182 



NEW ENGLAxND FARMER, 



DEC. 0, 1840. 



Ann HORTICULTURAL RFGISTER. 

 Boston, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 1840. 



MERCY TO CATTLE. 



Winter is now ujion us in earnesi, and the fanners 

 will not, we know, bo offended, il" we slinuld jog their 

 elbow gently in regard to some of llie duties wliii.ii tbis 

 season brings with it. 



** A merciful man is merciful to his beast." Let every 

 farmer tliink ol this daily and hourly during this incle- 

 ment season Cattle are not so sensitive as men to the 

 evils of the climate and the severe changes of tempera- 

 ture which we are obliged to pass through, fir the obvi- 

 ous reasons that Ihey are more habituated to exposure ; 

 that their living is simple; llieir passions quiet; and 

 above all, their drink is pure waier. Bv luxurious nurs- 

 ing they may be made almost as delicate and as liable to 

 disease as the human species. This is seen In the race- 

 horse, who is taken as much care of as a child, and be- 

 comes as tender and susceptible. But though much 

 hardihood may be acquired by habit", and many severe 

 endurances suffered without apparent sensibilily, yet it 

 must not be forgotten that these animals under all cir- 

 cumstances are flesh and blood; and therefore feel sen- 

 sibly the pains of hunger, thirst, and boid ; and are sub- 

 ject, likewise, to rheumatisms, colds, coughs, catarrhs, 

 and other ills almost as numerous as the patent medi- 

 cines advertised in our weekly p ipers for the benefit of 

 the miserable of the human race. On the' score of hu- 

 manity then, the farmer should consider this. He should 

 not sit down to a warm supper until he knows that his 

 cattle have been well served; and when he lays in his 

 warm bed, and hears the pelting slorm of mingled rain 

 and snow and hail beating u:pon the t'ascnK'nts and the 

 roof, his dreams should nol be disturbed with theghosts 

 of half-starved cattle tied to their stanchions, so near 

 to a good mow of hay that ihey can- just touch it 

 with their tongues but not extract a lock; and with the 

 images of barn-doors off their hinges, barn-windows 

 that cannot be closed, barn-floors, through the cracks of 

 which the wind blows a gale ; and poor shivering cows 

 and horses lying down in their own ordure, which has 

 not been cleaned out for a week, and with piles of snow 

 around and over them in such abundance as to give the 

 Stable little preference over llie open yard. We pity 

 the fanner, who is obliged to dieain of these miseries, 

 and still more to find in the morning after a cold north- 

 east SNOW storm [hat his most vivid dreams are only so- 

 ber realities. Wo pity such a man because he is desti- 

 tute of the best feelings of a man ; but we pity his cat- 

 tle still more. They are the real sufferers, without the 

 possibility of complaint. 



Another outrage we protest against, though it is loo 

 common to excite attention. We allude to the practice 

 of leaving horses, taken ofien out of warm stables, and 

 oftentimes driven hard, in stand hour after hour by day 

 and night, eiposerl to the cold, to wait your pleasures. 

 Sometimes this is done in going to meeting — a very 

 good fibjecl, we admit; and if the horses come nniler 

 the old-estiiblislnd rule that " nobody gets cold in going 

 to meeting," why then we need not distress ourselves 

 with concern lor them B.it wbatevit might be the 

 case, if they were carried into the meeting house, we 

 have doubts whether the rfficacy o( this lule applies to 

 those who are kept out of lUiors to fi^el ih.- bilicr winds 

 as ihey wliislle round the onrneis of the great building; 

 and we believe if th'Se liorsi-s should be invited to the 

 next Chardon street cnrnention, they wou'd juin the 



party for putting down the clergy and public worship, which is mixed up with ice in the trough. In fine, 

 at least in winter time, or else be carefully blanketed ' care lor them as you would for your children. Remem- 

 and shelti'red ; and not while their masters and mistress ber that they are flesh and blood liko yourself. If they 



es are drinking in the pure Elreanis of orthodoxy, like 

 ambrosia or nectar, along hide of a warm stove, in cush- 

 ioned pews and with bear-skins /or their feet, they, poor 

 things, without any benefit i.f the preachiug, are obliged 

 for their owner's sins to do penanre out of doors in a 

 white sheet of snow. We sav, make provision for the 

 comfort of the beasts who carry you lo chun h, or else 

 carry yourselves lo church. 



We should like to say a word here in behalf of city 

 horses ; but then it would be high treas^tn to put a word 

 in edgewise against the rationid and reasonable and tru- 

 ly christian pleasures of that pait of the creation, the 

 rich and fashionable, for whose use and pleasure no 

 doubt this world and all it contains were exclusively 

 made ; and therefore we nor the horses shall make any 

 complaint. It is glory enough for any city horse or I 

 driver after being in the harness or on the box all day, 

 to wait upon these people lo their dissipations at ten 

 o'clock at night, and to stand out shivering in the storm 

 and cold until two or three o'clock in the morning. — 

 What do these horses or their drivers want of rest or 

 warmlh .' Can't they be saiisfied with the honor! of 

 tr.insporting lo their homes these graceful girls — an hon- 

 or for which, in the case of Mi.is Elssler,the Baltimoiean 

 exquisites contended with -their superiors the horses, 

 and came off victorious .' and can't these drivers be kept 

 warm by hearing the music of the violin and bugle, and 

 the popping off of the chmnpagne bottles like a bunch of 

 Chinese crackers; and occasionally peeping through 

 the side windows and seeing the young swains and 

 nymphs, in all the naturalness of pastoral life, clasping 

 each other round tlie waist and knocking their knees 

 and their toes together and whirling round like so many 

 humming tops, in a diarming am] modest German waltz ? 

