California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



She Ijov^c* 



Russian Horses. 



r'HE Rassiau horso is an animal of ro- 

 markable qualities, which are set forth 

 in a manner to make us wish for his 

 better acquaintance. Fast driving holds 

 a pre-eminent place among the sports of 

 the Russian gentleman, l^o expense or trou- 

 ble is deemed too great to gratifj' his fancy in 

 that respect. A good pau' of fast trotters of a 

 favorite breed sometimes bring as much as 

 £1,000, a price which is looked upon as stu- 

 pendous by the author, who has evidently 

 never heard of the costly stud of our turf- 

 compelling townsman, Mr. R. Bonner. These 

 horses are fine-looking animals, but are only 

 fit for town use. They are always driven 

 without blinders, for it is the faith of every 

 Russian coachman that if you give a horse a 

 chance to look around and examine every ob- 

 ject before him he will not shy. The post 

 horses are unmatched in the world for swift- 

 ness and endurance. Another kind of a 

 horse, and devoted to a j^eculiar service, is 

 thus described: "The Tcherkess of the Great 

 and Little Kabardah breed, is a splendid race of 

 horses. Brought up in the wild steppe, amid 

 dangers and nightly alarms, its apprehensive 

 sagacity becomes early developed in a high 

 degree. It is a fine animal, with a strong 

 Bpine, powerful croop and thigh, and great 

 width of shoulder and chest; the knee-caps 

 are broad, the hoof as if formed of iron, head 

 and neck tolerably light; everything seems 

 combined to render them trusty, indefatigable 

 servants to man. The Tchetchents. the most 

 ferocious and determined brigands of the Cau- 

 casus (now fortunately only in small num- 

 bers) used to buy their horses in the Kabar- 

 dah. They pick out the most promising 

 one-year-olds, take them home, where they 

 are, so to say, received into the bosom of the 

 family. They receive their food when the 

 latter sits down to a meal, and they often sit 

 in the same room. The young children will 

 play with them, talk to them, and crawl all 

 over and about them. What wonder if the 

 horse become almost as wise as his master? 

 The young boys will sometimes mount him 

 and gallop over the prairies, but no adult 

 thinks of bestriding him before he has fin- 

 ished his sixth year. His bones have then 

 become firm and fuUj' developed, his sinews 

 and feet are steel, his wind is invincible. He 

 knows his master's voice and look — nay, he 

 has some notion of his character. His nerves 

 have from his birth been finely timed to the 

 sound of dangers or mysterious enterprise. It 

 knows when its brigand ma.ster is on an ex- 

 pedition of risk and unlawful daring. A 

 whispered word sends him down into the 

 high steppe weeds or bushes, situated near 

 road, at a place where the latter is diBicult, 

 where a convenient ditch is at hand to receive 

 a carriage and its human freight. In breath- 

 less silence, both wait for what may turn up. 

 The ears of the Tchetchentsian Black Bess 

 slily move to every waft of the light wind, 

 and, before the man can hear the slightest 

 sound, he sees by the demeanor of his steed 

 that business will soon be at hand. Hark! a 

 faint sound of the postal bell (fastened to the 

 pole of the vehicle) strikes his ear; he feels of 

 his gun, his pistol, his razor-edged sword, the 

 large dagger (kinchal), and breathlessly awaits 

 the approach of the travelers. Not a single 

 thought bestowing on the probable number 

 or quality of the foe, he stands over his horse 

 which slowly gathirs his feet beneath him. 

 At last the moment for action has arrived. 

 The carriage is just at the right distance from 

 the ditch or other accidental difficulty of the 

 ri)ad — a soft touch, and man and horse are up. 

 With the bound of a tiger the horso pounces 

 upon the leaders, attacking them with hoof 

 and tooth. Simultaneously the rider has 

 fired at the driver; mad with terror the post- 

 horses have jumped oft" the road, precipitating 



the carriage into the hole, and before its in- 

 mates have time to fei-1 for their revolvers 

 they are eased of at least part of their prop- 

 erty, and may thank God if they have not 

 broke neck and limb in their fall. Before 

 they recover from their fright, the Tchetchent 

 is already several miles on his gallop home. 

 He has a hard ride before him, and he, as well 

 as his cunning quadruped, knows it full well; 

 for tomorrow there will be an inquiry about 

 where Muhammed, or Arsslan Bey, or Moussa 

 were that night. With a calm smile, our 

 brigand friend replies to the Russian Grado- 

 Natchalnik's question: 'Where should I be 

 but here? The robbery was committed near 

 the Akhonkskoy Stanitzi, 120 versts (80 

 miles) from here, and what? at 8 o'clock you 

 say? — why, I was here at 12, as I can prove, 

 and I could not ride that distance in three 

 hours.' The officer, up to Tchetchent's tricks, 

 and anything but satisfied, turns to the steed 

 to discover from his appearance the effects of 

 so severe a ride; but the nag is quietly eating 

 his corn, and looking as contented and play- 

 ful as if he knew that his master's safety de- 

 pended on his brave bearing."— From i&fieio 

 ofV. W. WalU's "The Land of the Czar." 



How TO Know the Age of a Horse. — The 

 colt is born with twelve grinders. When four 

 front teeth have made their appearance, the 

 colt is twelve days old; and when the next 

 four come forth it is four weeks old. When 

 the corner teeth appear, the colt is eight 

 months old; and when the latter have attained 

 the hight of the front teeth, it is one year old. 



The two years colt has the kernal — the dark 

 substance in the middle of the tooth's crown 

 — ground out of all the front teeth. 



