of a bold incision in the proper direction. In making a full and free incision in the transverse direction, you cannot possibly do mischief, nor fail of success; unless it be done so tardily, as to allow the aqueous humour to escape before the operation is completed; in that case, the iris may be injured by protruding forward as the watery humour escapes, and thus come in contact with the cutting edge of the lancet, whilst performing the transverse section; for it must be borne in mind, that the iris is not only suspended in the aqueous humour, but it is, in a measure, supported and kept in its proper situation by it; hence, there is a necessity for a degree of adroitness in performing the operation, so as to complete it before much of the humour has escaped; for on this point hinges the whole secret or art of the operation, and on it also depends its success. "The cornea may be divided with perfect impunity, and the whole of the aqueous humour may be discharged with as much safety as a single drop; therefore, there can be no object gained, in making a dirty little puncture that will serve to let out the water, and leave the worm behind. A much smaller flap will do than I have mentioned, but a semi-circular flap is decidedly better than a straight incision, and for this reason—it gives a more sudden outlet to the contents of the chambers of the eye-makes a wider exit for the worm, and the edges or lips of the incision spontaneously approach each other, like a door upon patent hinges, and thus facilitates the healing process, or union, by the first intention; whereas a straight incision has a tendeney to gape, or diverge. Anything, however, better than that villanous and barbarous thrust, or dig, with a lancet with a shield of lint or rag on it, which so often turns out the water without the worm, and not unfrequently turns out the eye altogether, especially where a second attempt is made." As Mr. Percivall's work will, of course, find its way into the hands of all who are interested in the veterinary science, our affair is simply to announce its appearance, and to state that it in every way does credit to the gentleman's talents and reputation to whom we are indebted for it. THE BOOK OF THE FARM. By Henry Stephens. Part XI. Edinburgh and London: Blackwood and Sons. EACH Part of this most carefully written work shows an improve. ment on its predecessor. That now before us is replete with interest and information. The following extracts will, we are assured, be so esteemed by the readers of the SPORTING REVIEW: "OATS.-'We find no mention made of oats in Scripture,' says Phillips, 'which expressly states that Solomon's horses and dromedaries were fed with barley;' but the use of oats, as a provender for horses, appears to have been known in Rome as early as the Christian era, as we find that that capricious and profligate tyrant, Caligula, fed Incitatus, his favourite horse, with gilt oats out of a golden cup.' Oats are mixed with barley in the distillation of spirits from raw grain; and 'the Muscovites make an ale, or drink, of oats, which is of so hot a nature, and so strong, that it intoxicates sooner than the richest wine.'* "BEANS.-Beans belong to a very different tribe of plants to those we have been considering. They belong to the natural order of Leguminosæ, because they bear their fruit in legumes, or pods; and in the Linnæan system they occupy the class and order Diadelphia decandria. Their generic term is Faba vulgaris; formerly they were classed amongst the vetches, and called Vicia faba. "Beans are administered to the horse either raw whole, or boiled whole, or bruised. They are given to cattle in the state of meal, that is, husk and grain ground overhead, and that not very finely. Beans, however, can be ground "Phillips' History of Cultivated Vegetables, p. 9." into fine flour, and in this state is used to adulterate the flour of wheat. Its presence is easily detected by the peculiar smell arising from the flour when warm water is thrown upon it. Beans are of essential service to support horses that have fatiguing work. If beans do not afford more nutriment,' says Stewart, weight for weight of oats, they at least produce more lasting vigour. To use a common expression, they keep the stomach longer. The horse can travel farther; he is not so soon exhausted. In the coaching-stables, beans are almost indispensable to horses that have to run long stages. They afford a stronger and more permanent stimulus than oats alone, however good. Washy horses, those of slender carcases, cannot perform severe work without a liberal allowance of beans; and old horses need them more than the young. The quantity varies from three to six pounds per day; but in some of the coaching stables the horses get more, one pound of oats being deducted for every one pound of beans. Cart-horses are often fed on beans, to the exclusion of all other corn, but they are always given with dry bran, which is necessary to keep the bowels open, and to ensure mastication, and for old horses they should be always broken.' 