46 NOTES ON FIELDS AND CATTLE. 



get them for the ordering. There will be no end to 

 his baneful administering of them. 



When you first work a young colt, let his collar be 

 left on till his neck is cool ; then bathe it a few times 

 with salt and water. For a sore back (which should 

 never be), tan- water (that is, water from a tan-pit) is 

 an unfailing specific. 



Grey horses are to be avoided in cart teams, as 

 the cleaning of them gives much extra trouble, and, 

 when rusted by the harness, they look shamefully 

 shabby. 



Grudge not abundant litter to your teams. A 

 deep soft bed, poor fellows, they require. We all 

 know by experience that we cannot take fair rest 

 upon a deck or bench, neither should we suppose 

 they can, with just the shadow of a covering between 

 them and the stones. In Arabia, Persia, and Turkey, 

 for the evident reason that straw is scarce — and what 

 they have they give chopped as provender — they 

 litter their horses upon their own dung, dried in the 

 sun to take off the smell, then reduced to a powder 

 and strewn four to five inches thick. This lasts a 

 long time, and when it becomes foul has but to be 

 dried and spread again. Akin to this is the practice 

 in the Shetlands of littering their cows with peat- 

 dust when heath is at a premium. Sawdust has 

 been lately used by some in England owing to the 

 short straw-yield and the consequently high price it 

 fetched in the manufacturing districts. This substi- 

 tute some approve, some condemn as heating too 

 much under foot. It is easy to suggest fern, but 

 where shall we obtain it now that every common is 



