272 



FARMERS' REGISTER—HARNESSING HORSES. 



while the best will degenerate under a system of 

 Btai'vation. 



With regard to those calves which are intended 

 for the draught, it will be advisable to accustom 

 Ihem, wiiile young, to be handled and stroked, and 

 tied up to the manger; as they may, when they 

 come to be broken in, be handled with less appre- 

 hension of danger. 



Tlie best time lor castrating male, or spaying 

 female calves, undoubt-^dly is wlien they are fit'ieen 

 or twenty days old, as at that time there is least 

 danger, jjrovided they be in full health; though 

 this operation is in some ])Iaces, particularly in 

 Scotland, deferred till the animals are three years 

 old. Formerly this object was eft'ected by tying a 

 strong cord round the small part of the testicles, 

 near the body, till these became completely dead, 

 wlien they were either suffered to remain till they 

 dropped spontaneously off', or were cut off', and the 

 animal was pertectly castrated. Modern ingenui- 

 ty, however, has devised a better means of eradi- 

 cating the testicles, by excision; but, as this cannot 

 be effected without resorting to an experienced 

 Jarrier, or cow--doctor, we decline to give any di- 

 rections respecting an operation which, if unskil- 

 fully |)erfbrmed, must prove greatly injurious to the 

 animal. Let it, therefore, suffice to state, that, 

 affer the calves are castrated, or spayed, as the 

 difference of sex may require, great care ought to 

 be taken that the wounded part be not exposed to 

 the air, v/hich might otherwise occasion loss of 

 blood or other accidents, For the first two or three 

 days, the animals should be kc|;t quiet and tolera- 

 bly warm, and be dieted according to their weak- 

 nesi; but they ought not to be allowed two much 

 drink till they are perfectly recovered, after which 

 time they may be treated in the usual manner, 

 [To be continued.] 



[The following extracts relate to the manapipment 

 of draught horses and other branches of rural econo- 

 my in a country (Nassau in Germany) wliere habits 

 and circumstances are very different from our own. 

 If the reader should thence derive no useful informa- 

 tion, he will at least ha amused by the origaiality of 

 thought and expression exhibited by the author. In 

 explanation of some parts of the management of swine, 

 it may be necessary to mention that the cultivated lands 

 of Nassau are not fenced, and that it is required to 

 guard the stock to restrain their depredations, instead 

 of each proprietor being compelled to secure his fields 

 from their attacks, as with us.] 



ON HARNESSING DRAUGHT HORSES, 



Froin "Bubbles from tlie Bnuinens [JVIedioinal Springs] of 

 Nassau." 



* # # « Many years have elapsed, since 

 I first observed that, somehow or other, the horses 

 on the continent manage to pull a heavy carriao-e 

 up a steep hill, or even along a dead level, with 

 greater ease to tliemselves than our English horses. 

 Jf any unprejudiced person w^ould only attentively 

 remark with what little apparent liuigue three 

 small, ill-conditioned horses ivill draw, not only 

 his own carriage, but very often that huge, over- 

 grown vehicle the French Diligence, or the Ger- 

 man Eil-viag&n, I think he woufd agree with me; 

 but the whole equipment is so unsightly 



. . o ,- the rope 



harness is so rude — the horses without blinkers _„ .._ ^,,. ..^.-„. „, ,„.... 



|opk 60 wild— there ia so much bluster and noise ' wjil at once^see'tiiat the"' poor'creatures are wpfk"^ 



in the postillion — that, far from paying any com- 

 pliment to the turn-out, one is very much disposed 

 at once to condemn the whole thing, and, not 

 caring a straw whether such horses be fatigued or 

 not; to make no other remark than that, in Eng- 

 land, one should ha\'e travelled at nearly twice the 

 rate with one-tenth of the noise. But neither the 

 rate nor the noise is the point — our superiority in 

 the former and our inferiority in the latter cannot 

 be doubted. The thing to account for, is, how 

 such small weak horses, do actually nianage to 

 draw a heavy carriage up-hill with so much ease 

 to themselves. Now, in English, French, and 

 German harness, there exists, as it were, three 

 degrees of comparison as to the manner in which 

 the head of the horse is treated; for, in England, 

 it is elevated or borne up, by what is called the 

 bearing:-rein-^in France, it is Icfi as nature placed 

 it (there being to common French harness no 

 bearing-rein) — and in Germany, the head is tied 

 down to the lower extremity of the collar, or else 

 the collar is so made that the animal is by it de- 

 prived of the power of raising his head. Now 

 passing over, for a moment, the French method, 

 which is in fact, the state of nature, let us for a. 

 moment consider which is better^ — to bear a horse's 

 head up, or to pull it dowinoards, as in Germany, 

 "In a state of nature, the wild horse, as every 

 body knows, has two distinct gates or attitudes. 

 If a man, or any still wilder beast, come suddenly 

 upon him, up goes his head; and as he first stalk.s 

 and then trots gently away — with ears erect, snort- 

 ing with his nose, and proudly snuffing up the air, as 

 if exulting in his freedom — as one fore leg darts 

 before the other, we have before us a picture of 

 doubt, astonishment, and hesitation, all of which 

 feelings seem to rein him, like a troop-horse, on 

 his haunches; but attempt to pursue him, and the 

 moment he defies you — the moment, determining 

 to escape, he shakes his head, and lays himself to 

 his work — how completely does he alter his atti- 

 tude ! — That instant down goes his head, and 

 from his ears to the tip of his tail there is in his 

 vertebrae an undulating action which seems to 

 ])ropel him, which works him along, and which, 

 it is evident, you could not deprive him of without 

 materially diminishing his speed. Noav, in har- 

 ness, the horse has nriturally the same two galls 

 or attitudes, and it is quite true that he can start 

 away with a carriage either in the one or the other; 

 but the means by which he succeeds in this effort, 

 the physical powers which he ca,lls into action, 

 are essentially different: in the one case he works 

 by his muscles, and in the other by his own dead, 

 or rather living, weight, In order to grind corn, 

 if any man were to erect a steam-engine over a 

 fine strong running stream, we should all say to 

 him, "Why do you not allow your wheel to be 

 turned by cold water instead of hot? Why do 

 you not avail yourself of the roeight of the water, 

 instead of expending your capital in converting it 

 into the power of steam? In short, why do you 

 not use the simple resource which nature has pre- 

 sented ready made to your hand?" In the same 

 way, the German might say to us, "We ac- 

 knowledge a horse can drag a carriage by the 

 power of hie muscles, but why do you not allow 

 him to drag it by his weight?" 



'Let any one observe a pair of English post- 

 horses dragging a heavy weight up a hill, and he 



