No. 2. 



Food for different Latitudes. — Blind Bridles. 



47 



With a view to prevent the drying- of the 

 dung-heap unci its consequences, too great a 

 rise in temperature and destruction of ma- 

 nure, it is the practice in some places to ar- 

 range the dung-heap on tlie nortli side of a 

 building, which is undoubtedly advantage- 

 ous, but not always to be realized, especially 

 in connection with a farm of some magni- 

 tude, where the immediate vicinity of a 

 large mass of matter in a state of putrid 

 fermentation, is not only unpleasant, but 

 may be unwholesome. In the north of 

 France, the dung-heap is sometimes shaded 

 from the sun by means of a row of elms, 

 and th« shelter thus secured is vastly prefer 

 able to that which it has been proposed to 

 obtain by means of a roof or shed, which, 

 besides other inconveniences, would be found 

 costly at first, liable to speedy decay, &c. 

 If circumstances, such as the smallness 

 of the farm, the permeable nature of the 

 soil, &c., prevent the construction of a res- 

 ervoir, there is risk of the dung-water being 

 quite lost; but such waste may be prevented 

 by covering the bottom of the pit or stance for 

 the durtg-heap with a bed of sand, peat marl, 

 or any other dry and porous substance capa- 

 ble of absorbing liquids. This practice is 

 often followed by the farmers of Alsace. — 

 BoussingaulC s Rural Economy. 



Food for different Latitudes. 



From Fownes' Prize Essay on Chemistry, 

 as exemplifying the wisdom and beneficence 

 .of the Supreme Being. 



"We are accustomed to look with horror 

 and disgust at the food of these poor people, 

 as we in our ignorance and presumption 

 dare to call them ; to commiserate those 

 who, as our northern navigators relate, pre- 

 fer a piece of tallow-candle, or a draught of 

 train-oil, to the fare of an English man-of- 

 war; but a little more consideration might 

 perhaps show us, that the blubber and fat of 

 the arctic cetacea and fish, the only food the 

 inhabitants of these countries can obtain, 

 really constitute the only sort of food which 

 could enable them to bear up against the 

 extremities of cold to which they are sub 

 ject. There is no other substance but fat, 

 and that in very large quantity, which would 

 answer the purpose required. It is a sub- 

 stance exceedingly rich in hydrogen, and in 

 the body eminently combustible; weight for 

 weight, it will generate a far larger amount 

 of heat, when burned in the blood, than any 

 thing else which can be taken as food. It 

 will be wiser, then, instead of condemning, 

 as filthy and abhorrent, the tastes and pro- 

 pensities of the Esquimaux, to consider them 

 as a special adaptation, by an unspeakably 



benevolent Providence, of the very wishes 

 and inclinations of the individual to the cir- 

 cumstances of his life. 



" But this is not all: the same individual 

 who, when in a warm or temperate climate, 

 craves a large proportion of bread and vege- 

 table food, and turns with aversion from 

 fatty substances, experiences, when trans- 

 ported to the frozen regions of the north, a 

 complete revolution inliis tastes and desires. 

 Nothing will then satisfy him but fat: the 

 flesh of deer, fish, to be acceptable, must be 

 loaded with tat; he takes delight in sucking 

 the marrow from the bones; nothing in the 

 shape of grease comes amiss to him ; he 

 longs for it, he desires it as much as he 

 formerly loathed it. But this new, this in- 

 duced state, only lasts as long as his mode 

 of life requires; removal to a milder region 

 restores, to a very great extent, the first 

 condition." 



Blind Bridles. 



Look and reflect; use your own intellect. 

 Yes, use your thinking powers, friends, they 

 were given you to use and not abuse. Blind 

 bridles ! truly named, surely. Art never 

 invented a more fatal thing to the eyes of 

 horses than when she devised this plan of 

 depriving the horse of what nature intended 

 he should enjoy. But, says one, why are 

 blinders injurious to the horse? Because 

 they gather dirt and heat around the eyes. 

 Dirt irritates the eye and heat produces in- 

 flammation. These bridles so entrammel 

 the eyes of the horse, that he is compelled 

 to be constantly straining them to see his 

 way. This over exertion of the nerve soon 

 brings on disease. Eyes were not made in 

 vain. Had they been needless, they would 

 not have been located in the head. They 

 were placed on the corner of the head that 

 he might have the advantage of looking in 

 difl^erent directions. Men, in the abundance 

 of their imaginary wisdom, concluded the 

 horse had too much sight, and they wished 

 to curtail it: hence the origin of blind bri- 

 dles. Think of this seriously and you will 

 abandon the use of so destructive an append- 

 age. Remember, that blind bridles and dis- 

 eased eyes are inseparably connected. Cus- 

 tom hoodwinks the senses of men, as much 

 as blind bridles do the vision of horses. 



John Maddock, 

 Farrier and Blacks7nith. 



Where is the use of blind halters? if horses were 

 unaccustomed to them, they would be no more liable 

 to frighten vi ithout, than with thom. Why are they 

 not just as necessary with the saddle, as in the car- 

 riage or the team? Who would lliink of sitting on a 

 saddle with his horse's eyes three-fourlhs shut out from 

 the light of day ? and how much finer and nobler ■• ould 

 this noble animal appear in all situations, with his 

 eye untrammelled ?— Ed. 



