54 



California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



here; it is a maliidy more troublesome 

 aud aunoyiufi than dangerous: it is un- 

 ^ pleasantly contagious, also, esjiecially 

 for pigs; it does not destroy the animals, 

 but retards their development and pro- 

 duction. The Veterinary College of Al- 

 fort recommends the isolation of the 

 affected, and the free use of diluted car- 

 bolic acid in the sheds; to break the 

 pustules with a rag-stopper, and garale 

 the mouth with a preparation of honeyed 

 water sharpened with vinegar, alum, or 

 brandy, several times a day; administer- 

 ing linseed or other meal drinks requir- 

 ing only to be swallowed. When the 

 feet are sore, the bedding ought to be 

 very dry and clean, and the ulcers each 

 touched with a mixture of alum and car- 

 bolic acid in 'J5 parts of water. If fever 

 be declared along with diarrhea, half a 

 pound of Glaugher salts is added to the 

 drinks to cleanse the blood. Connected 

 with the malady, is a plan of insurance 

 in operation in Upper Savoy. The far- 

 mers of a townland form a society; each 

 animal insured pays two francs, aud an 

 additional franc as an annual premium. 

 In case of loss, the farmer receives the 

 full price of the animal, provided he has 

 followed the instructions for treating it 

 when diseased. At Lille there is a so- 

 ciety that will insure cattle against all 

 risks ; the premium being iive percent, 

 on the estimated value of the animal; a 

 single farm can insure as far as 300,000 

 francs. 



V.VLUE OF Impkoved Stock. — A writer 

 in the New York 7'ii»e.<!s put the question 

 plainly in saying that if a farmer keeps 

 thirty cows that average $30 a year each 

 for milk, and he can increase the aver- 

 age to S-tO a year Viy the Use of a tho- 

 roughbred bull, of a good milding breed, 

 he can afford to pay a good round sum 

 for a bull. And yet better results than 

 this have been accomplished. If he is 

 raising cattle for beef, aud he can add 

 two hundred pounds to the carcass of 

 each, by the time it is ready for the 

 shambles, by the use of a Short-horn 

 bull, it will certainly be profitable for 

 him to pay a good price for such a bull. 

 And yet this is the average result of us- 

 ing thoroughbred bulls on the native 

 cows of the country, as estimated by all 

 the best stock breeders. And this two 

 hundred pounds is clear gain, for it is 

 produced with no greater consumption of 

 food. If the use of a thoroughbred ram 

 on a flock of common ewes will increase 

 the weight of fleece one pound, on the 

 average, certainly more than "five in a 

 hundred could make it pay;" whether 

 more than one in five would or not, is 

 another question. And so with hogs. 

 The difference between the common 

 "woods" breed of the past, and the im- 

 proved breeds of to-day, is beyond com- 

 parison. 



GuERNSEv Sai.k. — A herd of choice 

 Guernsey cattle imported by the Mas- 

 s ichusetts Society for promoting agricul- 

 ture, over a year ago, were sold at auc- 

 tion at Jamaica Plain, on 3d of Novem- 

 ber. Twelve head wore sold at prices 

 ranging from $(;i to $301, and the ag- 

 gregate amount realized at the sales was 

 $1,734. 



Be kind to the young stock. Let the 

 first thing it knows, after its jiarent, be 

 the kind voice and gentle hand of its 

 master. Accustom it to kindness as it 

 grows up, and when it reaches maturity 

 there will be; no difiiculty in teaching it 

 to perform its dutv. 



®hc gov$c» 



(^ What men want is not talent, it is 

 I lurpose; in other words, not the power 

 to achieve, but the will to labor. - «»;- 



BREAKING COLTS. 



^, 



fl^HETHER it is best to handle a colt 

 O while young, and accustom it to 

 I, the Iiridle aud obedience, or to 

 vJ.^ wait until it becomes of age to be 



yj^ broken to work, is a question with 

 many persons that will be.ar discussion. 

 California farmers have, many of them, 

 tried both methods, and we would be 

 glad to getthe opinions of such as t.ake 

 an interest in the question. One thing 

 should be considered: colts that are 

 handled young are generally fooled with 

 Vjy boys, or in playful sport by men, aud 

 are likelj' to lose confidence in men, and 

 to become persistently uurul}'. On the 

 otherhand, if never handled, they have 

 as much respect as fear of man, aud, 

 having no bad hicks, are more likely to 

 become fully obedient as soon as they 

 find it is required, and that it is easier 

 and better for them to be observant and 

 yield compliance than to resist their mas- 

 ter. We have often thought upon this 

 subject, and were reminded of it by 

 reading the following from a working 

 farmer in the Hwal New Yorker: 



An old saying is, "live and le;xrn," and 

 to-day my son taught me something I 

 had forgotten. I set him to break a colt 

 rising three years old, which, being by a 

 fast trotting horse, has been saved entire. 