'There are several varieties of the bean in use as horse-corn; but I do not know that one is better than another. The small plump bean is preferred to the large shrivelled kind. Whichever be used, the bean should be old, sweet, and sound; not mouldy, nor eaten by insects. New beans are indigestible and flatulent; they produce colic, and founder very readily. They should be at least a year old." "STRAW.-Wheat-straw is generally long. I have seen it upwards of six feet in length in the Carse of Gowrie, and it has always strength, whatever may be its length. Of the two sorts of wheat, white and red, the straw of white wheat is softer, more easily broken by the thrashing-mill, and more easily decomposed in the dunghill. Red wheat-straw is tough. The straws of some sorts of wheat, of both kinds, possess their respective properties in a greater and less degree than others. The strength and length of wheat-straw render it useful in thatching, whether houses or stacks. It is yet much employed in England for thatching houses, and perhaps the most beautiful thatchers are to be found in the county of Devon. Since the general use of slates in Scotland, the thatching of houses with straw has almost fallen into desuetude in that country. An existing thatch-roof may yet be repaired in preference to the adoption of a slated one, but no new roof is thatched with straw. Wheatstraw makes the best thatching for corn-stacks, its length and straightness insuring safety, neatness, and dispatch in the process, in the busy period of securing the fruits of the earth. It forms an admirable bottoming to the bedding in every court and hammel of the steading. As littering-straw, wheatstraw possesses superior qualities. It is not so suited for fodder to stock, its hardness and length being unfavourable to mastication; yet I have seen farmhorses very fond of it. Horses in general are fond of a hard bite, and were wheat-straw cut for them, by the chaff-cutter, of a proper length, I have no doubt they would prefer it to every other kind of straw as fodder. The chaff of wheat does not seem to be relished by any stock, and is therefore strewn on the dunghill, or upon the lairs of the cattle within the sheds. When it ferments, it causes a great heat, and on this account I have supposed that it would be a valuable ingredient in assisting to maintain a heat around the frames of forcing pits. The odour arising from wheat-straw and chaff, fresh thrashed, is glutinous. 66 Barley-straw is always soft, and has a somewhat clammy feel, and its odour, with its chaff, when new thrashed, is heavy and malt-like. It is relished by no sort of stock as fodder; on the contrary, it is said to be deleterious to horses, on whom its use is alleged to engender grease in the heels. Barley-chaff, however, is much relished by cattle of all ages, and, rough as the awns are, they never injure their mouths in mastication. Barley-straw is thus only used as litter, and in this respect it is much inferior to wheat-straw, either for cleanliness, durability, or comfort. It does not make a good thatch for "Stewart's Stable Economy, pp. 205-6." stacks, being too soft, and difficult to assort in lengths, apt to let through the rain, and rot. Barley-chaff soon heats in the chaff-house, and, if not removed in the course of two or three days, dependant on the state of the air, decomposition will rapidly ensue. Barley-straw and chaff seem to contain some active principle of fermentation. "Oat-straw. This straw is most commonly used as fodder, being considered too valuable to be administered in litter. It makes a sweet, soft fodder, and, when new thrashed, its odour is always refreshing. Its chaff is not much relished by cattle. Oat-straw is very clean, raising little or no dust, and so is its chaff; and on this account, as well as its elasticity, the latter is very commonly used, in the country, to make beds, with tickings, for which purpose the chaff is riddled through an oat-riddle, and the larger refuse left in the riddle thrown aside. Sheep are very fond of oat-straw, and will prefer it to bad hay; and even on the threatening of a coming storm, when on turnips, I have seen them prefer it to good hay. Of the different sorts of oat-straw, that of the common oats is preferred, being softer, sweeter, and more like hay than that of the potato-oat. When oats are cut a little green, the straw is much improved as fodder. 66 It is Rye-straw. This kind of straw is small, hard, and wiry, quite unfit for fodder, and perhaps would make but uncomfortable litter in a stable, though it would, no doubt, be useful in a court for laying a durable bottoming for the dunghill; but it forms most beautiful thatch for houses, and would, of course, do for stacks, if it were not too expensive an article for the purpose. much sought for by saddlers, for stuffing collars of posting and coach-horses, and, in default of this, wheat-straw is substituted. It is also in great request by brick-makers, who, as stated by a writer, gave as much as £5 per load for it in the neighbourhood of London in the winter of 1834-5, but from what particular reason is not mentioned.