116 



XEW ENGLAXD FARCER. 



March 



PKEVENTION OF CRIBBING. 



Crib-biting is a very annoying and injurious 

 habit, and one that has been decided by the 

 English courts to constitute legal unsoundness. 

 The horse lays hold of the manger with his 

 teeth, violently extends his neck, and then af- 

 ter some convulsive action of the throat, a 

 slight grunting is heard, accompanied by a 

 sucking or drawing in of air. The teeth are 

 often worn away and injured by the operation, 

 and horses addicted to this habit are said to be 

 much more subject to colic than others. Muz- 

 zles, neck-straps, and lining the edge of the 

 crib with iron, sheep-skin covered with tar, 

 aloes, and other unpleasant substances have 

 been tried with more or less success. 



Sir Peter Laurie of London devised the, 

 plan illustrated by the above cut, which in his 

 case proved efficient. Our cut was copied 

 from the Illustrated News, in which paper he 

 made his process public. 



It consists in preventing the animal from 

 seizing the manger or any other object while tied 

 up in the stable, by boarding over the space, 

 as .'■hown at the left, between the bottom of 

 the Lay-rack and the outer e%ge of the man- 1 



ger, forming a steep inclined plane. Portions 

 of the boards or covering can be partially re- 

 moved, as represented at the right, to enable 

 the horse to eat at stated times. 



The causes of cribbing are not well under- 

 stood. Mr. Youatt suggests that it is some- 

 times induced by dressing horses in the stable, 

 when they catch at the edge of the manger or 

 something else wilhin reach, and thus form the 

 habit of laying hold of these things on every 

 occasion. 



Irrigation ix Winter. — The popular idea 

 that irrigation is cood only for growing plants 

 is erroneous. Water has a very important 

 action upon any soil where there is good 

 drainage, and makes the inert matter available 

 for plant food. In the most successful case 

 of irrigation that has come under our notice 

 the water is kept ruiming through the winter. 

 The freezing in severe weather makes a com- 

 plete covering of ice, which acts as a mulch. 

 The grass starlrs early in the spring, and the crop 

 s kept up to two tons to the acie, without any 

 other fertilizer than water. There is a mine of 

 wealth in every brook that can be turned upon 

 a dry soil, if the farmer will work it. — Rural 

 New Yorker. 