 He had never been touched by any one, 

 being as wild as any animal could be. 

 My son, with a man to help, put on a 

 head-stall, with a long rope attached, 

 which they did in a stable after he had 

 been separated from the company he had 

 been running with all summer. He was 

 then moved about until he discontinued 

 hauging back, which he persisted in do- 

 ing for nearly two hours, when, as his 

 neck probably began to get tired of the 

 strain and he found by sundry plunges 

 that there was no getting away, he com- 

 menced to walk along quieth', and then 

 a collar was first put on, and at intervals, 

 as he cooled off' and submitted to be 

 handled all over, harness was put on, so 

 that by dinner time he had drawn a log 

 of wood three-quarters of a mile and 

 back again. He was then put into the 

 stable, when he ate the first quart of oats 

 he ever had and also a little hay, after 

 which old "John" — a steady, heavy, fine 

 cart horse — was hitched into a stone boat 

 with the colt by his side, and after one 

 hour's hard walking around a paddock 

 the two were \n\t to a wagon, and they 

 went a distance of two miles to some oat 

 stacks which had been pulled by some 

 steers having liroken down the rails, aud 

 about half a load of loose oat straw was 

 brought home, and his coltship seemed 

 perfectly quiet and willing to move as 

 guided, so that, instead of waiting to go 

 day by day in training, it was done hour 

 by hour, and judging from his lack of 

 fear and apparent liking to be brushed 

 and cleaned, it is probable he will do 

 half a day's work to-morrow quite as 

 tractably as if he had been in hand daj's 

 instead of hours. I shall have him 

 work aliout three days a week, so as to 

 keep him growing and looking in good 

 condition. 



We worked a filly in the above manner 

 last winter and turned her to grass i^i the 

 spring. She is now doing regidar work 

 and is a very fine animal; but in that in- 

 stance we took days to do what has been 

 done since morning. 



I recollect now tliat years since, when 

 I fai'med in England, that although it 

 was a mouth's job to break a nag, tliere 

 being regular crlt breakers by profession 

 who got them quiet to rido and M'ith good 



mouths, yet the cart horse breed of colts 

 had a more summary way of breaking 

 than the one just related, for as horses 

 are worked a good deal there three or 

 four in length, one before the other, the 

 colt was haltered and forcibly pushed to 

 the horses, and two before and one be- 

 hind started to work, with a man on each 

 side to keep him straight, which, as the 

 horses kept regularly walking on, was 

 not a difficult job. Of course there would 

 be a deal more trouble with some than 

 with others; but after finding there was 

 no escaping, most of the colts would soon 

 become docile, aud often there would be 

 one which would walk away from the 

 first and give no trouble, the men walk- 

 ing on each side leaving, so that the reg- 

 ular driver would be all required to mind 

 him. 



Again — The colt has worked half a 

 day, going <juietly and actually standing 

 instead of a horse hauling corn stalks. 

 Advocates for handling colts from the 

 time they are weaned won't like to resid 

 of such dispatch. 



Hereditaky Disease in Hobses. — Dar- 

 wm sums up his researches upon this 

 subject as follows: 



Even if no single fact had been known 

 with resi^ect to the inhei'itance of disease 

 and malformations by man. the evidence 

 would have been complete in the case of 

 the horse, as horses breed quicker than 

 man, are matchwl with care aud are 

 highly valued. I have consulted many 

 works, and the unanimity of belief by 

 veterinarians of all nations, in the trans- 

 mission of various morbid tendencies, is 

 surprising. Authors who have had wide 

 experience give in detail many singular 

 cases, and assert that contracted feet, 

 with the numerous contingent evils of 

 ring bones, curbs, splints, spavin, foun- 

 der and weakness of the front legs, brok- 

 en and thick wind, melanosis, specific 

 opthalmia, and blindness, (the great 

 French veterinarian, Hugard, going so 

 far as to say that a blind race could soon 

 be formed) crib-biting,- jibbing and ill 

 temper — are all plainly hereditary. 

 Youatt sums up by saying that "there is 

 scarcely a malady to which the horse is 

 subject that is not hereditary," and Mr. 

 Hugard adds that the doctrine "that 

 there is scarcely a disease that does not 

 run in the stock," is gaining new advo- 

 cates every day. I may add to these 

 facts, established by such weight of con- 

 current testimony, what I have before 

 marked in general, namely, that it is not 

 the actual ailments, such as contracted 

 feet, ring bones, curbs, splints, and 

 spaviu, but the predisposing causes that 

 are transmitted. The disposition of 

 parts, the imperfect shape and size, or 

 the faulty texture of any tendon, bone or 

 muscle most favorable to a particular 

 disease, are transmitied from sire to son. 