In the third year the middle front teeth are 

 being shifted, and when three years old these 

 are substituted for the horse teeth. The next 

 foiu- teeth are shifted in the fourth year, and 

 the corner teeth in the fifth. 



At six j'ears the kernal is worn ont of the 

 middle front teeth, and the bridle teeth have 

 now attained to their full growth. 



At seven years a hook has been formed on 

 the corner teeth of the upper jaw; the kernal 

 of the teeth next to the middle fronts is worn 

 out, and the bridle teeth begin to wear ofif. 



At eight years of age the kernal is worn out 

 of all the lower front teeth, and begins to de- 

 crease in the middle upper fronts. 



In the ninth year the kernal has whollj- dis- 

 appeared from the upper middle front teeth, 

 the hook on the corner teeth has increased in 

 size, as the bridle teeth loose their points. 



In the tenth year the kernal has worn out 

 of the teeth next to the middle fronts of the 

 upper jaw; and in the eleventh year the kernal 

 has entirely vanished from the corner teeth of 

 the same jaw. 



At twelve years old, the crowns of all the 

 front teeth in the lower jaw have become tri- 

 angular, and the bridle teeth are much worn 

 down. As the horse advances in age, the 

 gums shrink away from the teeth, which con- 

 sequently receive a long, narrow appearance, 

 and their kernals have metamorphosed into a 

 darkish point, grey hairs increase in the fore- 

 head, over the chin assumes the shape of an 

 eagle. — liural Sun. 



Weanino Colts. — Since repljing to the 

 question of a correspondent in regard to the 

 feeding of a colt about to be weaned at three 

 months old, in which we stated that in our 

 opinion that was too young, we have met sev- 

 eral large and s\iccossful breeders of horses 

 and inquired of them as to their practice in 

 this respect. The youngest age set for wean- 

 ing was four months. One of them was clear- 

 ly of opinion that, on the whole, F.all colts 

 were the best, because they could run with 

 the mare all Winter without the risk of get- 

 ting stunted in their growth, as they would 

 have the advantage of fresh grass in about the 

 time of weaning in the Spring, so that they 

 would keep growing right along, while if 

 they are foaled in the Spring it is quite diffi- 

 cult to get them through the first Winter with- 



out getting some check to their growth, get- 

 ting them pot-bellied or otherwise out of 

 shape. 



If weaned in the Fall, at say four or five 

 months, they feed some oats, from one to two 

 quarts a day and a bran mash frequently or 

 some similar succulent food made up of shorts 

 and cut hay. All concur in sa}"ing that it is 

 very important to guard against any check in 

 the first year's growth. They want to give 

 plenty of exercise and plenty of nutritive, 

 muscle forming food, like oats, shorts, bran, 

 etc., and all concur in opinion that three 

 months is too young to wean at this season of 

 the year. This is a Jiretty important point 

 and we should like to see it discussed. — Mass. 

 Plowman. 



^lavticultmt. 



The Strawberry Region of the Pacific 

 Coast. 



^. 



'Ip'f AN JOSE enjoys the right climatic con- 



I^Sj. ditions and irrigating facilities for the 

 ^ • production of small fruits in great abun- 

 .0 dance and perfection. In many locahties 

 in our county the soil is excellently adapted 

 to their growth also. Every year is develop- 

 ing, proving and systematizing the business. 

 The locality, in its relation to San Francisco, 

 is just right for economically transporting 

 across the bay perishable fruits and tender 

 vegetables in fresh condition. The time 

 must soon come when aU lands suitable for 

 the purpose will be devoted to the culture of 

 strawberries, asparagus, currants, gooseber- 

 ries, raspberries, blackberries, pic-plant, 

 cherries, tomatoes, etc., for San Francisco 

 and other dependent markets. 



We extract from the liural Press portions 

 of a late correspondence upon strawberry 

 culture in our valley, which we find especially 

 interesting : 



Ten or twelve j'ears ago the strawberries 

 for the San Francisco market were raised in 

 Alameda county, then some years later they 

 were produced on the little fruit ranches in 

 " the Willows," a body of rich garden land 

 near San Jose on the south ; but the straw- 

 berry plant requires an abundance of water 

 as well as rich soil, and this had to be pumped 

 from wells by wind-mills or by horso and 

 steam power. This added much to the cost 

 of raising them ; besides the wind was not 

 always reliable and machiuerj" was liable to 

 break and get out of fix, so from these vexa- 

 tious causes the supply of water was often 

 insufficient and uncertain when most needed. 

 In the meantime, while the Willow folks were 

 trying to supply the market with strawberries 

 under these difficulties, they were gradually 

 introduced into the country north of Sau 

 Jose, which I shall designate as the artesian 

 well region, which extends from the southern 

 limits of the city (which is just within the 

 bounds of this region) northward to the bay, 

 a distance of twelve miles, and from the Mil- 

 pitas road east of Coyote creek, to near Law- 

 rence station on the west, a distance of six 

 or seven miles. 



Here, it seems, the strawberry plant has 

 found all the conditions of climate and soil 

 best adapted to its most successful cultivation 

 — a rich, deep soil with an abundance of 

 water from ever-flowing wells, and the cool, 

 moist air from the bay, necessary to keep the 

 pl.ints vigorous and fresh during all the fruit- 

 ing season, which extends from early spring 

 to the middle of svimmer, or nntil other fruits 

 become so abundant and cheap ih the market 

 that it will not pay to pick them. 



In this favored region there are already 

 more artesian wells than can be found in a 

 region of like extent in the world, and more 



