No. 5. 



Expense of Keeping a Horse — Fa/lcnini( Hogs. 



151 



rope, when there is no irood at hand, is to 

 make a sort of buildin<r jti the kiln with tnrt's, 

 and leave air holes at liie corners of the walls 

 till the fire be well benrun. But this is te- 

 dious work — and is in this country wholly 

 unnecessary. Care must, however, be taken 

 that the fire be well lightpd. The matter 

 put in at first should be such as is of the 

 lightest description ; so that a body of earth 

 on fire may be obtained before it be too 

 heavily loaded. The burninor being com- 

 pleted, having got the quantity you want, 

 let the kiln remain. The fire will continue 

 to work until all is ashes. If you want to 

 use the ashes sooner, open the kiln. They 

 will be cold enough to remove in a week." 

 So says Cobbett. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 ^Vliat is the expense of keeping a Horse 1 



An idle man and a useless liorse are a heavy charge 

 on a farm. 



What is the annual expense necessarily 

 incurred in keeping a farm-horse] This is a 

 question which it would be interesting and 

 perhaps profitable to have correctly and ac- 

 curately answered. It is supposed the cost 

 of supporting a horse in decent condition, to 

 fit him for useful labor during the year, is 

 much more than is generally supposed. It 

 is a common opinion that two cows can be 

 kept at the expense of one horse. Is this a 

 fact 1 Horses are not only useful but abso- 

 lutely necessary on a fann, yet it is suppos- 

 ed that many more of them are kept than 

 are absolutely necessary for the convenience 

 or profit of many farmers. 



Some may suppose that if they pay no 

 money for food for a horse that he don't cost 

 much; but this may be a great mistake, for 

 hay and grass and corn and oats are as valu- 

 able as money to a farmer. 



Fancy horses may be compared to dandies 

 among the human species, they perform less 

 useful labour, and consume more provender, 

 and require more attention at the toilette 

 than the real working classes ; if so, they 

 outiht to be reduced to the smallest possible 

 number that will answer for the fancy work 

 of a farm. There is much economy in keep- 

 ing such only as are well adapted to the la- 

 bor which is required by their owner, and 

 no more even of them than will accomplish 

 the work of the farm in the best manner 

 possible. 



If some of your intelliorent patrons would 

 take the trouble of anwering the query at 

 the head of this article for the next number 

 ot the Cabinet, it would oblige an 



Ex-fa R.MER. 



F.r ihp Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Fattciiiiie; IIo^s. 

 A hog is a selfish animal, and wherever 

 selfishness constitutes the predominant part 

 of character, thtre is little regard paid to the 

 rights, interests, or feelings of others. This is 

 remarkably the case amongst the s\\ inish 

 multitude, each one of whom seeks his own 

 gratification, regardless of the welfare of his 

 fellows. In a community of hogs we often 

 see this disposition carried out so far as to 

 be hiohly prejudicial to those who possess 

 less physical strength, and where numbers 

 are ft^d at a common trough the jealousy 

 which is felt by them, induces them to holt 

 their food without chewing, like the passen- 

 gers on board a steamboat or the boarders 

 of a public hotel. This being the case, un- 

 less their food is well prepared by cooking 

 previously to its being presented to them, 

 dyspepsia or indigestion will be likely to 

 result, and much of the food will be passed 

 off without adding any thing to the fatness 

 or weight of the carcase. A friend of mine 

 in order to obviate this difficulty, and to re- 

 move the jealousy from the minds of his 

 hogs during meal-times, has tried the experi- 

 ment of phicing some of them in separate 

 apartments, which are so narrow as not to 

 admit of their turning round ; they can move 

 freely forward to the trough where each has 

 his meal separate, or they can recede back 

 from it, and lie down and sleep in comfort 

 in their narrow abode, but further than this 

 they are restricted in their movements. — 

 Their food is all boiled or steamed, and serv- 

 ed to thena separately, and it is surprising 

 to see with what quietness and composure 

 they eat; there is no hurry or bustle, no 

 squeeling or biting or pushing, no spilling, 

 no wasting or dirtying the food, but each 

 one goes to his meal quietly, without haste; 

 they chew their food thoroughly, seeming 

 to be careful not to swallow it without due 

 mastication, and when done eating, they step 

 back a short distance, lie down and go to 

 sleep. The success attendant on this mode 

 of feeding has been such as to justify recom- 

 mending it to the attention of farmers gene- 

 rally, believing it to be the most economical 

 mode of feeding hogs which has yet been 

 adopted. 



I forward this for the Cabinet, not wish- 

 ing it to occupy the place of more important 

 matter. I am aware the same plan has been 

 tried before; but the above represents a case 

 now in progress with an intelligent farmer, 

 who is a constant reader of your valuable 

 Journal. A. B. 



Those who praise or condemn by whole- 

 sale often commit great acts of injustice 



