looo PRACTICE OV AGRICULTURE. Part II I; 



(ball in be Red all winter with ■ little corn twice ■ day, with hay, oat-straw, ,\r. Where carrots can be 

 procured, they ronn ■ hkmI excellent feed fbrcolti of every age, on which they will thrive surprisingly. 

 With the 11 -e of carrots, no corn i> necessary, nor any caution requisite against an over-heating effect from 

 a mure stimulating diet Care should, however, be taken to eui them properly, allowing a well littered 

 shed, "r warm straw yard. Colts M at home with green meat, cut during summer, should have a daily 

 range on ■ common, or elsewhere, far exercise. Yearlings to be carefully kept separate from the milch 

 in. ii 



6 oil. The timefo- gelding fulls is usually the same in both parts of the kingdom, which is, when tht v 

 are al Mil ■ year old ; although, in Yorkshire, this operation is frequently suspended till the spring of the 

 second year, especially when it is Intended to keep them on hand, and without employing them in labour 



till the following season. Parkinson disapproves of delaying this operation so long, and recommends 



twitching the OOltS, B practice well known to the ram. breeders, any time alter a week old, or as soon alter 



the testicles are come down, and this method, he says, he has followed himself with great success 



P a rkint m m I ive Stock, vol. i>. p. 74.) Blaine's remarks on the subject of castration appear worthy of 



notice : he s.i\«, w heii the breed is particularly good, and considerable expectations are formed on the colt, 



it is always prudent to wait till twelve months : at this period, if bis fore parts are correspondent with his 



hinder, proceed to castrate ; but if he be not sufficiently well up before, or his neck be too long and thin, 



and his shoulders spare, be will assuredly improve by being allowed to remain whole six or eight months 



longer. Another writer suggests for experiment, the spaying of mares, thinking they would work better, 



ami have more wind than geldings. (Marshal's Yorkshire, vol ii. p. 169.) But he does not appear to have 



, aware that this is by no means a new experiment : for Tusser, who wrote in loli'J, speaks of gelding 



fillies as a common practice at that period. The main objection to this operation is not that brood mares 



would become scarce, as he supposes, but that, by incapacitating them from breeding in case of accident, 



and in old age, the loss in this expensive species of live-stock would be greatly enhanced. An old or lame 



mare would then be as worthless as an old or lame gelding is at present. 



'/'//.■ rearing of horses is carried on in some places in SO systematical a manner, as to combine the 

 profit arising from the advance in the age of the animals, with that of a moderate degree of labour, before 

 they are lit lor the purposes to which they are ultimately destined. In the midland counties, the breeders 

 sell them while yearlings, or perhaps, when foals ; namely, at six or eighteen months old, but most generally 

 the latter. They are mostly brought up by the graziers of Leicestershire, and the other grazing parts of 

 the midland counties, where they are '{mini among the grazing-stock until the autumn following. At 

 two years and a half old they are bought up by the arable farmers, or dealers of Buckinghamshire, 

 Berkshire, Wiltshire, and other western counties, when they are broken into harness, and worked till 

 they are live, or more generally, six years old. At this age the dealers buy them up again to be sent to 

 lyondon, where they are finally purchased for drays, carts, waggons, coaches, the army, or any other pur. 

 pose for which they are found tit. [Marshal's Economy oj the Midland Counties, vol', i. p.311.) 



6652. In the west of Scot/and, a similar mode of transferring horses from hand to hand is common. 

 The farmers Of Ayrshire, and the counties adjacent, who generally grow corn on not more than one fourth, 

 or at the most, one third of their arable land, and occupy the remainder with a dairy stock, purchase 

 young horses at the fair of Lanark and Carnwath before mentioned ; work them at the harrows in the 

 following spring when below two years old ; put them to the plough next winter, at the age of two and a 

 half, and continue to work them gently till they are five years old, when they are sold again at the Ruther- 

 glcn and Glasgow markets at a great advance of price, to dealers and farmers from the southeastern 

 counties. A considerable number of horses, however, are now bred in the Lothians, Berwickshire, and 

 Roxburghshire, the very high prices of late having rendered it profitable to breed them, even upon good 

 arable ground ; but many farmers of these counties, instead of breeding, still prefer purchasing two anil 

 a half or three and a half year old colts, at the markets in the west country, or at Newcastle fair, in 

 October : they buy in a certain number yearly, and sell an equal number of their work horses before they 

 are so old as to lose much of their value. (General Report of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 1S2.) 



