Farming of Bedfordshire. 39 



are but ievf bred in the county. The majority of our farmers 

 buy them in as colts ; when fit for the collar, work them a few 

 years lightly, and make them up for the London brewers. Others 

 purchase them at from three to four years old, and, if good and 

 kind workers, keep them on till they have done their best. 



A third practice, and I think by no means the worst, is to 

 keep some good mares among their working horses, and breed a 

 few foals every year. The mares are indulged a little as they 

 get forward with foal, and after foaling, two mares are required 

 to do the work of one horse until the turnip-sowing is completed, 

 when they are rested till after harvest. The foals are now soon 

 weaned, and the mares are again put to general work during all 

 the autumnal cultivation, when, if breeding again, their work is 

 lightened during the winter months. By such a system, making 

 choice of some powerful, clean-legged mares, the farmer manages 

 to keep his team young, while he scarcely feels the keep of his 

 colts, and avoids any outlay for the purchase of horses. 



The writer is inclined to think that a good judge in breeding 

 horses, by selecting mares of good constitution, and kind workers, 

 secures by the above plan a good team, and makes the best 

 return. It is proper to say that the general character of the 

 farm-horses, within the last half-century, has greatly changed. 

 The hairy-legged black horses are nearly extinct, and a more 

 active race have succeeded. 



The common practice in the county is to work their horses 

 only one long journey in the day. But on the turnip-land farms, 

 during the summer months, our best farmers have recently adopted 

 .(and wisely so) double journeys, by which more work can be 

 accomplished and with less fatigue to the horses. 



The Neat Cattle are principally of the short-horn breed ; His 

 Grace the Duke of Bedford, however, still keeps a fine herd of 

 Hereford cows, from which he breeds some very useful steers, 

 makes them up at about three years old, and with others pur- 

 chased in the West of England, makes an excellent annual fat 

 stock sale, a popular resort of the butchers for their Christmas 

 beef. 



On the farm of Mi'. Thomas of Lidlington, and a few others, 

 more of these fine white-faced animals may be seen grazing 

 on the better grass-lands ; but they are principally purchased, 

 not bred there. On a rough estimate, we should take the 

 short-horns bred in the county to be numerically as ten to one of 

 any other breed. 



From its small extent of grass-land, Bedfordshire is by no 

 means a breeding county. Where cows are kept, there has 

 of late been great anxiety to obtain the use of a thoroughbred 

 short-horn bull, by which the home-bred steers are greatly im- 



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