412 



NEW ENGLAND FAR M E R , 



JUNE 30, 1841. 



DOCKING HORSES. 



To llie Editor of the New England Farmer : 



I believe it to be tlio duty of rvory one who is 

 en^rao-ed in lariiuncr, to use every lauiinble exer- 

 tion I'd promote and in\prove the art of norlnulture ; 

 Hnd in no other way can tins be done successfully, 

 but by nnitually communicating our researches and 

 dissetninatins them in agrictiltural journals, for the 

 consideration of those that take an interest in it. 



I have been highly siratilied with the course yon 

 have pursued in conductino: the Farmer ; and I 

 sim-.erely hope that you will continue the track you 

 have intirked out for ytnuself. 



I saw in your paper dated January 20, 1841, n 

 piece headed " Docking Horses," which I perceiv- 

 ed was taken from the .Maine Cultivator, and which 

 has called forth these remarks. 



The subject was a proper one, but was couched 

 with ungenerous and severe language. It goes on 

 thus: "We are sorry to perceive that the barba- 

 rous, cruel, and iiijuriotis practice of docking hor- 

 ses, is again beginning to be looked upon with fa- 

 vor, after some years of merited disuse. None 

 but a narrow-minded, ignorant man would have 

 ventured on tliis violation of vested rights, and 

 none but blockheads, or jockeys, destitute of the 

 better feelings of mankind, would have perpetrated 

 the deed. An English gentleman had a hunting 

 horse whicii carried his rider over a five-barred 

 gale: he had him nicked, and he could scarcely 

 cany him over a two-barred gate. A man tliat 

 uses the knife to improve nature, may be justly 

 deemed insane." The writer here quoted, men- 

 tions too, that >' he was not in the habit of indulg- 

 iiin- in unkind feelings towards his fellow-men." I 

 should not have thought this, had he not mentioned 

 it. I liave a different opinion from this writer; 

 being confident that docking does not weak- 

 en tlie horse if properly done. The tendimi, 

 arteries, muscles and nerves, arc only shortened by 

 it: when the wound is healed, the tail mtist be 

 as well as though it was longer. Those tendons 

 cut in the nicking are always cut in docking, and 

 never to the injury or weakening of the horsr'. I 

 could quote the authority of many experimenters ; 

 but I Will let pass by noticing his remarks. But I 

 would ask if the method taken by this writer is a 

 rio-htone to convince a man that he has done wrong, 

 by calling him a barbarous, inhtiman wretch. It 

 ever has been and is now the custom to dock and 

 Lick horses that do not ca-ry upright;- and it has 

 been tolerated by a very large portion of the com- 

 munity. It Ir.s been done for convenience. Who 

 wants to drive a horse that sits his tail so close to 

 his quarter that you have to lift the hind end of 

 the animal from the ground to clear the rein. The 

 cutting or shortening the tail cannot affect his 

 errength any more than it can his digestion. I do 

 not like to indulge in unkind feelings, but when I 

 see that the practice has been tolerated such a 

 length of time, and by our most useful citizens, I 

 do feel hurt at such language as the writer alluded 

 to employs. I make bold to alTirin that there is no 

 class but that have or have had horses docked, and 

 wlioever they are, in the opinion of this writer, 

 they are barbarians and bluckheads. What he 

 tells of the English hunter, I declare to be the 

 most barefaced statement I ever saw in any man's 

 writini'. Mahomet would have been banished for 

 such silly reasoning as this. 'I'Imt the nicking 

 should make the difference he tells of, it must have 

 diminished the strength of the horse at least three 



fifths. People that have had horses nicked ought 

 to know whether it diminishes their strength in 

 this proportion ; but out of hundreds that have been 

 nicked in this State lor a few years past, not one 

 of their owners has discovered it. But this is as 

 ; true as any thing he has stated, I believe. What 

 j arguments are the.^e to bring before an enlighten- 

 ed'community ? Any man that thought the prao- 

 ' t.ce in quest;on was injurious, would be disgusted 

 j with such barefaced, inconsi.slent and ridiculous 

 statements! But the writer supposed he was ad- 

 dressing those barbarous, ignorant, inhuman, nar- 

 j row-minded and insane blockheads and jockeys 

 I who are amply adeipiate to improve those princi- 

 ples which have beeii instilled into his mind. I 

 advise him to lay by his pen and repair to Glou- 

 cester, R. I., although he considers himself, mate- 

 ria pi-imn, and got his mind purged of that intole- 

 rance, bigotry and dogmatism, which appears so 

 fully developed in his writings. 



He says that race horses are not docked: very 



true neither are they gelded. You must intrude 



upon the vested rights of nature in gelding as well 

 as docking; but if docking is a barbarous custom, 

 he cannot'find language to express the cruelty 

 and pain thut is sutTercd in gelding. Tluis 1 per 

 ceive that he "strains at a gnat and swallows a 

 camel," for no one thinks of using a horse tor a 

 carriage without gelding. To wind up, he says — 

 "Let those that will, prefer jockey hor.ses ; he pre- 

 fers one that tlie knife has never touched." Un- 

 doubtedly he would make the best appearance be- 

 hind such a horse; for if I was to judge of his ap- 

 pearance by his writing, I should think he i.ad 

 very long oars, and would look like a jackass dri- 

 ving a docked horse in a genteel carriage. 

