But se

Servants

one; and if he takes care to say nothing about it at the beginning, but buys in about that time several sorts from different parts of the country, this may be easily managed. He must take care to obtain some of the very best cows, and a bull of the favourite breed, of his own raising as soon as he can. He is then to breed in and in, according to Mr. Bakewell's plan (for he can follow none better); but he is still to be at great pains to select the best, and say nothing of his own breed or their excellence in any respect. In this way he is to go on till, after several generations of his beasts, he has raised this improved breed to a much greater degree of excellence than it originally pofsefsed, still trying to conceal his secret. crets of this kind cannot be long concealed. will boast of the fruits of their exertions; and neighbours will acquire some knowledge of superior profits derived from whatever source, and will make their comments upon it. The more these profits are attempted to be concealed, the more narrowly they will be investigated, and the more clearly they will be developed a mysterious retention is, therefore, in this case of the most important consequence. It answers better than a hundred advertisements. It sets to work a thousand prying commentators, all of whom are unceasingly busy, and with exaggerations that no man dared to adopt himself. All is now as it ought to be. The harvest approaches, and the retention and attention of the undertaker ought to be redoubled. Neighbours will become anxious to purchase-he has no desire to sell-he will not sell-he must be tempted by high prices-even then the worst only of his breed

must be sold. The higher the price, the more the breed will be esteemed, the wider it will spread, and the more quickly it will be diffused through the kingdom. I give this, not as a fanciful dream, nor with any ironical allusion, but as a serious advice the result of many years attentive observation; nor is there any plan for raising a respectable fortune in a rural situation (if it be conducted by a man of discernment and prudence), the succefs of which is so infallible. Would to God that all plans for accumulating wealth to individuals were equally beneficial to the public!

Under this head, I shall only farther just take notice of one hint that occurs in the agricultural survey of the county of Middlesex, in which the writer states the uncommon quantity of rich milk that was yielded by the produce of a cross breed between one of our common cows and a buffalo that was obtained by the late Mr. John Hunter at his farm at Earl's Court near Kensington, while the creature is said to have retained an uncommon propensity to fatten easily. This statement should direct the attention of the improver to crofses of this sort. I now proceed.

2d. Kind of food, and mode of feeding cows for the dairy.

Grafs, such as springs up spontaneously on sound meadow land of a good quality, is in general deemed the best food for cows that are kept for the purposes of the dairy. A meadow of this description, it is well known, consists of a great variety of plants, some of which must doubtlefs be more proper than others for

1

ascertain their respective qualities. It is about thirty years since I published a volume of essays consisting of miscellaneous disquisitions, doubts, and queries, respecting various objects in agriculture (Efsays on Agriculture, &c. Vol. II.); and, among others, a considerable proportion of it respected the best food, &c. for dairy cows; to that work I beg leave to refer the reader who wishes to be informed how little of the much that is wanted is as yet known on this head. I am sorry to say, that although the abovementioned book has had a pretty extensive circulation, little has been added to our stock of knowledge since that time: the few facts, however, that have been since ascertained have been incorporated in the last edition of that work. All that is necessary to be here said on that head is, that rye grafs is almost the only gramen, properly so called, that has been cultivated on such an extensive scale as to admit of its qualities being fully ascertained: that the poa grafses form among the richest pile for pastures; but no method has been as yet devised for separating the seeds with facility, so as to admit of their being cultivated by the common farmer on a large scale: that the seeds of the Fustuca tribe may indeed be easily obtained, but have never yet come to be 'cultivated as a general crop; and that meadows for the purpose of dairy pasture now, as formerly, are chiefly indebted to accidental circumstances for their excellencies and defects: that broad clover has been cultivated on an extensive scale for being cut, but not for pasture: that white or Dutch clover has been extensively cultivated both for being cut and pastured upon: that yellow clover has also

been pretty much employed in some districts: and that sainfoin has been long profitably reared on calcareous soils: that lucerne has been cultivated with profit in a few favoured patches: that narrow-leafed plantain, or rib grafs, has been in some cases sown in pastures; and that these are nearly all the plants that have been artificially cultivated by the farmer under the name of grasses; all of which have been found to furnish excellent food for dairy cows under proper management. Turnips, cabbages, and many other succulent kinds of food, may be employed with singular benefit in the dairy, of which notice will be taken under some of the following heads.

[To be continued.]

NATURAL HISTORY.

ON THE TRANSFORMATIONS, &c. OF INSECTS. [Continued from page 114.]

Of the Domestic Moth, that eats woollen goods, furs, &c.

THIS insect, which is so troublesome to careless housewives, and to those who deal in fine furs and woollen goods, is the larva of a small lead-coloured moth, which is so well known as to need no particular description in this place. The larva is a caterpillar of a particular kind, being one of those endowed with the peculiar faculty of making for them

cefsary for their existence than clothing even for man; for in no situation can the animals of this clafs subsist without it. The whole tribe of insects whose larvæ require this kind of clothing are called by naturalists Tinea, of which the diversity is very great; some living on leaves, as the Tinea seratella, of which we lately took notice; others live in the water, some of which form clothing of a most grotesque appearance, and others in various substances, too much diversified to be here enumerated. The present memoir will be entirely appropriated to the transformations and habits of the woollen moth, and the means of freeing ourselves from its destructive operations.

The food as well as the clothing of this species of caterpillar is wool, or animal fur of other sorts; for the habits of all these are so much alike, that they may be all considered in an economical view as exactly the same; and the parent is of course directed by a natural instinct to deposit its eggs in these substances, that the young may be enabled to find what is so necefsary for its subsistence and existence as soon as it comes into life. It deserves, however, to be particularly remarked, that wool in its natural state is totally unfit for the purposes of this creature. In that state, wool is always strongly impregnated with the matter that perspires from the sheep; which is so noxious to the tinea, that it can by no means be prevailed on to take up its residence among such wool. While in this state, then, wool is entirely guarded from danger. But, as the very substance that preserves wool from the moth, renders it incapable of receiving any dye, and unfit for almost any of the purposes required in VOL. III.

N