Sect. XII. Training of Horses. 



Horses are trained fur various purposes, but principally for carrying our persons or drawing our 

 burdens. Formerly, burdens were principally borne on the back by pack-horses, but the improvements 

 in our roads have removed them from the back, to machines called carriages, drawn by means of harness 

 applied over the person of the horse. Under saddle, we train horses as racers, hunters, hackneys, or troop 

 horses. In harness we use them in coaches, stages, chariots, and various lighter vehicles, or we employ 

 t hem in waggons, carts, ploughs, and various other agricultural or commercial machines. Horses are held 

 in obedience by means of bridles, with appendages called reins, which are long or short, as used in riding 

 or driving. Horses are directed and urged forward by whip, spur, and language, and they are chastised 

 by the same means. 



66 i 1 The directive language used to horses ought to be every where the same, which is the more easily 

 accomplished, as words or phrases are sufficient for giving every requisite direction to a horse. The first 

 of these words may be " on," or go on, or merely the common chuck of the tongue, &c. as used by all 

 coachmen in the world ; the second to make the horse go to the right-hand side, " right-hand ;" the 

 third, to the left-hand side, " left-hand ;" thefonrth to make them stop, may be " stop," or "stand-still." 

 Any attempt to modify these directions ought to be given in the correct language of the country, and not 

 in provincial words, as go on, slowly, briskly, right-hand, a little round, or turn, left-hand, a little, or left- 

 hand and round, stop, or stand gently, &c. As a proof that only four words are requisite for giving everv 

 requisite direction to horses, we may mention that foreigners in Stockholm, Petersburgh, and Moscow, 

 who know nothing of the language, require only four corresponding words of Swedish or Russian to 

 direct the native coachmen and sledge drivers to any street, house, or place, the situation of which they 

 know by the maps, or otherwise 



6655. The three natural and ordinary movements of horses arc, walking, trotting, and galloping, to 

 which some horses naturally add another, which is known by the name of " ambling," or " pacing." 

 I'hc trot is, perhaps, the most natural motion of a horse, but the pace, and even the gallop, are most easy 

 to the rider 



6656. In training saddle horses, the first thing is to make them familiar with man, and other general 

 Objects, and winch is best effected at the earliest periods, which then saves almost all the trouble of break- 

 ing, anil docility follows as a matter of course : to effect this, the greatest kindness should be used to the 



from the moment they are dropped : they should be accustomed to be handled, should be fed with 

 bread patted in various parts of the liody, have light matters put on their heads and backs, and subjects 

 nl different colours sod forms should be shown them with caution. While at foot, the mare and foal 



Id lie led out into nuds, .md where carriages pass, during which time nothing should be allowed to 

 intimidate the foal. By this management, the animal will be" easily prepared for the future operations; 

 and it is thus that the single foal the ploughed-laud farmer breeds, and which daily follows the mother 

 in her work, as it were breaks itself 



6657. Backing is the next operation, and if the colt has been judiciously used, and taught familiarity 

 and docility by early handling and kindness, it is bv no means difficult. It should be commenced before 

 the colt is two and a half or three years old. The first backing of a horse is a thing of great consequence, 

 as his value afterwards very much depends of it. The application of the saddle should be gradually done,' 

 and without alarm to the horse. After a colt has become habituated to the saddle and bridle, and has 

 been exercised some time, morning and evening in them, and become somewhat obedient, it is usually 



