84 FARMEERS' REGISTER— MAIL COACHES AND HORSES IN ENGLAND. 



to cheat, and the third undecided. It was our de- 

 sign in this experiment to bring into operation eve- 

 ry cause to which this change is usually ascribed 

 by different persons, namely, 1. imperfect seed — 

 2. thick sowing — 3. a wet soil — 4. hard or unbro- 

 ken soil — 5. grazing or mowing, which is to be 

 done next spring. 



If any cheat or spelt, should grow in this square 

 from any other seed, it cannot be mistaken for the 

 product of the wheat we have planted, unless the 

 plants sliould stand in one or more of the positions 

 so accurately fixed by measured distances. 



THOMAS COCKE. 



ED3IUND RUFFIK. 

 AVILLIAM J. COCKE. 



October 20th, 1832. 



j^pril I5th, 1833. The growth of plants on the 

 square is very mean, (generally six or seven inches 

 in height,) and but few are living compared to the 

 number of grains sown. Every row however has 

 some plants living. Half the marked row w^here the 

 worst seed was used, and as much of the one ad- 

 joining, was cut down this day within an inch of 

 the ground, and the parts so treated were also 

 marked. 



June 2d. We again carefully examined the ex- 

 periment together, to know and report the final 

 result. Not a single head of cheat or spelt is in 

 the whole space. The cut plants have grown as 

 tall, and are not perceptibly worse than the ba- 

 lance in the same rows. The row sown with the 

 very imperfect grains, has a still more scanty 

 growth than the others, but had twenty four heads 

 of wheat in its whole length ; a few of these heads 

 had not come out of the Boot, and perhaps will not 

 produce grain — but they were opened and found to 

 be Avheat, like all the rest which were out. 



The adjacent parts of the field of wheat contain 

 a few scattering stalks of cheat, and still fewer of 

 spelt. The seed had been well cleaned, (though 

 probably not perfectly,) by the hand-sieve. 



THOMAS COCKE. 

 EDMUND RUFFIX. 



Prince George Co. June 4, 1833. 



Speed of Mail Cor»c3ies 



AND KEEP OP THEIR HORSES IN ENGLAND. 



Extract from the Quarterly Review. 



But to return to fast work : the Edinburgh mail 

 runs the distance, 400 miles, in forty hours, and we 

 may set our vv'atches by it at any point of her jour- 

 ney. Stoppages included, this approaches eleven 

 miles in tlie hour, and much the greater part of it 

 by lamplight. The Exeter day coach, the Herald, 

 from the Saracen's Head, Snow Hill, runs over 

 her ground, 173 miles,* in tv»'enty hours — admira- 

 ble performance, considering the natural inieven- 

 ness of the country through which it has to pass. 

 The Devonport mail does her work in first-i'ate 

 style, 227 miles in twenty-two hours. In short, 

 from London to Cheltenham, Gloucester, Worces- 

 ter, Birmingham, Norwich, or any other place, 

 whose distance does not much exceed one hun- 



* From Calais to Paris is the same distance ; the Dili- 

 gence takes at least 48 hours in summer, and from 50 

 to 60 in the winter. The Exeter mail is allowed 18 

 hours from London to Exeter, the Paris mail from 28 to 

 30 hours from Calais to Paris, and this is reckoned 

 quick worlc. 



dred miles, is now little more than a pleasant morn- 

 ing drive. We say pleasant, for this extraordi- 

 nary speed is not attained, generally speaking, by 

 putting animals to any thing like cruel exertion. 

 A fast coach has nearly a horse to every mile of 

 ground it runs — reckoning one way, or 'one side 

 of the ground.'* Proprietors of coaches have at 

 length ibund out — though they were a long time 

 before they did discover it — that the hay and corn 

 market is not so expensive as the horse market. 

 They have, therefore, one horse in four always at 

 rest; or, in other words, each horse lies still on 

 the fourth day, thus having the advantage of man. 

 For example, if ever we turn coach proprietors, 

 or 'get into harness,' as the proper term is — which, 

 as we have become fox-hunters, is by no means 

 impossible — we shall keep ten horses for every ten 

 miles stage we engage to cover. In this case, 

 eight horses only will be at work, four up and four 

 down. If the stage be under seven miles, nine 

 horses may do the work ; but no horse in a fast 

 coach can contmue to run every day, the excite- 

 ment of high keep and profuse sweating producing 

 disease. In practice, perhaps no animal toiling 

 for man, solely for his profit, leads so easy and so 

 comfortable a life as the English coach-horse. He 

 is sumptuously fed, kindly treated, and if he do 

 suffer a little in his work, he has twenty-three 

 hours in the twenty-four of luxurious ease. He is 

 now almost a stranger to the lash, nor do we ever 

 see him with a broken skin; hut we often see him 

 kick up his heels when taken from his coach, af- 

 ter having performed his stage often miles in five 

 minutes under the hour. So Jiiuch for condition. 



No horse lives so high as a coach-horse. In the 

 language of the road, his stomach is the measure 

 of his corn ; — he is i'ed ad libitum. The effect of 

 this is visible in two wajs — first, it is surprising 

 to see how soon horses gather flesh in this severe 

 work — for there is none more severe whilst it lasts ; 

 and, secondly, proprietors find that good flesh is no 

 obstacle to their speed, but, on the contrary, ope- 

 rates to their advantage. Horses draw by their 

 weight and not by the force of their muscles, which 

 merely assist the application of that weight : the 

 heavier a horse is then, the more po\verful is he in 

 his harness ; in short, it is the weight of the animal 

 which produces the draught, and the play and force 

 of his muscles serve to continue it. Light horses, 

 therefore, how good soever their action, ought not 

 to be put to draw a heavy load, as muscular force 

 cannot act against it for any length of time. 



The average price of horses for fast coaches may 

 be about £23. Fancy teams, and those working 

 out of London, may be rated considerably higher 

 than this ; but taking a hundred miles of ground, 

 loell horsed, this is about the mark. The average 

 period of each horses's service does not exceed four 

 years in a fast coach — perhaps scarcely so much. 

 In a slow one Ave may allow seven ; but in both ca- 

 ses we arc alluding to horses put to work at five or 

 six years old. Considerable judgment is necessa- 

 r}^ to the election of horses for fast work in harness ; 

 for if they have not action which will command 

 the pace tliey are timed at, they soon destroy them- 

 selves. For a wheel horse he should have sound 

 fore legs, or h.e cannot be depended upon down hill. 



* For example, from London to Shrewsbury is 158 

 miles, and the number of horses kept for the Wonder 

 coach is 1 50. 



