THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



32o 



the facilities of communication aflbrded by the naviga- 

 tion of these noblcri vers. Next to India, New Zealand 

 promises to be our best customer for horses, her en- 

 terprising settlers now devoting the most careful atten- 

 tion to the breeding of first class liorses. In 1857 we 

 exported (o that colony 121 horses, valued at £"'•2,715 ; 

 and in 1858, 550 horses, valued at £12,975; thus 

 showing totals of G71 horses, valued at i?15, 690. This 

 export is, less 99 horses, equal to the total shipments 

 of horses irom the Port of Sydney in 1852, and speaks 

 insignificant terms of the enterprise and prosperity of 

 the sister-colony." 



As regards prices, and general value of horses in the 

 several Australian colonies, we have no very complete 

 and reliable information. Indeed, it would be very 

 dilKcult to obtain such ; for the price, even of the same 

 horse, would necessarily v:iry in different localities, 

 cither of town or country, according to demand and 

 supply. In the official bine-book returns we find that 

 the average price of a good saddle or light cart-horse, 

 in South Australia, which in 1855 was £30, in 1857 

 was only i.23. In New South Wales the average 

 price was about £22 lOs. in 1857, £30 in 1858, and 

 £2G in 1859. In 1857 the price of horses ranged in 

 Western Australia from £25 to £100; and the value of 

 6G shipped thence in that year to Singapore is returned 

 at £1,782, or an average price of £27. In Tasmania, 

 in 1850, horses were worth £30 to £35. In the New 

 Zealand provinces, in 1857, horses sold from £20 

 to £80. 



We are aware that sales of good horses have been 

 made at considerable sacrifice, and that the market in 

 New South Wales is at present much depressed ; but 

 renewed encouragement will now be given to those in- 

 terested in a very important branch of the colony's 

 produce ; and we shall soon expect to see the exports 

 of horses from Australia forming a very large item in 

 the records of its increasing wealth. When we find 

 that Col. Apperley recently spent about £300,000 in 

 the Cape colony in tlic jjurchase of horses for the 

 Government in India, we look f(jr great benefit to New 

 South Wales, and the other Australian colonies, by 

 the expenditure arising from the purchase of horses, 

 and the further stimulus given to the breeding of them. 

 Looking at New South Wales — the principal colony 

 for horses — we find that there has been an increase of 

 22,000 in two years in the colony, besides upwards of 



9,000 exported, Tiiero is here, therefore, a very 

 large field for purchasers, whether near or distant. 

 The observations of Col. Apperley, recently made to 

 the Cape farmers, are well worth reproducing here : — 

 " It is to the hor.^e-vendors," he observed, " that you 

 are enabled to ride in your carriage with comfort, in- 

 stead of, as formerly, having to take your wives be- 

 hind you on a pillion. Tliere is no article of agricul- 

 ture that pays so well as good horse-breeding, particu- 

 larly as the thousands of acres which men possess here 

 can be made available for this purpose. Some iiarmers 

 have continued to do very well at that, but with the 

 thousands of pounds which I have spent among others, 

 I am sorry to say they have decorated their drawing- 

 rooms with pianos, and artificial flowers under glass- 

 cases, without reflecting that that is not of any prac- 

 tical usefulness. If they go on doing that, they will 

 not get any more Indian money they may depend on 

 it. As a class, I must say they are good fellows. In 

 all parts of the world I have dealt largely with 

 them, blacks as well as whites, and I can 

 honestly say that, in Australia, in India, Af- 

 rica, or England, in all my transactions with 

 them I have never had any differences. I never 

 spent a shilling in litigation with them in all my life, 

 neither for myself nor the Government. I never visited 

 a horse-breeding establishment without being treated 

 with liberality ; and, in ninety-nine cases out of every 

 hundred, I have never been asked what is not lair and 

 reasonable. Having such dealings as that makes a 

 man's work pleasant : and in this colony I hope to have 

 still more dealings, and to see more importations of 

 high-bred mares. It is said the Indian Government 

 never patronized the colony except in a case of emer- 

 gency. Well, they must have handsome horses, and if 

 the farmers of the colony want to keep mo here they 

 must breed something better than they do. I will have 

 great pleasure in remaining, and I will report all I can 

 in their favour. I may here say that I have a capital 

 pair of horses, which travelled the other day one hun- 

 dred and twenty-five miles in a cart, and yet came 

 into town fresh. Depend upon it, gentlemen, nothing 

 can pay better than breeding good horses. I hope that 

 my advice will be understood and appreciated." This 

 is high authority, for the speaker is a sou of the cele- 

 brated " Nimrod," the most successful writer on tho 

 horse this country has ever known. 



THE BREEDING AND REARING OF PRIZE STOCK. 



The degree of public notice drawn to Master 

 Butteifly — on account of tliC honours which he 

 brought to his owner, and the high price for which 

 ho was sold — can scarcely be greater than that which 

 has recently been given to the announcement of his 

 death. ^Vc recently extracted from tho Victoria Ar/ri- 

 cultur(tl and Horticultural Gazette some very forcible 

 remarks upon the injuries which stock have received 

 during the voyage from this country. Many serious 

 losses have already arisen from this cause; and the last 

 instance recorded is decidedly not tho least important. 

 It would appear that Master Butterfly never recovered 

 from tlie effects of his voyage, for he suffered from a 

 cold and husky cough soon after he landed ; that ho 

 gradually lost condition, and sccmrd to decline from 

 the effects of a pneumonic disease very similar to pul- 

 monary consumption in tho human fi-ame. From fur- 

 ther evidence given by the same Gazette, there is 

 reason to believe tluit the imperfect ventilation of the 

 box in wliich hi- was shipped contributed in a great 



degree to sow the seeds of a disease which subsequently 

 terminated fatally. 



The injurious tendency of any ill-ventilated apart- 

 ment thus to engender disease is much too fj'equently 

 experienced to have been overlooked even by general 

 readers. That air which enters the lungs pure is re- 

 turned again impure, and unfitted for discharging its 

 duties a second time. It is unfit because it has lost its 

 invigorating and purifying powers, and it is also unfit 

 because it is contamiuatLd with unhealthy matter. Tho 

 respiration of such air is calculated to do much injury 

 to the lungs ; and in a shorter or longer period — vary- 

 ing with the animal's health and strength, or other 

 ameliorating circumstances — we have a disease com- 

 mencing upon tlie lungs, which renders them incom- 

 petent for the healthy discharge of their duties. There 

 is, under the energy of vital action, a repelling action 

 carried on in the lungs ; and we tbereJbre find an 

 animal of delicate constitution becoming a more easy 

 victim to disease than those possessing strong and, 