 One would think instead of being paid, these people 

 ought to pay something for the privilege of witnessing 

 these refined indulgences of the intellectual and fash- 

 ionable ; and of wailing until morning upon their plea- 

 sures ; although il does rob them of sleep and breaks up 

 all the quiet of their families. 



But we have got off the track, locomotive and all.— 



We began with talking about mercy to the dumb beasts. 



1 Now farmers, we say it with all good will and respect, 



I do look about you. See that yeiur cattle are made com- 



' forlable. Do not let them be unnecessarily exposed to 



the cold. We would not have the temperature of your 



stables too warm. But there is little (lano-er of rhis ; and 



remember that they may better be -expos'-d in o^en 



I sheds, than to be tied ii[i in barns full of cracks and cre- 



! vices, where the cold wind blows opon them in some 



single nrinute streams ; as you know how much more 



liable you yourself are to suffer from a little stream of 



wind upon the back of your neck or some other aenfii- 



tive part, through a broken, pane of glass in a room 



which they have forgotten to stop up with an old hat 



or a red pettieo.it, than from an open door, or indeed, 



in many cases, than you would be uncovered out of 



doors. 



Keep y^iur cattle clean and dry. Feed them regular- 

 ly Ani\ in siiihII quanliiies at a time. Jn a large barn 

 with a large herd of cattle, a man shouhl he kept <'on- 

 stantly handing them their hay and provender in small 

 quantities during the feeding houis See that they are 

 carefully carded and kept smooth. Vour cows with 

 c.ilf require particular cure and attention. They have 

 Iwo mouths to feed instead of one. Let their waterinjr 

 place be sheltered and easily apprnaelicd ; and give 

 theni iht; water warm from the well rather than that 



are not human yet they demand humanity of you, whom 

 (lod has made liiiinan that you might lake good care of 

 them. The better care you lake of them , the better care 

 they will lake of you. They feed you ; they clo.he you ; 

 they wait upon your pleasures. They are dependent 

 upon you and entrusted lo your care. "I'hey are even 

 destitute of the power of resistance or complaint; and 

 what sort of an animal is he, does he call himself a 

 man! who, under these circumstances, will abuse or 

 neglect them .' 



This sermon is long enough for this occasion, but iva 

 mean to preach upon this text again, as the niinist. r 

 says, -'at a more convenient season." H. C 



TE.MPEKANCt;. 



In the political whirlwind which has recently passi^d 

 over ihe country, many good enterprises have been, if 

 not wholly wrecked, at least fur a while laid prostrate 

 with the ground. Tiinoonly can show whether they 

 will ever corne up again. Of some, we confess our 

 hopes are faint ; but of others we never will di'spair, 

 while life lasts, while reason holds its place, or urrtil the 

 clouds of atheism shall settle in thickest darkness over 

 our minds. May a merciful Heaven preserve us from 

 suoh a calamity. 



.Among lire great causes of the highest humanity 

 which we trust will live and flourish, that of temperancs 

 holds a place scarcely second to any. Yet even this 

 cause Iras been for awhile merged in the muddy sea of 

 politics ; and possit^y there are those, who have thought 

 it " gone for good." But, thank Heaven, it is not so; 

 .and some of the members of the Humane Society, the 

 iruhj Humane Society, have dragged it again to the sur- 

 face : and have so far resuscitated it that it breathes 

 once more and gives indubitable signs of life ; thanks to 

 their divine art, and a perseverance in good, which can 

 ■only be breathed into their souls from Heaven. 



We refer in this matter to a meeting held in Boston on 

 Sunday evening last, lo inquire if any thing, and, if any 

 thing, what could be done, to arouse the interest in this 

 great subject, which has so long slumbered ; and to 

 place this glorious object again upon the pedestal from 

 which it had been rudely thrown. 



The meeting, on account' of the violence of the storm, 

 was not so fully ritlended as was hoped ; but we saw 

 there many old faces, still radiant with hope ; and heard 

 some voices of old friends eloquent still with encourage- 

 ment and the imperative commands ofdutv. Let them 

 sound the bugle still louder, and rally the scattered 

 hosts. 



There is no class in the community more interested 

 in the cause of temperance than the farmers. There is 

 no class in our whole community, who have been more 

 benefited by the progress already made than they have 

 been Out of the whole number of farmers in IVlassa- 

 chuseUs,and our observation is somewhat extensive, 

 ■not one in thirty, we believe, gives or uses or suffers to 

 ■be used one drop of ardent spirits upirn his premises. 

 ■Whut a blessed revolution this is ! Many a farmer, w ha 

 was'faei'ver^jing towards the Mnelstrour of mortgage and 

 foreclosure llrroug'i Iris intemperance, li;r» betn rescued 

 from the brirrk of di struclion and now stands out in the 

 proud consciousness of a freehold possession. 



But what shall we do that we may further this great 

 cause.' Laws are impotent, where public opinion is ar- 

 rayed against them. Public opinion is sovereign where 

 it can be brought lo bear in all its force upon almost any 

 subject. The purification of public opinion, tlierefore. 





