HUMANITY AND COMMON SENSE. 



241 



broken in spirit, they will not need whipping; for the intelligent master 

 will not long keep dull, lazy brutes, any more than he will employ lazy, 

 shirking men. 



II. Common Sense in all Things. 



It would show ius great a want of t-oniuion sense to put a pair of colts, 

 intended for fast road-horses, or trotters, or a young animal intended for 

 a high-priced saddle-horse, to continuous and hard draft, as it would to 

 expect, extraordinary speed from an ill-bred brute, or from a horse bred 

 solely for draft. Does not the same rule hold good in all transactions? 

 Is it not the result of ignorance, or of a penny-wise and pound-foolish 

 disposition that an inferior animal, of any kind, is ever allowed to be bred 

 for any purpose? Whatever may be the labor that is to be performed, 

 none but the most superior animals for the use, should ever be bred; 

 just as none but the most perfect seed should ever be planted or sown. 

 If the rule were universally adopted of breeding none but the best ani- 

 mals and sowing none but the best seed; and if, in addition, the proper 

 care were observed in the breeding of animals and in the cultivation 

 and saving of crops, the productions of the country might be doubled 

 in three years, from the same acreage, while the average value of farm 

 animals might be more than doubled in ten years. This is the direction 

 of our thoughts when we urge the importance of common sense, intelli- 

 gence and humane care upon the farm ; their exercise brings the largest 

 profit to the master at the lowest cost. 



III. Thrift and Unthrift Contrasted. 



In the one case we see a shiftless and at the same time cruel and per- 

 haps drunken owner, with a miserable nmle and a still more miserable 

 one-eared and one-eyed horse for a team. They would sell simply for 

 the price of their hides. Of course, they do not eat as much as an able 

 team would eat, because they cannot get it. Scant feed is certainly not 

 economy in their case, for the result of their day's work would be not 

 more than an acre scratched over. So much for the unhappy team of a 

 reckless master. This man and his family do not live. They simply 

 exist, and their only mission in life seems to be to reduce the average 

 price of live stock, and the average yield per acre. 



Look at the other picture, if you wish to see a thrifty and able master 

 with a handsome and able team, going off as though they meant business. 

 There, also, are the happy children, just come out with the lunch basket; 

 there is nothing miserable here. The master is hard at work increasing 

 the average yield of wheat, and by the exercise of humanity and common 

 sense, raising the average price of farm stock. 