 The same may be said of those disorders 

 that affect the internal organs or the 

 whole body. The abnormal condition of 

 the blood, aud not the scrofulous symp- 

 toms it produces, is hereditary. The 

 weakness in some of the muscles of the 

 larynx that cause roaring, has a heredit- 

 ary tendency. The narrow loins and 

 flat sides that give a proneness to attacks 

 of diarrhea and colic, belong to a cer- 

 tain lienage. This constant tendency of 

 morbid condition or defective organs to 

 re-appear in the line, shows how import- 

 ant it is that horses selected for breeding 

 should bo sound in wind, limb, and con- 

 dition. 



F*n A Cr.inniNu House.— Feed with a 

 nose-bag and give hay only from an iron 

 rack. Coating the wood work in a man- 

 ger with crude petroleum is also recom- 

 mended. The bad taste will soon cure 

 the auimal of all desire to bite his crib. 



Treatment of Shtisg Houses. — Shy- 

 ing generally arises from timidity, but 

 sometimes it is united with cunning, and 

 induces the animal to assume a fear of 

 some object for the sole purpose of find- 

 ing an excuse for turning aside. The 

 usual cause of shying is, doubtless, the 

 presence of some object to which the 

 horse has not been accustomed, and if 

 he has defecti%-e eyes, which render him 

 short-sighted, it will be difficult to con- 

 vince him of the innocent nature of the 

 novel object. There are endless peculi- 

 arities in shying horses, some being 

 dreadfully alarmed by one kind of object 

 which to others is not at all formidable. 

 The best plan of treatment which can be 

 adopted, is to take as little notice as pos- 

 sible of the shying, and to be especially 

 careful to show no fear of its recurrence 

 when the "alarming" object appears in 

 the distance. When the horse begins to 

 show alarm, but not till then, the driver 

 should speak encouragingly to him, and 

 if necessary ^vith a severe tone, which 

 may even be supported by the use of the 

 whip if his onward progress cannot 

 otherwise be maintained. 



The principle which should be carried 

 out is to adopt such measures as will get 

 the horse to pass the object at which he 

 shies, somehow or other, and this should 

 be effected with as little violence as pos- 

 sible, always commanding in an encour- 

 aging tone as soon as the purpose is 

 gained. Nothing has so great a tendency 

 to keep up the habit as the plan so com- 

 mon among ignarant gi-ooms of chastis- 

 ing the shyer after he has passed the 

 objsct of his alarm. If he can be pur- 

 suaded to go quietly up to it, and exam- 

 with his muzzle, as well as with his eyes, 

 great good will be effected, but this can 

 seldom be done with moving vehicles, 

 and heaps of stones or piles of sand are 

 generally only alarming from defective 

 vision, so that each time they assume a 

 new phase to the active imagination of 

 the timid animal. Punishing bits only 

 make a high-couraged horse worse, and 

 the use of "overchecks" rarely, if ever, 

 proves beneficial. — Wilkes' Spirit. 



The selection of a stallion is an 

 important matter. He should be from a 

 family with well established character- 

 istics which he, like the other members 

 of the same family, will be likely to 

 transmit and stamp upon his ott'spring. 

 He should be of good size, have good 

 bone aud muscle, and power and ability 

 to do what will be required in his ofl'- 

 spring. He should have a kind aud 

 tractable disposition, for vicious charac- 

 teristics are transmissible. He should 

 have good action, for action is wanted in 

 a horse. If a horse is wanted for draft 

 purposes, breed with that object in view, 

 aud breed heavy draft horses. If horses 

 are wanted for general purposes on the 

 farm — to jjlow, to mow, and to do all 

 kinds of farm work, and also to ride, to 

 drive before the buggy (U- carriage— then 

 a different horse is wanted — more active, 

 aud that can be used more handily for 

 any and all purposes. If he has flue ac- 

 tion and gets over the ground rapidly 

 and in flue style, he is better to rido or 

 drive, aud will command a high price; 

 for all people will pay for beauty a'-id 

 speed in a horse if they have tho means. 

 .Many of our fastest trotters have been 

 bred ou a farm, by farmers, and worked 

 at farm wcrk. Even Occident, the great 

 California horse, was worked hard (in a 

 butcher's wagon and otherwise) for sev- 

 eral years, and after that trotted in 

 •2:10;'4.— Kr. 



There are in San Jose only twenty- 

 one livery stables for the acconimodatinii 

 of the inhabitants of, and visitors to this 

 burg. 