 Yours, respectfully, 



R. BURLINGAM, Ji«. 



Gloucester, R. 1., Ftb. 18, 1841. 



The above has but just come to hand. We ad- 

 mit it, because of our wish to let both sides of all 

 practical qucistions be presented; but our own 

 judgment is in lavor of leaving animals in the form 

 whidi nature gives, when we wish mainly health 

 and strengtli — Ed. 



fince.i of the fact at once. Let the unbelieving try 

 it. Jimmy in the Country. 



Medford, Miiy 15. 



For lUe New England Farmer. 



CARRION. 



How few there are who fully appreciate the val- 

 ue of carrion ; and, instead of making a suitable 

 and profitable use of it, carry it out into their pas- 

 tures, or perhaps leave it uncovered near their 

 buildings, where it will pollute the air and raise an 

 offensiva ste.ich, until the action of the atmosphere 

 has destroyed -j*.s life, or the fowls nf the air or 

 some animal Ua* «ateii it up or carried it away. 



Now a wist raau, if he has a horse, a cow, a 

 hog, or sheep die, will not leave them to rot where 

 thiTstetich will be offensive or draw them off and 

 let ihem lie uncovered, where there is no prospect 

 of their carcase enriching the ground : no— but he 

 will dig about his fruit trees and there bury them. 

 The body of any small animal will do more good 

 ],laced at the roots of an apple tree than they were 

 worth when alive, as will be seen by the growth 

 of the tree so favored, when the body of the ani- 

 mal has become putrefied. 



Those who have been in the habit of wasting 

 carrion may iml believe this statement; but I can 

 a.ssure tliein that they will find it true; and if they 

 will but once try the experiment, they will be con- 



PHYSICAL DEGENERACY. I 



We copy an article in this number on this sub- 

 ject from the New England Farmer. It is a sub- 

 ject which we have often brought forward, and one 

 hich rises in importance the more we reflect up- 

 on it. We cannot disguise the fact that the great 

 bulk of the younger part of the community are far, 

 very far from being as athletic, hardy and robust 

 as were the older part when young. We see it 

 every time we look around upon a group of young 

 persons. It appears in every assembly, and it 

 speaks a loud and a warning voice every time we 

 compare the effoniiiiate and sickly torms of the del- 

 icate lilly cheeked and lilly fingered youth, with 

 the hardy and strong sinewy forms of that genera- 

 lion who are passing away from us like old oaks 

 that have withstood the winds and the storms of a 

 long life time, and are bowing to the effects of old 

 age rather than to any disease. 



We think that this, though observable in both 

 sexes, is more so among the females than among 

 the males. A pernicious belief that it is disgrace- 

 ful to work, and that a young lady is elevated in 

 the scale of respectability and dignity in propor- 

 tion to her ignorance of domestic duties and her 

 neglect of labor, has led to this. Among the far- 

 mers' dauglilers you will find something of the old 

 system of hard labor at homo, and a corresponding 

 degreeof health and strength. In the litlle villa- 

 ges you will perceive less of it, and a predominance 

 of effeminacy : in the large villages we see more 

 of it, and in the cities you will find a wide, very 

 wide differe;ice between the forms, shape, color, 

 health, strength, and physical powers of the girU 

 and those of the country. 



We know that there is a false pride among cer- 

 tain individuals of the community which pronipts lo 



this which leads the young miss to value herself 



more highly, the more delicate she can make her- 

 self appear, and the more she can " ^ehitm oxit" 

 even at the expense of health and the physical 

 powers which God has given her. We agree with 

 t!ie editor of the N. E. Farmer in the sentiment 

 that such should go down to the grave unmarried, 

 childless, " solitary and alone." 'I hey may tosil 

 their head and curl their lip with as much scorn as 

 they please ; the laws of nature will not b- in- 

 fringed with impunity, and however delicate inay^ 

 be t'iie subjfct, truth "will not change, and the truth, 

 is, that puny and feeble parents can raise none 

 other than a puny offspring. That fanner would 

 be called a fool indeed, who culled out the poorest 

 and most blighted and unripe seed to plant again,; 

 or saved the weakest and most feeble of his flocks 

 to propagate for the future ; and yet this is the 

 very error which is blindly pursued in the continu- 

 ance of the human species. We say blindly, for il', 

 must be owing to a blind impulse that rational be 

 ings should so conduct, rather than to any reason' 

 ing upon the subject. 



It is a subject which should engage the alien 

 lion of every philanthropist. Shall we become ii 

 nation of invalids? or shall we rise above the sillj 

 pride that seems now to direct public opinion, am 

 by manly and useful labor, coarse but nutritious diet 

 neat but comfortable clothing— reform so as to be 

 come again something as our fathers were? The; 

 were not afraid of the air. They were not asham 



