No. 11. 



The Horse. — Dialogue — Cultivation. 



years old, yet which still does her work in I 

 admirable style ! It is an attested fact, that, 

 at thirty-six years of age, this surprisin<r 

 animal performed a distance of eighty miles 

 a day, two successive days, and one hundred 

 miles in one day ; and that too, without ex- 

 hibiting any remarkable symptoms of fatigue ! 

 This, it will be said, is a rare instance of 

 the powers of the horse, and so it is ; but it 

 is so chiefly from the disposition of most 

 owners of horses to overwork them when 

 young, and so wear them out before they are 

 old. The mare in question is still perfectly 

 straight on her legs, and free from all com- 

 plaint, except a slight asthmatical cough, 

 observable only on foggy days, and then only 

 on coming out or going into the stable. It 

 occasions no real inconvenience, and is mere- 

 ly a sign of the natural effects of time on 

 her constitution. 



It may be here worthy of remark, that 

 many persons are using very old horses, 

 imagining them to be much younger than 

 they really are. For instance, a gentleman 

 keeps a horse until he supposes him to be 

 sixteen, or thereabouts. He then thinks of 

 disposing of him as being worn, and getting 

 a younger. The animal is accordingly trans- 

 ferred to a dealer, who sees him well upon 

 his legs, and fresh for his age. He then 

 bishops * him, so as to make him appear of 

 the age for which the dealer wishes him to 

 pass. Should he chance to find a consider- 

 ate owner, he passes on again, until he is a 

 second time regarded as too old for further 

 service. Again sold to a dealer, ground 

 young again, re-sold, and a new purchaser 

 pleased wiih the idea of his young horse. 

 Cases of repeated bishoping are now less 

 common than formerly ; but that they have 

 occurred, there can be no doubt; and the old 

 grey mare alluded to would probably have 

 undergone this operation more than once, if 

 she had ever been so unlucky as to have 

 fallen into a dealer's hands. The Dowager 

 Lady Lonsdale had two old hunters as car- 

 riage horses, the one thirty-nine, the other 

 forty-one or forty-two years of age. Some 

 time since, two horses were working as car- 

 riage horses, at Dulwich, even older. The 

 late Mr. Astley was presented by the Duke 

 of Leeds with a Barbary horse, that became 

 very celebrated, performed as a waiter, and 

 lived to the great age of forty-three. It was 

 not long since recorded in BeWs Life in Lon- 

 don, that a horse had died upwards of fifty 

 years of age. Many other instances of the 

 longevity of this noble animal might be ad- 

 duced, but enough have been quoted to prove 

 tliat if the horse be not old from abuse, he 

 will not be so from years at eight. 



* Marking the teeth with a hot iron. 



Dialogue. 



CULTIVATION. 



Frnnh. — Father, our conversation on pnm- 

 ing has never been absent from my tiioughls : 

 it has indeed proved, as you said it would, 

 a source of great delight and instruction to 

 me. I often visit the tree which you pruned 

 at the time, and am astonishi'd to find how 

 very correct were all your ideas, respecting 

 the manner in which that work ought to bo 

 done ; and how true to nature is the similar- 

 ity between the cultivation of trees, and the 

 management of children — some of which 

 might be pretty big ones too. 



Father. — The more you reflect upon and 

 examine the subject, the more interest you 

 will feel, and the clearer will be the truth of 

 the observation. 



Frank. — I have no doubt of it, for I find 

 myself making new discoveries every time 

 I visit that tree ; it might be said to be a 

 living lesson. 



Father. — Good — and do you ever remark 

 the three branches which we particularly 

 noticed at the time of pruning, and which 

 we named William D., John Timms, and 

 Sister Susan ? 



Frank. — Indeed I do, very particularly, 

 and cannot help thinking they were pretty 

 good likenesses. The fine large branch, so 

 tall and so straight, which, when you had 

 treaded down, I thought you had spoiled the 

 tree for the whole year, has, from the part 

 which remained attached to the tree, thrown 

 up two beautiful branches, one on each side, 

 like twins, exactly of the same height and 

 size, of a deep-red colour, which, I have 

 heard you say, is a sign of fruitful ness ; and 

 they are clothed to the very foot of the stalk, 

 with buds and leaves at short distances — 

 and that is, I believe, another good sign ; 

 and more than that, they are shooting up 

 into a part of the tree which before was thin 

 of branches, filling the vacancy, and render- 

 ing the tree much more beautiful than it ever 

 could have become, had that branch remained 

 in its original state. These new branches 

 are indeed, as you said they would prove to 

 be, "useful as well as ornamental, afl^ording 

 shelter to their parent, instead of shooting 

 above, and out-topping the tree ; exposed to 

 every blast that blows." What a pity that 

 William D.'s mother had not received the 

 benefit of such a lecture " on pruning " in her 

 youth ! 



Father. — But what did you remark of poor 

 John Timms 1 do you think he is tlie better 

 for the training which he received ] 



Frank. — I was just coming to him: he 

 still shows that he is too willing for his 

 strength, for he is loaded with fruit from the 

 bottom to the top, and which it is not possi- 



