THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



No question tliey did wrong. No doubt Mr. New- 

 man should not suffer from having his iiorscs over-fed 

 and his corn wasted. But, surely, justice in such a 

 case might be tempered witli nierey ! " Not a six- 

 pence" ere this had INIr. Newman lost by an old 

 servant with a bond of fifteen years between them. It 

 was clearly, then, a first ofl'cnco. And v.as it worth 

 while for a first offence, and such an ofibuce too, to 

 destroy this fifteen yeai's' acquaintance, and drag off 

 poor Gabriel from his family and ailing wife to Pet- 

 worth gaol ? "To be branded," a correspondent 

 writes, " as thieves, and to associate, as I suppose, for 

 three weeks with thieves, to the groat injury of their 

 own morals and future self-respect, the greatest safe- 

 guard against crime." "Did these poor men," we 

 must quote him yet further, "imagine they were 

 guilty of a worse act than a servant (with far more 

 opportunities of self-improvement) would admit 

 of, who had cut off a slice of meat from the joint 

 f«r the cat ? Or taken the dripping as her perquisite, 

 not to minister to her master's good, but to buy finery 

 for herself?" 



We tell this story more as a caution to the farm- 

 labourer than anything else. At the same time we are 

 bound to confpss that it sounds unusually harsh ; and 

 we believe that few farmers under the circumstances 

 would have proceeded to such extremities. The result 

 of such a course can only be irreparable injury to all 

 concerned. It was but on Monday evening last that 

 we heard a member of the Central Farmers' Club speak 

 to the value of mangel wurzel as food for sheep and 

 pigs. He had only found one difficulty associated with 

 its use, and that was, the men would over-feed witli it. 

 Now, did Mr. Staggever dream of giving his shepherd or 

 yard-man into custody for taking too many mangel ? 

 And, if not, why not? Did not the shepherd take 



mangel for 'precisely the same purpose the carter did 

 oats '! There is a nice line to draw here, but no wise 

 man will draw it too finely. 



The other case which arose from exactly the same 

 cause, the man's pride in his horses, occurred on the 

 farm of Mr. Ibbott Mason, at Somersham in Hunting- 

 donshire. The ploughman here secretly administered 

 drugs to his horses — antimony amongst other things 

 — with the notion of making them look better, 

 and wliich ho had openly purchased of a chemist in 

 the village for tliat purpose. Three good horses died 

 from the effects of this. The veterinary surgeon declared 

 on examination they had been poisoned. The mixture 

 was found in his stable. And, indeed, the man at once 

 admitted what he had done. The injury in this 

 instance was, of course, of a far more serious character ; 

 but the magistrates could see no malice in the case, 

 and as tlie man had only erred from ignorance, he was 

 acquitted. At Chichester the chairman went so far as 

 to tell the Gabriels they too had erred from ignorance. 

 The law, however, in this instance, took a different 

 complexion, and they went to gaol for feeding horses, 

 while Mr. Mason's man gets no punishment for poison- 

 ing them. We do not go so far as to say he should; 

 the druggist certainly appears to be the more culpable 

 of the two. What we do wish is that we should have 

 had no occasion to make the comparison. A man 

 who has absolutely lost so much valuable property as 

 Mr. Mason did, must, as a moral duty, institute some 

 public inquiry ; but need we sacri6ce«,n old servant for 

 •a sieve of corn ? Surely a reprimand might for once at 

 least have been sufficient ? 



The more general publication of these two cases may 

 be useful to both master and man. We counsel the 

 former to let his labourers have the opportunity of 

 seeing them, 



THE FARM-HORSES. 



In order to include the fullest and most compre- 

 henaive view of this subject, I shall first consider the ex- 

 tent of the arable portion of the farm best adapted for 

 economising the labour of the farm horses | as, however 

 desirable and beneficial it is to combine grass and arable 

 lands together in laying-out a farm, yet, so far as the 

 farm horses are concerned, it is only with the arable por- 

 tion thereof we hav6 now chiefly to do. 



The results of great practical experience in most parts 

 of the kingdom have demonstrated, that the efficient 

 culture of about forty acres of loam, strong loam, loamy 

 clay, or clay soils, will require the power of two good 

 farm horses, such lands being kept under cultivation, 

 and not subjected to the prescribed courses of husbandry 

 usually adopted on light soils. On these soils, where the 

 four-course or other shift is adopted, the same experi- 

 ence has demonstrated that a pair of active horses will 

 suffice for the efficient working of at least sixty acres, 

 because, as one-fourth, or more, is under a seed crop, 

 there remain but forty-five acres, or thereabouts, for the 

 pair to cultivate ; and the land being lighter in quality, 

 is worked with less labour proportionately, smd will 

 allow a sufficient margin for a little extra cartage of 

 clover, hay, &c.. from the seeded portion of the farm. 

 It will also be found, from the results of the same prac- 

 tical experience, that the various kinds of farm-work, 

 such as cartage in harvest-work or in manuring land, 

 requiring a continuous succession of loads, or in any 

 work requiring a relay of horses; or in seed-time, so 

 that the harrowing and drilling go on simultaneously ; 

 or in turnij> sowing, so that the manure is deposited and 



ploughed-in immediately — I repeat, it will be found that 

 not a less number than six horses can, on by far the great 

 majority of farms, keep up this continuous succession of 

 general labour so as not to impede the regular farm- 

 work ; but with this number of h Tses, and the free use 

 of one-horse carts, the various kinds of cartage may be 

 economically performed : and, with good management, 

 also all the other various kinds of farm-work may be 

 carried on without let or hindrance. I hold it to be of 

 great importance that this should be the case. Tlae 

 ploughman must not wait for the dung-cart, nor the 

 stacker for the harvest-cart ; but all must proceed re- 

 gularly and in order together. 



In accordance with this statement, it will therefore 

 be seen that the farm should not contain a less quantity 

 of arable land, of a strong texture or character, than 120 

 acres, or of light land not less than 180 acres, respec- 

 tively ; but the larger, in moderation, the more econo- 

 mically can it be managed. 



To conduct the farm, then, most profitably, because 

 most economically, we require it to be of the extent, at 

 least, named above ; and to work it i)roperly, we 

 require six useful farm-horses. What kind shall we 

 select .' How shall we procure them ? What course 

 shall we pursue to keep up the number ? It will be 

 foreign to our purpose at this time to enter upon the dis- 

 tinctions and qualifications of the various breeds of farm 

 horses ; I shall merely take this general rule— to select 

 powerful draught horses for the heavy-laiul farm, and 

 light draught horses for the light-land farm ; i.e., the 

 large Lincolnshire, Cleveland, or Clydesdale horses for 



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