80 



NEW ENGLAND FxVRMER. 



Feb, 



time is said to be favorable to their remaining 

 sound for a long time. AVe do not attach mucli 

 importance however to the hypothesis. 



Mr. Emersox, in his very valua1)le report on the 

 Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts, eeems to be 

 of the opinion that aufumn is the best time for 

 cutting tunber ; this opinion was sustained by in 

 formation from many valuable resources. W( 

 should think the spring, when the tree is full of 

 sap would be the worst time for cutting, 



"Wire fences arc not generally approved, so 

 far as our observation extends. When wires 

 are stretched across a cheap frame, they may be 

 very convenient for enclosing temporarily a small 

 plot of ground, l)ut for a permanent fence they 

 will not pay. If they are u«ed, they should be 

 confined in their place by passing thi-ough substan- 

 tial wooden posts, sufficiently near each other to 

 attract the notice of animals. For one objection 

 to them is, that cattle do not see them, and hence 

 they are exposed to a degree of violence, even from 

 quiet animals, which will severely try their 

 strength. Live posts, earthen or luirnt clay posts 

 and the like, we regard as ingenious, rather than 

 practically useful. They may sometimes answer 

 well, but not as a general practice." 



If the writer has had experience in the erection 

 and use oi wire fences , we should be surprised at 

 his conclusions. We believe wire fences may be 

 more cheaply constructed than any other, and 

 will be found as durable and efiBcient as any, a 

 stone wall excepted. The difficulty has been in 

 straitening the wires. This process is simple and 

 easy when one knows how. A small roller of wood, 

 and two iron pins 18 inches in length each, will 

 help to overcome every difficulty. The whole pro- 

 cess is described in former numbers of the Farmer. 



"A fence, the lower half of which' is stone, and 

 the upper half rails or wires, may serve a very 

 good purpose, and where stone is scarce, it may 

 be the best form of fence. 



"But, whatever style is adopted, let the materi- 

 rialg be of good quality, and the work be done 

 skilfully. Sham fences are among the most ex- 

 pensive forms in which a lack of practical skill 

 m farming operations is often exhibited. 



HORSES FROZEN OR STARVED. 



When the country was new, and rude farm- 

 houses with rattling windows, uneven floors, 

 warped clapboards and open fire-places were the 

 best habitations that could be procured ; when the 

 drifting snow found its way through windows and 

 doors even to tlie bed eham1)er, when the clothing 

 of the people was scant and thin, it was hardly to 

 be expected that horses sliould l)e privileged with 

 warm stables or covered with tliick blankets. Ne- 

 cessity knows few laws, and the poor man's horse 

 suffers accordingly. 



But times have changed. Thrifty people of New 

 England are able to procure houses impervious to 

 wind and snow, and clothing that makes our cold- 

 est days quite tolerable to healthy people. They 

 possess also means of warming their houses, which 

 makes them most delightful as the sweeping blasts 

 of winter grow more intense. 



In many, pcrhajis most cases, the condition of 

 the horse and of his less intelligent neigliI)ors, the 

 cow and tlie ox, has gained cquall^^ But tlie ex- 

 ceptions are far tix) numerous. Men who take no 

 agricultural papers, who have no inl)orn taste for 

 improvement, are frequently content to do as their 

 fathers did. Hence, cattle exposed to the frost and 

 storm of winter, with little shelter, perhaps with 

 none ; and horses are allowed — tell it not where 

 slaves have as their only focxl a scanty allowance 

 of corn ] tread ! — to feast themselves on a northern 

 hill-side in the open field, day and night upon a 

 stock of withered grass ! It would not pay to envy 

 the feelings of men who can permit such practices. 

 The sight may furnish an argument to sliow that 

 self-interest is not sufficient to insui-e kind treat- 

 ment to chattels of two or four feet, and that 

 slave-holders are as kind-hearted as their northern 

 brethren ; but how can it minister to the comfort 

 of a Christian man in a winter's night to reflect 

 that his cattle or horses — however young they may 

 l)e — are exposed to its rigors, how he can rest cjui- 

 etly or be cheerful at home or abroad, while his 

 half-starved horses are shiveting with cold, may 

 well excite surprise in a truly benevolent mind. 

 Among semi-barljarians, with their rough, coarse 

 natures, among men who delight in war, it might 

 bo expected that their horses would be cruelly 

 treated, as they are ; but among Christians in Noav 

 England such sights are not to be expected, and 

 ought not to be witnessed. In some cities, per- 

 haps in most, the law protects the horse from the 

 open and excessive violence of his master, for the 

 sight and sound are revolting to the finer feelings 

 of humanity, and tend to debase and biaitalize 

 those who witness it, to say nothing of its effect 

 on the passionate and cruel driver. 



But against a process which kills domestic ani- 

 mals by inches — against a system of freezing and 

 starvation which tortures the horse, and blunts 

 the finer and nobler system of him who practices 

 or allows it, the law can raise no barrier. It can- 

 not pi'otect the poor brutes, nor those whose prox- 

 imity to such a person makes them involuntary 

 witnesses of hig cruel neglect. Much as their kind 

 feelings are outraged by such conduct, they can 

 do littie more than remonstrance and protest 

 against it. It may be possible, however, through 

 The Examiner and other agricultural papers, to 

 diffuse information respecting both the cruelty and 

 the expensiveness of such an exposure and neglect 

 of horses and cattle, till intelligent men would as 

 soon ride "bareback," without bridles, build 

 barns without roofs, and attempt to fatten hogs 

 on dish-water, as to keep stock without providing 

 warm, dry, well-ventilated stables, abundance of 

 well cured hay,&c,, or without covering tlie horses 

 when it is necessary for them to stand long in the 

 ojien air in a cold winter's day. Economy, good 

 taste and good morals, unite in requiring the 

 change of the old system for the new. — Norwich 

 (Ct.) Examiner. 



Fat Cattle. — Seth Bush, Esq., of this town, 

 weighed, on Monday last, six pairs of oxen w!iic^ 

 "talked up" as follows:— 1st pair 4800 ; 2(! do. 

 ,4200 ; 3d do, 4100 4th do. 4090 ; 5th do. ^;8 ;0 ; 

 6th do. 3G00. Such Ixjcf would be a rare commod- 

 ity any where else, but here our farmers make 

 nothing of "buiMing" cattle a little less iu size 

 than the ancient Behometh. — West field Neiv Let' 

 Hr. 



