426 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



In a brief paper on the winter management of neat-stock, Mr. L. C. 

 Fisher gives his method of raising calves. At the age of two days old 

 he takes the calf from the cow, a,nd teaches it to drink its own dam's 

 milk mixed with skimmed milk twelve hours old. At the age of ten 

 days he feeds it exclusively skimmed milk twelve hours old 5 at fifteen 

 days, twenty-four hours ; at two months, thirty-six ; at three months, 

 thick milk, with what dry shorts it will take. As often as once in six 

 weeks he dissolves a piece of saltpeter as large as a robin's egg in the 

 milk. " With plenty of milk, shorts, early -cut hay, water, and exercise, 

 a calf can be grown from 2 to 3 pounds a day for a year." 



Mr. Albert Chapman, in a paper entitled " Horses for Vermont," gives 

 the following points as deserving the greatest attention : 



The horse that has such multif ariotia duties to perform must be of medium size. If 

 he is too large the travel up and down our hills, at any gait Vermouters will be sat- 

 isfied with, will soon shako him to pieces. He must be medium in height as well as 

 weight. Sixteen-hand horses may all be very fine to talk about, perhaps to sell to 

 some parties, but they cannot, as a class, endure the road at a lively pace with horses 

 of a hand lower meafmre, esijecially in a hilly country. » » » Another very impor- 

 tant qualification of the Vermontor's horse must be a good, kindly disposition. While 

 he should be a willing, quiet, peaceable worker, he must not be a lazy dolt, or the 

 requirements for a good horse will not be answered. Although quite as many farmers' 

 sons as is desirable are becoming professional trainers and breakers, still it is, per- 

 haps, quite as well that all cannot be, and so long as so many of our horses 

 have to be broken and driven by farmers and their sons, who are comparatively 

 unused to this work, this item of disposition is one of great importance. An- 

 other requisite for the Vermonter's horse is early maturity, or, at least, the ability 

 to perform much of the work of the farm while he is growing, maturing, and becoming 

 fitted for market, without breaking down or becoming unsound by such use. And 

 lastly, under this head, V'ermonteis should raise euch horses that, as they arrive at 

 maturity, will bring good prices in market ; and the nearer they come to gentlemen's 

 stylish driving-horses and fulfill the otlier requirements, the better, and the more they 

 will bring. This horse should be of medium size, well proportioned, clean, flat limbs, 

 strongly made, but not coarse or gross ; good color, bay, brown, black, or chestnut ; he 

 should have a good, easy road gait that will take along a buggy with two men in it a 

 mile in four minutes, ten miles in an hour, or from sixty to eighty miles in a day ; with 

 a courageous, free disposition, that will not require more work to get this performance 

 out of him than it is worth when you get it. Withal, he should have a bottom or en- 

 durance that will not make it impossible to sometimes rept-at these performances, an<l 

 enable him to perform a reasonable amount of driving every day. Witii tliese, a good 

 kindly disposition, free from all tricks or vices, is indispensable. Any horse that pos- 

 sesses all these good qualities is worth anywhere from $;!00 to $.jOO ; and the more 

 beauty and style in performing this work yon can combine in them, the more can be 

 added to the prices, with a rea-sonable expectation that the draft will be honor* d. • * • 

 A horse may have a fine form and beautiful color, bur, if he has not a good gait or 

 good courage, if he is ill-tempered or tricky, the man that buys him at any price that 

 will pay for his raising and breaking will be cheated. 



In size, color, docility, activity, and endurance, he regards the Morgan 

 horse, when crossed with dams of larger size, as the best breed of horses 

 for Vermont. iSome of the be.st horses ever raised in the State, as well 

 as those that have brought the highest prices, were sired by Morgan 

 stallions from such mares as were sired by Post Boy, Henry Bishop's 

 liambletonian, Harris's Hambletouiau, aud others of that class, and he 

 thin lis that if it is desirable to increase the size of the horse it should be 

 done by the use of a larger dam, not a larger stallion. 



Mr. J. F. Hemeuway, in an article giving the history and pedigree, 

 as far as known, of old Justin Morgan, speaks as follows of this breed of 

 horses : 



First, the Morgan is the strongest-blooded family of horses in the country, and can, 

 therefore, be bred more uuif( rmly th:'.n any other breed; secondly, they possess the 

 grandest combination of beauty, tractability, speed, and endurance; and lastly, his 

 thorough acclimation and adaptation to onr soil and uneven country. 



