, without any deduction,
twenty unwashed yearling rams fleeces,
stating their condition faily. The
same day another neighbor sold bet
ter lot of wool to the same parties, and
was made to stand deduction of one
third on his only aud single rams
fleece. So goes the world.
It is clear in my mind that he who
gets the heaviest fleece, in fair condi.
tion, makes the most money. In fact,
one half of the buyers do not know
washed from unwashed wool. In
proof OF which l can cite several cases
within my own neighborhood; still,
they all smell of the wool, and look
wonderfully wise, when, in fact, the
seller is often better Judge of wool
than the buyer. For the last two
years / have shipped most OF my wool
to Boston, and have made money by
so doing.
INFLUENCE OF ELEcTRIcrTY ON PLANTS.
M. Blondiau, of the French Academy
of Science, has recently made some
interesting experiments with electrical
currents upon plants. 1t appears from
these experiments that an induction
current only produces a destructive
effect on the organs Of plants, wher,
in consequence of the fabbiness OF
their tissues, and the large quantity of
liquid matter they contain, it finds an
easy passage; but that it does not pro-
duce any sensible effect when it acts
on solid tissues. Nevertheless, by in
creasing the intensity of the current,
and applying it for q considerable
length of time, the tissues OF the lig-
neous plant may be 30 disorganized as
to cause death, as if the plant had been
struck by lightning. When the cur
rent is made to act on fruit, it hastens
its maturity. This effect has been o.
tanned on apples, pears and peaches,
those subjected to the ordeal of elec-
tricity having ripened much faster than
their companions that had been let
alone ON the same stock. But the
most curious effects were those pro-
duced on seeds before sowing. After
making them conductors by keeping
them some time in water, they were
subjected to the current for few min
utes. The seeds operated on were
peas, beans and wheat. After electro
lying them, they were sown in pots
filed with good garden mold, while
other seeds that had not experienced
the effects OF the current we're sown in
other pots filed with the same mold
and in the same state OF moisture.
The electrified seeds terminated in all
cases much faster than the others, the
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