THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



295 



vanta»ea of steam aa a motive power for general locomotion. 

 It is for this mixed system, and this progress, that statute law 

 has to provide, and the legislature will doubtless be guided by 

 the comparative merits of horse and steam locomotion in fram- 

 ing the toll tonnage on the conveyance of agricultural produce, 

 and other commercial goods, by the latter. 



On the next division of our subject, the weight and dimen- 

 sions of co/itmon road locomotives, with the speed or rate of 

 travellinr/, and length of their trains, less requires to be said. 

 That the crowded thoroughfare of our large towns, and that 

 the public generally require some statutory guarantee of safety, 

 especially at the commencement of a new system of locomo- 

 tion, will readily be granted ; at the same time, the Legislature 

 ■will have to exercise due caution so as to avoid what may be 

 termed vexatious legal interference, that can never be success- 

 fully carried out in a free country like England. And be- 

 sides vexation experienced in the attempt to carry into 

 effect impracticable statutory measures, such a course 

 of proceeding would also have a tendency to check the 

 progress of discovery and improvement in this most im- 

 portant branch of our commerce or national industry, viz., 

 the most profitable mode of conveying goods on common roads. 

 Under this head the legislative maxim should be to establish 

 sound principles as the solid foundation of future practice, 

 rather than to attempt carrying out the details of a working 

 syetem, before that system has acquired a matured existence. 

 In learning to walk and run, the child's first lesson " is the equi- 

 librium of posture"; and as it is with the child, so is it with 

 the steam-horse on cur common roads. After he has learned 

 " the equilibrium of posture" half the dangers to himself and the 

 public in our crowded thoroughfares are over. Until he (the 

 steam-horse) is thoroughly master of this, there is more 

 danger from a short train at a slow pace than from a long 

 train at a galloping speed, after he has fairly mastered the 

 rudiments of his profession. We therefore repeat that, in 

 determining statutory provision under this head no little fore- 

 sight is necessary. 



The safety of the public is more deeply at stake in the 

 proper training of carriage and other horses than in the train- 

 ing of traction engines. There is much less danger from the 

 latter than from the former ; and as there is now an attempt 

 being made to father the whole of the mischief being expe- 

 rienced upon the steam horse that is due to his rival, it will 

 be necessary, under this head, to go somewhat more deeply 

 into the practical details of our subject. 



The steam horse, upon our common roads, is one of the 

 most gentle, innocent, and harmless creatures imaginable 

 Those who have taken up a contrary credence belong to the 

 old-wife portion of the community. It does not require logic 

 to prove the soundness of this conclusion, the facts of the 

 case being amply sufficient for the purpose ; for the steam 

 horse goes like clockwork along the road, right a-head, with- 

 out shying, or manifesting any fear or alarm at his compa- 

 nions. It is his rival that shies, runs against lamp-posts, and 

 does the harm ; and, as the sequel will show, this is not to be 

 wondered at, when we look at the manner in which he is 

 trained. At present, in all our provinces, we are actually 

 engaged training our young horses to shy at Traction Engines 

 on common roads, snd at locomotives on street railways ; and, 

 if we are successful, as doubtless we are in many cases, is it 

 fair or reasonable to blame the steam horse for consequences, 

 and to propose excluding him from our thoroughfares, in 

 order to avoid harm ? Conduct so unbecoming Englishmen 

 can only be accounted for by an oversight of the facts of the 

 case. 

 The facts of the case. then, are these : la our provinces 



young horses, grazing in pastures adjoining railroads, may be 

 seen by any traveller along the line, shying and running off 

 on the approach of every train. As examples of this kind 

 must be familiar to every reader of the Mark Lane Express, 

 it would be superfluous to dwell upon details. 



When such horses are trained by the breeders for farm- 

 work at home, it takes a good deal of training to break them 

 off from this bad habit. iJuder the management of a skilful 

 horseman they soon become reconciled to steam, and will 

 stand close to a railway crossing;, more cool and free from 

 agitation than the horeeman himself; but under awkward 

 trainers it is not nnfrequently otherwise— animals being aa 

 much afraid of harsh treatment, or " a threshing," "hiding," 

 or " licking" on the approach of a steam engine, as of the 

 engine itself. With such, farmers who have any experience in 

 the matter, as breeders and trainers of farm horses close to 

 our railways, are familiar. 



When such horses are sold for town-work, before they are 

 broken off from shying at steam", and trained, without being 

 so, their owners must have an imperfect conception of ani- 

 mal instinct if they blame such horses for shying when they 

 first meet a traction engine in the streets of London or those 

 of any of our other large towns. 



It does not require ir.ore to be said to show that town 

 horses must be trained not to shy at traction engines when 

 they meet them in the streets. li must become part of the 

 statute law, or at least common sense law of the country, 

 that horses are not traiced so long as they shy at a street 

 railway train or traction engine. We shall not presume to 

 dictate to our large training establishments in the metropolis 

 how carriage and other horses are to be naturalized to steam, 

 if we may so speak. Bat %ve may be permitted to observe 

 that an Act of Parliament may be necessary to enable a 

 traction engine company to provide for our large training 

 establishments the necessary training grounds, and that there 

 is here an open field for the profitable investment of capital 

 in a new and most important branch of industry. If we are 

 to have steam locomotives on common roads, street railways, 

 &c. — as unquestionably we are— then the metropolis and 

 every large town requires its " Traction engine training 

 grounds" for the proper training of horses. Public safety 

 requires this, and the Legislature should therefore make the 

 necessary statutory provision for it, either in the Common 

 Road Locomotive Bill or Street Railway Bill now before it, 

 or in a separate measure. Engineer. 



UNPRECEDENTED PRICE OF FOUR BUSTLES 

 AND AN OLD BONNET.— Mr, Wood, of Castlegrove, 

 county Donegal, has lately sold to Mr, Carr, of Stackhouse, 

 two heifers and two six-mouth calves, offspring of Jiis cow 

 Bustle (a daughter of Bonnet, bred by Mr. R. Booth), for 

 £1,200), the hand fide price, without any *' luck-peunies" or 

 " gifts again" of any kind. The old BouLCt itself, after 17 

 years' wear and tear, being still considered in the height of tde 

 fashion, has since been purchased by Mrs. Carr for double the 

 price realized for her at the Killerby sale in 1852, aim is now 

 supposed to be five months in calf to War Eagle. Mr. Wood 

 retains Bustle, though a very high price was offered by Mr. 

 Carr for her. She is a cow of great substance, good ribs and 

 loins, extraordinary twist, and most perfect shoulders and 

 crops, her only fault being that her hips are a little more pro- 

 minent than desirable. Mr. Wood is also still in possession 

 of the " Norma" tribe, wliose daughter, Coquette, and grand- 

 daughter, Ciboulette, now two years old, by Prince Arthur, 

 are magnificent specimens of the shorthorn. Of grand and 

 symmetrical jiroportions, and with ribs and loius seldom 

 equalled, and impossible to be surpassed. Coquette has much 

 of the character or Mr. Booth's Windsor prize cow, Plum 

 Blossom. Mr. Wood has often been urged to exhibit this 

 cow, but her tendency to lay on flesh is so great, that he has 

 wisely abstained from endangering her .breeding properties 

 ; by making her up for ehov/, 



