SCOTLAND.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 203, 9 August 1860, Page 4

SCOTLAND.

; Fowler’s steam plough 5 has of late been employed on Mr; Forrester’s' farm at Stewart | Hall; Stirlingshire. > Some alterations h : ave been made upon it, and 'no windlass' is now required, as the drums being below are driven with bevilled’ Wheels off the crank shaft of the engine, which prevents the stoppage* that formerly occurred - from the wetting of the belt in weather. The anchor at the opposite side of' the field is now made of irofi. A number of farmers have purchased the. steam plough and threshing machine at; an expense of about *£9so, and the* implements are soon, we believe, to be examined by an eminent engineer. "

LECTURE BY PROFESSOR DICK ON DISEASES of Sheep —The Professor stated, in his introductory remarks, that he had been led to pay special attention to the subject of paralysis in lambs, from a communication received by him some time ago from a gentleman resident in the Vale: of Teviot, a number of whose lambs bad become suddenly infected with that disease. Through the assistance of Professor Goqddr, he (Professor Dick) obtained two lambs in an advanced stage of the disease, and, after several experiments by himself and his a c 8 s stantg and. students, and a careful dissection of their carcases, lie had come to the conclusion"that.tlie;disease,, though ultimately affecting the spinal cord, had its. origin in the stomach, and might be induced by innutritious herbage, the presence of ergot and other poisonous herbs in the grass, or the accumulation in the stomach of wool and other indigestible substances. . SVeakly and badly-nursed, young lambs were most easily affected by it, and in man)’ cases lie had no,, doubt|the ; ,di;jqasci\yas tp ( traced to ; 'poisonous,,- herbs, particularly, ergot, in the stomach of the dam. The best means of prevention was, he thought, to. turn the ewes and lambs out to a plot of young clover for a short time every day,; or to give tlieni daily a little linseqd cake tp clear.out their stomachs ; and, the most successful means of cure was the administration of doses of common salt, followed by doses of sulphate of iron. He was completely opposed to the no tion of the production of either paralysis or sturdy in sheep by means of tapeworms taken up from dogs, .although; the theory was supported by some physiologists, both in this country and on the continent. Professor Dick .then proceeded to treat of the disease of scab in sheep, which, lie said, had recently, both in England and in,lreland, been viewed as if it were incurable and, contagious. He read -an account of. tlie slaughter of about >40,000 sheep in Ireland in 1857-58, : 0n1y a very small proportion of which were affected by the disease, from an erroneous notion, of its, yirulence and incurability ; and stated that it could be cured by very .simple ;-agents,. sueji; as, sulphur and oil, and,-'besides) being purely of a local character, did not reader the rest of the carcase ■unfit for use; < j; -

. The Late Great Failure in Aberdeen. —-The sail consequences of the, great failure of the firm of John and Anthony Blaikie, advocates and land-factors, Aberdeen, are daily becoming more apparent. Indeed, no failure, involving anything like the same amount,of money loss and causing an equal, degree of private hardship has ever been experienced in the northern capital; while the J sudden ess with which the stroke has come upon the sufferers and the pnbiic, combined with the high social position of the principal partner, of the firm, have created the utmost surprise, and. have formed the chief topic, of conversation in all ; circles in the quarter where the jey.ent lias occurred.,, The total amount of the shortcomings of.Mr.'John Blaikie is set down as at least .£300,000 ; and in this sum is swallowed up and, swept away, the savings; of tradesmen, the scanty portions of not a few widows and maiden ladies of families who ,have seen better 'days, the rents of many landed proprietors, and also it. is said, monies intended to be invested in security ami in bond. A young and clever architect of the city, brought chiefly into notice by the firm, is said to he a loser to the extent of £SOO ; while the Earl of Kintore is reported to be in for not.less than £IOO,OOO. in truth it may be said there was unbounded confidence placed in John Blackie. He is a member of a family who for, half a century, at least, have most worthily held the very highest name and, credit in the north of Scotland. Not yet past the prime and, vigour of life, an accomplished scholar, a. very graceful anil effective public speaker, lie .was-'-without opposition elected a tew years hack a member of the town council, for the chief chair of. which, he has often been named. His business duties, however, soon made him withdraw from ail municipal honours. In tlie country as in the town he was held' in much estimation. He was Commissary Clerk for Aberdeenshire—-a sinecure office winch yielded [ .£SOO yearly—aiid the extent of; the. private business of the Blaikie firm may be in some measure calculated from the circumstance that they employed nearly twenty legal and other assistants. It is hut right to state that while as yet nothing seems to be known of the whereabouts of Mr. John Blaikie, ; his younger brother and partner, Mr. Anthony, iremains at his post, using every effort to.get !matters into the best order possible. It is believed on every hand' that this gentleman was ignorant of, and - quite free from, any of the unfortunate ventures .which have led to present lamentable state, of aftairs—rventures which may, we believe, be described as Wild speculations in American railway lines and large cargoes of teas and silks. A deep and sinicere'sympathy is felt in Aberdeen and ihe iidrth for tlie metnbers of Mr. John Blaikie’s'faraiiy, and' it is no more than trqth to add that in th’c district this is'the predominant

feeling \vith which, his distressing , story and position are commented , upcii.; He. popular and likeable a. man, that the public are loth to believe lie could be wilfully culpable.— Scotsman, May 8.