DSVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. III. 



SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1851 



NO. 20. 



RAYNOLDS & NOURSE, 

 Proprietors. 



OFFICE, QUINCY HALL, BOSTON. 



S. W. COLE, Editor. 



FEEDING HORSES ON THE ROAD. 



There is no one thing in which faimers manatje 

 their stock so badly, as in feeding horses too fre- 

 quently while travelling. Some will bait their 

 horses every ten or twelve miles, though they may 

 not be more than an hour and a half or two hours 

 in going from one stage to the other, and this is 

 often done soon after the horse has eaten a hearty 

 breakfast or dinner; when the horse stops, he is 

 usually fatigued or hot, and he needs rest and cool- 

 ing; to fill the stomach then with food, before the 

 previous meal is digested, is injurious in the ex- 

 treme; let the horse be well fed in the morning 

 before he starts on a journey, and he will travel 

 from seven o'clock to twelve, without requiring 

 any food; then let him rest two hours at noon, 

 and he will be prepared to travel again till seven 

 witlinut baiting. Horses that labor on the farm, 

 work half a day without eating. In and around 

 cities, are thousands of horses that work hard 

 during the forenoon and afternoon without baiting, 

 and yet they are kept in good condition, though at 

 work almost every day in the year; they are em- 

 ployed in trucking, in cabs, omnibuses and other 

 vehicles, and they usually labor hard; although 

 these horses are frequently under the best of man- 

 agement, no one thinks of giving them a baiting 

 between their regular meals. 



The following article of J. V. C Smith shows 

 the management of horses in the East, in this re- 

 spect: — 



"Barns are not required in Syria, no hay even 

 being cut or in demand — cattle, goats, sheep, &c., 

 having excellent feed the year round. Horses are 

 far better managed in Syria than in England or 

 the United States, more spirited, and endure the 

 severest kinds of fatisue better than in any part of 

 Europe or our own best of countries. The system 

 of feeding, which is uniform throughout the East, 

 is to give them fine straw, broken up by pounding, 

 analogous to being cut. It is put into a small bag 

 containing perhaps a peck, mixed with four quarts of 

 barley or beans. In Egypt, beans are preferred. 

 When put up for the night, the bail of the bag con- 



taining their supper is slipped over their ears, and 

 they are left to make their meal and then have a 

 regular night's sleep. Early in the morning the 

 mess is lepeated, nothing more being given. 

 Fresh hay is never given them; in fact no such ar- 

 ticle is known. I have ridden one horse twenty 

 days — oftener ten hours at a time — without ever 

 stopping to bait. 



"No such custom as luncheon for horses is re- 

 cognized. Night and morning are the meal times 

 for them, for donkeys, mules and camels. Their 

 endurance under immense loads, day after day, 

 sure footedness and vivacity, are extraordinary,, 

 and a theme of admiration. One month in a year,, 

 June, they are turned out leisurely to grass, and. 

 then the dry straw and provender is invariably re- 

 sumed. In this connection, it may be mentioned' 

 that in shoeing hoises, the people of the Orient are 

 far in the advance of us. The shoe is a thin piece 

 of iron plate, covering the entire under surface of 

 the hoof, except a small oval hole for the exit of 

 tlie trog, which is pressed through and recovers its 

 position by an elastic movement when the foot is 

 raised. The shoe, therefore, is not a burden, but 

 a genuine protection, vastly better than ours of a 

 pound weight each." 



WORCESTER CATTLE SHOW. 

 The annual show of this society took place at 

 Worcester on Thursday last. The weather was 

 favorable, and a large collection of people were 

 present to enjoy its festivities. The first exercise 

 of the day was the Ploughing Match. There 

 were sixteen entries, each of a single pair of oxen 

 — no double teams or horse teams beiniT admitted. 

 All the teams were without drivers. The depth 

 required was six inches, without restriction as to 

 any greater depth. Sixteen rods of ground, or 

 about one-tenth of an acre, was assigned to each 

 team, and the time occupied in ploughing fifty min- 

 utes. The first team came out in thirty-five, and 

 the last in fifty minutes. No limitation being fixed 

 as to the time taken up in doing the work, tiiere 

 was consequently little hurry or whipping, which 

 ensured neat and skilful execution. We noticed 

 three boys of about 11 to Ifi years of age, holding 



