1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



95 



are likely to be fully realized, as I anticipated 

 "blowing a cloud" with you, for I find no other 

 cigars the equals of those Principes. 



Pupil. — I am delighted to see you, and better 

 pleased that you have timed your visit just as you 

 have, when we can have a good talk without being 

 interrupted with the driving. Please to step into 

 my room, as I have another evidence of Western 

 liberality to show you. 



Preceptor. — True enough, you have a goodly 

 "lay out," and I would suppose, from the exhibi- 

 tion of this paraphernalia, that you have foregone 

 your strict temperance principles, and become a 

 votary of the vine-clad, jolly god, as well as a dis- 

 ci]>le of the Indian weed. 



Pupil. — I have no intention of indulging in any 

 of these enticements, and my vow of strict total ab- 

 stinence from spirits, wine, or beer, is no more 

 likely to be broken than if this nectar were a hun- 

 dred miles oif. But test it, fill up a bumper of 

 what j'ou like best ; I will warrant it of the true 

 quality, and after you have imbibed, will read you 

 a letter that accompanied it. 



Preceptor. — "That good wine needs no bush," is 

 an old and true adage. I hardly ever drink till ' 

 after dinner, and do not feel capable of giving an 

 opinion that would be worthy of much weight, but 

 that brandy I took the thimbleful of is as smooth 

 as oil, and nearly as fragrant as the breath of the 

 morning. 



Pupil. — I want you to try a bottle of that sherry , 

 at dinner. If you praise the odor of the brandy, 

 you will be completely carried away with the 

 aroma — but the letter will say better than I what 

 needs to be said : — I 



Chicago, June 1st, 18—. 

 ****** I 



Tell the old man not to be vexed, that I have ' 

 sent a basket of champaigne for Misses Jane and i 

 Susan ; and I believe you would have been 

 omadhaun enough to have gone to the races 

 at Jerome Park with them, and never have 

 thought of clapping a few bottles in the carriage, i 

 The poetry of motion, as you call it, in seeing a ' 

 half score of thoroughbreds rattling over a dirty , 

 track is rather a dry sight ; al)Out as bad as smok- 

 ing with only tasteless water to wash out the gout. 



Don't forget to get a sideboard, and keep the 

 bottles always in sight. Remember, every one does 

 not smoke, and the only good in a cigar is the 

 relish it gives to the drink. 



In contrast with the above we might cite many ' 

 paragraphs not only unobjectionable but highly 

 meritorious. The following, for instance, we wish \ 

 every jockey in the land would read and ponder, j 



There is a subtle fluid, magnetism we will call it, 

 between the horse and driver, the reins being the 

 medium through which it is conveyed. How an- 

 gry I become when I see a big brute tugging away 

 for dear life at these leathern straps, his body 

 braced as if a yoke of oxen were hitched to him to 

 pull him from his seat, yelling at the top of his 

 voice, self-satisfied that he is an expert. The horse 

 has ten times more sense than he, and has learned { 

 that he must pull against the bit still harder, to < 

 stop the circulation of the blood in the sensitive I 

 bars, numbing them till the torture is unheeded, i 

 After a while the delicacy of feeling is gone, large j 

 calluses are formed, and the horse becomes per- ' 

 fectly useless. The knife is resorted to, the "bags" 

 are cut out. A brief respite, while the ugly wounds 

 are healing ; then again to be tugged at and spoiled. 

 The reins should be handled as if they were a part 

 of the animal endowed with sensitiveness, which 



would be destroyed by a continuous pull. A 

 slight motion of them shifting the bit has often a 

 magical effect in rousing the horse, when whip and 

 spur would fail. 



On the whole, we presume that all engaged in 

 "breeding, rearing and training trotters," and all 

 employed in "the stable and on the track" of our 

 race courses, will find in this volume that infor- 

 mation and those directions which are applicable 

 to their respective work and profession. But they 

 will be obliged to read the whole book, as there is 

 no alphabetical index to assist one in finding the 

 particular subject of inquiry. 



IMPROVEMENT OF AMERICAN" "WOOL. 



Messrs. Editors : — I have read with much 

 interest a communication from H. D. Tell- 

 kampf, of New York, upon "American Wool 

 and its Improvement," and have to acknowl- 

 edge my inability to agree with him, as to the 

 manner of procedure, in order to render the 

 clips of American growth more inviting to the 

 manufacturing industry of our country. I 

 cannot think it necessary to send to Saxony or 

 any other country to improve the wool of 

 American growth. There is abundant mate- 

 rial in this country to produce all of the differ- 

 ent varieties of wool that would be necessary 

 to manufacture every kind and quality of cloth, 

 by a judicious selection of rams, from the 

 purest flocks in the United States. 



Had the manufacturers of broadcloths in 

 1835, 1836 and after years, made a proper 

 distinction between Saxony and Merino wool, 

 we never should have heard of the complaint 

 that now salutes our ears. The writer of this, 

 grew Saxony wool from 1834 up to 1850, and 

 knows from actual experience that Saxony 

 wool cannot be grown at this date for so low 

 a figure as the quotations are, from week to 

 week, without an absolute loss. 



In 1834. '35 and '36, our Saxony wool sold 

 for eighty cents a pound, average weight 2 lbs. 

 14 oz. and would not shrink more than 25 per 

 cent., for the leggings were not put in, and 

 many times the bellies were thrown out also, 

 but at the same time and in the same years 

 Merino wool sold in the same neighborhood 

 for seventy cents per pound, with all of the 

 leggings put in, bringing the weiglit of the 

 fleeces up to four pounds and upwards. Can- 

 not any man see that, in the palmy days of the 

 Saxony fever, it was much less profitable to 

 grow Saxony wool than IMerino ? and, unless 

 the American wool-grower can be assured of 

 an equally remunerating price for growing 

 Saxony wool, as his neighbor who grows Me- 

 rino, it will be a disastrous business to any one 

 who undertakes to establish a Hock of Saxony 

 or Escurials in this country, with the expecta- 

 tion of selling stock rams for the purpose of 

 improving the clothing wools of the country. 

 — A. O. Per(£y, Newark, N. •/., \a Cktudry 



