Emergencies 169 



for milk is over in a few days ; but let him once 

 escape to his mother, and it may take weeks to 

 control him. 



A neighbour of mine lent his horse to harrow 

 oats, and sent oats for the horse's dinner, to make 

 quite sure that he would not be worked hungry. 

 Having sown his own seed, our " farmer " sowed 

 the horse's dinner also, and set the horse to work 

 on an empty stomach. After a time, the horse 

 stopped in the field, and then the family gathered 

 round to beat him with sticks. In this way the 

 rest of the day was spent, and the ground covered 

 somehow. Next day, the horse stood up in the 

 owner's field. He brought him home, put him up 

 until dinner time and then gave him plenty of 

 corn, but the horse refused to move after dinner. 

 He took him out and whipped him steadily for 

 twenty minutes, after which that horse never 

 refused to go again. My solution for this puzzle 

 would be to whip the man who had sown the 

 horse's dinner and leave the rest to the magistrates. 



The most original bit of agriculture I ever saw 

 was quite near me. A man here has only one 

 horse, and two of them joined for ploughing. The 

 usual thing, but it was not the usual result. One 

 of the horses persisted in kicking the other, and 

 our two farmers put their heads together to solve 

 the problem. They could not we]l dissolve 

 partnership. All the neighbours had already 

 paired off, and apart from that, the man with the 

 kicking horse could not expect to find a fresh 

 partner. In addition, they were old friends. 



