146 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



ration of the skin, and the train of diseases which 

 malaria rarely fails to inflict upon its victims. 

 Those who have retreated to Shocco i'rom the 

 pestilential marshes of the seaboard, hoping to 

 escape their old enemy, should they be still haunt- 

 ed by the "marsh fiend," may salely hope to ex- 

 orcise him by a free use of the Shocco water. 



C. B. Hayden. 

 Smithfield, January lOih, 1S40. 



LIVE STOCK. — DURHAM, AYRSHIRE AND NA- 

 TIVE BREEDS OF CATTLE. 



Extracts from the Proceedings of tlie Fiftli Agricultural Meet- 

 ing iu Boston, Feb. 7, 1841. 



Jteported by the Rev. Henry Colman; Agricul- 

 tural Commissioner of Massachusetts. 



Mr. Sheldon deemed it important that oxen 

 should be broken when quite young ; and too 

 much care could not be taken in their early train- 

 ing. Boys may injure steers, if entrusted with the 

 management of them. There are p^onie boys, how- 

 ever, who may be confided in, and their manage- 

 ment then is sometimes better than that of grown 

 persons. That which we learn in youth is likely 

 to be retained. This rule applies as well to caitle 

 as to men. Cattle, broken when young, are like- 

 wise more able to endure hardships than the later 

 trained. 



Oxen should be trained well to back. The best 

 way of teaching steers to back is to slap them 

 with the hands upon there noses. Goads should 

 not be used. Some persons in attempts to induce 

 them to back strike them with their goads upon 

 their forelegs, which is as likely to induce them to 

 jump forward as to back — they may be more 

 easily taught to back by touching than by beating 

 them. 



In regard to driving, drivers are not sufficient- 

 ly carelul as to the language which they use. 

 They should not use language without meaning. 

 They often talk to their teams in a language 

 which they cannot themselves understand ; and 

 the oxen of course can know nothing about it. 

 He insists that the language adopted in such case 

 is of much importance. "He knew a deaf and 

 dumb person who could manage one yoke of oxen 

 well, but could not drive three yokes. If we are 

 careful to say only what we mean, and accustom 

 them to mind when they are spoken to, much 

 will be gained. 



He saw twenty-four yokes of cattle attached to 

 a building, but they could not start if. There was* 

 a particular driver among the men, who was ac- 

 customed to use only one word, and that was, 

 " Come." If an ox did not know what it meant, 

 he would make him know. This man took charge 

 and ordered the teamsters to stand by their ovvn 

 cattle, and to make no movement until he frave 

 the order, " Come." As soon as the order'^vas 

 given all brought their whips down together, and 

 started at once. One man remarked, that when- 

 ever this teamster said "come," he was afraid 

 his oxen would split their yoke. The oxen un- 

 derstood perfectly, that if they did not start at this 

 signal, the whip would be felt. If they were 

 thus taught to obey, the cattle would get on much 

 belter. «##»»» 



There is a good deal in the management of 

 horses, but something msiy be determined from 

 their looks. He thouirht there was more risk of 

 being deceived in horses than in men. Men are 

 themselves ollen deceived in regard to their own 

 horses and cattle, from a habit of thinking that 

 what belongs to themselves, and that to which 

 they are most accustomed, must be best ; when, 

 if they belonged to another person, a different 

 judgment would be formed. 



He remarked that if a horse " hollows in" from 

 his nose to the top of his head, he would be found 

 ambitious and excitable. A fractious man would 

 make such a horse obstinate and ill-tempered^ 

 Some of the best horses toe out and are apt to hit 

 the foot against the ancle. This indicates a quick 

 iraveller. The nearer the feet were together un- 

 der a horse, so that his weight is brought nearer 

 to a point, the more easily he will travel. The 

 best travelling horses are short from the foot lock 

 to the gambel, and long from the gambel to the 

 saddle! # * * » # 



Mr. Fay of New-Braintree inquired whether, 

 when steers were first yoked, they should be 

 hitched to oxen or yoked alone 1 



Mr. Sheldon thought it miaht sometimes be 

 well to hitch them to oxen. He knew one man 

 who always yoked his steers in the barn, and then 

 tied them up in stanchions, to accustom them to 

 the yoke. It was well to let them wear the yoke 

 in the yard. Great care must fie taken not to 

 frighten them ; to avoid hurting them ; and not 

 to use the whip. 



Mr. Welles Lathrop of South-Hadley was then 

 kind enough to give the meeting an account of 

 his valuable stock. 



Mr. Lathrop'would confine his remarks to the 

 sufiject of cattle, and to a race of animals with 

 which he considered himself somewhat acquaint- 

 ed. Of the Ayrshire stock he had owned some 

 animals, but none which were fijll-bred. He 

 thought them valuable fur New-England, lor our 

 light soils and short pastures. A small animal is 

 preferable to a large one. They may get as much 

 feed as a large one, but will be kept in better 

 condition. He had heard of a small and hardy 

 race of horses on the island of Nantucket, that 

 were left to lake care of themselves nniil four or 

 five years old ; a large race of horses could not 

 subsist there. 



Mr. Lathrop proceeded to say that Mr. Jaques 

 had effected most valuable improvements. His 

 success had been great : and his stock was of a 

 superior character. He is of opinion, however, 

 that his success would have been belter if he had 

 taken for the ibundation of his stock, instead of a 

 native, an improved Durham cow. 



The improved durham short horn stock, was 

 that which he had adopted, and he highly esti- 

 gnated them. Mr. Charles Collings ol' England 

 may be considered, in a measure, the founder of 

 this stock. Mr. Collings had long been in pos- 

 sessi9n of the Tceswater breed of cattle, and had 

 made great improvements in the race. From an 

 animal of this breed, crossed with a Galloway 

 cow, he produced a stock which has been unrival- 

 led in the public estimation. This is evident, 

 from the prices paid (or them at Charles Coll- 

 ing's sale — when forty-eight animals produced 

 £7115 sterling, averaging more than £l48ster- 

 I ling, or $650 each. This Bale had a decisive ef- 



