1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



207 



ILL-USING HORSES. 



Mr. Ga^-in, V. S., a contributor to the London 

 Veterinarian, offers the following remarks, on i7Z-us- 

 ing horses, which are adapted to our meridian as 

 well as that of London. 



"Allow me to draw the attention of your readers to 

 a subject, which, although at first sight may appear a 

 very unimportant one, yet, on a second view, seems 

 to contain largely the tendency to mischief and mis- 

 fortune; and the veterinary profession, I think, 

 may safely be looked to, as likely to exercise a con- 

 siderable "influence in oI)viating the evil. I allude 

 to the practice so common at horse-fairs, dealers' 

 yards, &c., of rattling a stick and hat together, 

 •with the avowed object of frightening horses. It 

 seems very questionable whether it be judicious, on 

 the contrary, to teach a horse to be afraid at all ; 

 but, to associate in the animal's intelligence, terror 

 on the one hand, and an article which may accident- 

 ally at any time create terror, on the other, appears 

 very thoughtless. I have known many a case_ of 

 tumble and run away, from just so simple a thing 

 as a bat coming clattering to the ground. Not 

 many horfees Avill stand it. But what else can we 

 look for ? The last time they heard the sound, it, 

 in all probability, was in connection with whips and 

 sticks, fright, &c. 



I have frequently heard it very gravely recom- 

 mended by very knowing horsemen, to under-feed 

 horses that are difficult to break, I suppose, on 

 the presumption that hunger will tame a lion. I 

 doubt if mere hunger ever tamed any thing ; star- 

 vation might, but even then, the tameness, appar- 

 ently, is more the result of the subsequent kindness 

 than the previous cruelty. From a trial of my 

 own, I infer the practice to be a bad one. That 

 "an angry man is a hungry one," is proverbially 

 true, this being one of the laws of organization ; 

 hence the soundness of British philosophy, in cele- 

 brating everything with a dinner; and I can see 

 how an organization, disqualified to perform well 

 the alimentary functions, should be attended, as of- 

 ten as it is in horses, with a fretful, bad temper, vide 

 what we call weakly animals. 



Horses, however, on the whole, get pretty severe- 

 ly punished for being made this way. Others of 

 them, from careless breaking, riding, or disease, get 

 a habit of stumbling, to which the punishing is ap- 

 pUed very often as a remedy ; and, although I never 

 saw it do any good myself, and perhaps nobody else 

 ever did either, yet I suppose it is impossible to al- 

 low such aggravated disobedience to go unpun- 

 ished. 



Horses frequently come under the rod for shying, 

 as if they had no right to be frightened without 

 leave. It seems hardly fair, but opinions differ. 

 He may be going past a Kme quarry, for instance ; 

 there is a noise, he gets uneasy, and then punished, 

 to get more uneasy still ; the next time he sees the 

 same object, and a further punishment only settles 

 him moire firmly in the belief, that there is some 

 unfortunate connection between a quarry or animal 

 leap and the whip and spur. I have every faith in 

 the efficacy of kindness, and none whatever in cru- 

 elty. This, however, is at the consideration of your 

 readers, for their own individual adoption as a prin- 

 ciple of action in the treatment of animals. 

 I am your very obliged servant, 



William Gavin." 



For the Netc England Farmer. 



PRICE OF MILK, «&;c. 



Mr. Editor : — In a late number of the Farmei 

 a correspondent inquires concerning the difference 

 in the measure by which milk has been sold, and 

 the legal one, and was glad to hear that one more 

 had dropped that old measure and commenced 

 with the new. 



But, sir, the object I have in view at this time is 

 not to answer the question of your correspondent, 

 but to call the attention of the community to the 

 price paid for milk. 



I find in my intercourse with the community that 

 they entertain the grossest errors concerning the 

 worth of the article and the cost of its production. 

 They don't seem to think that a pound of gopd 

 milk is worth more to one-half of the human family 

 than a pound of beefsteak ; that it will make more 

 bone, and give more strength ; yet the milk costs 

 only 6 cents per pound, and the steak from 10 to 

 20 cents. Then, again, the cost of production has 

 advanced nearly 50 per cent., and instead of being 

 sold for 6 cents per quart, as it now is, should be 

 sold from 10 to 12 cents, and my word for it, who- 

 ever lives to see five years more, will have to pay 

 that for it. 



People believe, many of them, that if a man 

 raises milk he is on the high-road to fortune, and 

 nothing but great mismanagement can prevent it. 

 Now to such, I ask their candid consideration to 

 the following facts : 



First, good milking cows within fifty miles of 

 Boston will average $50 apiece. Second, their 

 keeping twenty-two weeks in summer, including 

 cow corn, pumpkins, apples and hay, is worth $10. 

 Third, the interest and depreciation upon each one 

 cannot be less than 7 per cent, $3,50. Fourth, 

 the buildings necessary to keep her in, and for the 

 storing of hay, grain or roots, cannot be less than 

 $5,00. Fifth, keeping 30 weeks at hay and grain. 

 Dr. Dana, in his Muck Manual, see page 189, 

 states that an average cow of fifty, kept in Lowell, 

 consumed 167 lbs. of hay, with 87 lbs. of potatoes, 

 per week, and the hay at that rate is worth $50,10, 

 while the grain necessary for them, 2 quarts oil 

 meal with 2 quarts cob meal or shorts, is worth 75 

 cents per week more, making $22,50. Now we 

 will put it together, and see what it amounts to : 



Keeping in summer, 22 weeks $10,00 



Interest, &c 3,50 



Buildings 5)00 



Hay ^^0,10 



Grain 22,50 



$91,10 

 Thus you see that it amounts to ninety-one dol- 

 lars and over, and I have made no allowance for 

 accidents of death, abortions, &c., which is quitean 

 item with milk raisers. I have offset the washing 

 of cans and care of stock with the manure. I do 

 not believe there is a man in Massachusetts that 

 keeps more than one cow, who has raised milk the 

 past year, that has averaged three-fourths that sum 

 for his milk at his door; and I assert distinctly that 

 whoever has raised milk the past season, and sold 

 it to the retailer, has lost by the operation from 

 $10 to $40 per cow. I have sold milk at my door 

 for the last five years, have a good set of cows, and 

 I have never averaged ??50 per cow, and the m Ik 

 raised within fifty miles of Boston will not, I thi' k, 

 average $40 per cow. So much for getting rich 

 by raising milk. Middlesex. 