* Its ordinary price is £2 per load. The plaiting of rye-straw for hats was practised so long ago as by even the ancient Britons, and was certainly not out of use in Shakspeare's days, who thus notices the custom of wearing this elegant head-gear on holidays :— 66 6 Yon sun-burn'd sicklemen, of August weary, I have seen very useful hats and bonnets for field-work made by labourers and field-workers from the upper joint of wheat-straw. Bee-hives and ruskies —that is, baskets for supplying the sowers with seed-are beautifully and lightly made of rye-straw; but where that commodity is scarce, which it usually is in Scotland, wheat-straw is substituted. "Pease and Bean-straw, or Haulm.-It is difficult, in some seasons, to preserve the straw of the pulse crops, but, when properly preserved, there is no kind of straw so great a favourite as fodder with every kind of stock. An ox will eat pease-straw as greedily as he will hay; and a horse will chump beanstraw with more gusto than ill-made rye-grass hay. Young cattle are exceedingly fond of bean and pease chaff; and sheep enjoy pease-straw as much. These products of the pulse crops are considered much too valuable to be given as litter. Since bean-chaff is so much relished by cattle, there is little doubt that bean and pea-haulm, cut into chaff, would not only be relished, but be economically administered; and were this practice attended to in spring, the hay usually given to horses at that season might be dispensed with on farms which grow beans and peas. It is said that when work-horses are long kept on bean-straw their wind becomes affected. "British Husbandry, vol. ii., p. 170." COURSING REGISTER. The returns are confined to the running at Public Meetings. CALEDONIAN COURSING MEETING.-Oct. 5, 6, and 7. [Over the Estate of Sir E. COLEBROOKE, Bart., M.P., of CRAWFORD, 37 miles from Glasgow and 60 from Carlisle.] Judge: Mr. Dunlop. The COLEBROOKE CUP, by sixteen subscribers of 5 gs. each; the winner to receive £40, a winner of three courses, £10, winners of two courses, £5 each, and winners of four courses, £2: 10s. each; £14 reserved for expenses. Mavourneen beat Fingal, Queen of Hearts beat Her Majesty Awake, Cacciatore beat Dusty Miller, Negro beat Maid of Honour. III. Queen of Hearts beat Mavourneen (dr. lame), Cacciatore beat Negro. Mr. A. Graham's w. and bd. d. Cacciatore beat Mr. Borron na. bd. and w. b. Queen of Hearts, and won the Stakes. The CRAWFORD PLATE, by sixteen subscribers of £3: 5s. each; the winner to receive £24, a winner of three courses, £6; winners of two courses, £3 each; and winners of one course, £1: 10s. each; £10 reserved for expenses. Mary Gray beat Lord Provost Awake, Lacerta the Younger beat Evergreen, Chester beat The Baillie Snoring, Monarch beat Kerse. III. Mary Gray beat Lacerta the Younger, Chester beat Monarch. Lord Eglinton's bd. d. Chester beat Mr. G. Pollok's bd. b. Mary Gray, and won the Stakes. The CRAWFORD JOHN PURSE, by eight subscribers of £2: 5s. each; the winner, £10; a winner of two courses, £3; winners of one course, £1 each; £3 reserved for expenses. II. Albert beat Monarch, Johnny Cope beat Glory, Ian Roy beat Barmaid, Jeremy Diddler beat Pioneer. III. Mr. Greenshield's bd. d. Albert beat Mr. Dickson's w. and bd. d. Jeremy Diddler, and won the Stakes. : The ABRINGTON (CONSOLATION) STAKES, 12 sovs. Queen of Beauty beat Moss Rose, The Miller's only Daughter beat Fly. III. Mr. A. Graham's The Miller's only Daughter beat Major Teulon na. Queen of Beauty, and won Mr. Borron's Banker and Mr. A. Graham's White Hat divided the Stakes. Mr. Ewing's Earl The CASTLE STAKES, 4 Sovs. I. beat Mr. Watson's Billy. Mr. Joblin's Emperor, and Mr. Borron's Bluebell had several unsuccessful slips, and, owing to the darkness, the Stakes had to be divided between them and the Earl. SOUTH LANCASHIRE (SOUTHPORT) CLUB, Oct. 12 and 13. The ANNUAL DINNER STAKES, for sixteen dogs of all ages. Mr. Robinson's be. b. Fly ran a bye, Mr. Chew's w. and bk. d. Wellington drawn. II. Sandy beat Chancellor, Fly beat Westmoreland, Rufus beat Manfred, Humphrey's Clock beat Harriet. III. Sandy beat Fly, Humphrey's Clock beat Rufus. IV. Mr. Slater's Sandy beat Mr. Peacock's Humphrey's Clock, and won the Stakes. Mr. Williams's bd. d. Young Rocket, by} Rocket, out of Whisky Mr. Bake's bk. d. Blacklock, by Skimmer,} out of sister to Priam Peacock's bk. d. Dart, by Young Saddler, out of Dart. Mr. Houghton's bk. b. Het, by Emperor, out of Handy { { { { { { Mr. George's r. b. Deception, by Ranter, Mr. Clark's bd. and w. d. Sailor, by Mr. Mr. Thomas's w. and bd. d. Young Sandy, Mr. King's w. and bd. d. Spangle, by Young Mr. Edwards's bd. b. Madge Wildfire, by his Mr. Reade's f. d. Railway, by Rufus, out of Mr. Bennett's f. b. Young Stella, by Rocket, |