44 



Horses — Oxen. 



Vol. XII. 



Horses— Oxen. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet: 



As his horses are the most expensive arti- 

 cle in the farmer's outlay, after he has bought 

 his land and built his house, it is of course 

 of the first importance that he should be 

 well instructed in all that relates to their 

 keep and general management. In reading 

 the following extract from Colman's Tour, 

 I was not only of the mind that we might, 

 in this country, gather some valuable hints 

 from it, respecting the treatment of this ani- 

 mal, but that it would be to the general ad- 

 vantage if oxen v^'ere much more used among 

 our farmers than they now are. I was also 

 rather surprised at our superiority over the 

 English in training these patient beasts. No- 

 where, I apprehend, is the ox more thorough- 

 ly disciplined than in the old Bay State. If 

 I may be allowed to wander from the horse 

 to the ox, and from him again to the horse, 

 without method or rule, just as my thoughts 

 occur, I would here remark, that farmers in 

 this country, spend too little thought or la- 

 bour in the care of their horses. "A horse 

 well groomed," I once heard an experienced 

 old man observe, " was half fed :" and the 

 writer of this is well satisfied, there is much 

 reason for the saying. L. P. 



Among the most improved animals in the 

 kingdom, horses take a prominent place; and 

 a circumstance of difference, in this matter, 

 between England and the United States, 

 which strikes one at first sight, may be 

 called the division of labour among the 

 horses. The American horse, in most of the 

 States, is, generally, a horse of all work. 

 Here, the horses are bred and trained tor, 

 and exclusively confined to, particular de- 

 partments, — sporting, pleasure, travelling, 

 draught or agricultural labour; and nothing 

 is more rare, than the transfer of the animal 

 from one department to the other. So we 

 find the race-horse, the hunter, the carriage 

 horse, the draught horse, the roadster, the 

 saddle horse, the pony for children and la- 

 dies, the general Jiack, and the farm horse. 

 This comes of the immense wealth of the 

 people, and is adapted to give them the best 

 advantages of each kind. It may surprise 

 some of my friends, to tell them, that I have 

 more than once found forty hunting horses 

 in one gentleman's stable, for himself and 

 his huntsmen ; and in one instance, I found 

 a stud of eighty horses, of diflfereriit kinds, 

 exclusive of the farm horses. The perfec- 

 tion to which these animals have been 

 brought, the condition in which they are 

 kept, the tenderness, and kindness, and care, 

 with which they are treated, and the admi- 

 rable manner in which they are groomed, 



are circumstances, here, all over the coun- 

 try, in the highest degree worthy of remark. 

 I have already referred to them. Their 

 hours of rest, of feeding, and labour, are ob- 

 served with strictness; their stables are spa- 

 cious, lofty, well-ventilated, and adapted to 

 preserve, as far as may be, an equable tem- 

 perature; they are carefully bedded, and 

 cleanly littered, and whatever would be of- 

 fensive, at once removed; they are thorough- 

 ly curried and brushed, and a horse brought 

 into the stable in a state of perspiration, is 

 never left until he is completely dried by 

 rubbing : nor, in any case, have I seen a 

 horse left to stand still, exposed to a cold 

 draught of air. The treatment of them is 

 most exemplary and creditable ; and is no 

 more than just to animals, incapable of taking 

 care of themselves, to whom we are indebted 

 for so much of pleasure and so much of profit. 

 At the house of an eminent nobleman, whose 

 hospitality I enjoyed, it was the invariable 

 custom of the family, — ladies and guests, as 

 well as the mat^ter, — about nine o'clock in 

 the evening, to go, by a covered passage, 

 into the stables, where thirty horses were 

 kept, to see that the grooms and ostlers were 

 at their post, that the horses were well, and 

 cared for, and the stable in good order. No- 

 thing could exceed the cleanliness and order 

 in which everything appeared. At one of 

 the principal breweries in London, where 

 forty of the largest size dray-horses are kept, 

 the manager informed me that, after six years 

 hard service, the horses receive their free- 

 dom, are sent into the country, exempted 

 from all labour, and kindly cared for during 

 the rest of their lives. I confess, in observ- 

 ing these kind provisions and this extraordi- 

 nary care, I have not been able to suppress 

 the wish, that many of the bipeds, who share 

 with these animals in the labour of the field, 

 — not unfrequently performing the hardest 

 part of it, — could experience, in their own 

 persons, an equal care, and find in their cot- 

 tages, on their return from a hard day's work, 

 even a moiety of the comforts with which 

 the stables of their co-labourers are provided. 

 It would be doing great injustice, to say that 

 this is not often done by many persons, who 

 have no greater pleasure than in providing 

 for the comfort and welfare of their depend- 

 ants. It is only to be regretted that the 

 practice is not universal.* 



* No person can have passed through the highly im- 

 proved territory of the Duke of Biiccleuch, in Dumfries- 

 shire, which the public road traverses for more than 

 twenty miles, and observed the clean and comfortable 

 cottages of the labourers, which constantly meet the 

 eye; nor have seen the almost luxurious provision 

 made by the Duke of Devonshire for his dependants. 



