188 



&l)c Jatmcr's ittontI)hj Visitor. 



feed by giving our cattle too much at one time.) On stable floor,. I have often seen a good 

 A horse should be fed regular three times a day, | horse with his knees sprung forward ; and I 

 whether he work or not. I believe it is general- 

 ly the case when our horses do the least work 

 thev eat most 



Let the stomach be properly 

 filled in the morning, and give no more till noon. 

 That gives the proper organs of the stomach 

 time to extract the most of the nutritive matter, 

 so it may pass oft' and he ready for the baiting 

 at noon. In that way he will get the whole ben- 

 efit of what he eats. But if allowed to keep 

 eating, the organs of the stomach will have more 

 to do than is natural, and of course it will pass 

 off before the nutritive matter is extracted and 

 is lost. Keep your cattle's appetites keen if not 

 hungry, and they will thrive better and be more 

 healthy. If the rain falls on the dry and thirsty 

 earth faster than it will soak in, a part passes oft' 

 into the streams and does the earth no good. 

 Just so it is with a horse that is kept eating from 

 morning till night. 



1 must here speak more of the horse, the 

 most noble of all animals that God has given us 

 for our use, and not for us to abuse. First, kind 

 treatment, gentle words and gentle handling are 

 of great importance towards having gentle, kind 

 and steady horses. A good horse well treated 

 will become attached to his master, and stay by 

 him in trouble as well as a dog. But it is not 

 strange that our horses have so distant a feeling: 

 our harsh treatment produces cold feelings in 

 the horse, so that what he does is more through 

 fear than love far his master. 



In breaking colts the whip should never be 

 used only when in the bitting bridle or halter, 

 and then sparingly. In the first place, teach 

 them what you want them to do, and if any 

 thing in reason for a dumb beast to do, I never 

 had any trouble in making them do it. And 1 

 venture to my that a colt properly and gemly 

 handled when breaking, will never be balky or 

 or sullen if the man who breaks him does not 

 get angry and use the whip imprudently. When 

 you first harness your colt, let your carriage 

 stand where it is a little descending— put a light 

 person in the carriage to take up the reins— then 

 go to his head and pat him and rub his upper 

 lip with the palm of your hand for two or three 

 minutes. Then step along a few paces and stop 

 till he moves up, which he will do. Walk on 

 again; and he will soon learn to walk along side 

 of you. Slacken your pace ; let him pass the 

 length of head and neck, and if he still walks- 

 well, fall hack still more till you fall behind the 

 carriage. Then step gently in ; let him still 

 walk on— keep on ground where he will have 

 to draw nothing more than the carriage. Using 

 him in this way twice a day for a week, by 

 that time you may let him trot a little; but be 

 sure to learn him to walk first. Don't be in a 

 hurry to have him act like an old well broken 

 horse. Remember it takes time to learn a boy 

 to do his work like a man. 



On harnessing a horse see that your harness is 

 well fitted — not too tight nor too loose — the head- 

 stall should be neither too short or too long. If 

 the bit lays in the right place in the mouth, the 

 horse will he at ease; but if too loose he will be 

 trying to gel it out of bis mouth; if too tight it 

 makes the side of his mouth sore. If the blinds 

 come too near his eyes, it will wear oft' the eye 

 winker and cause him to sheer. I have seen 

 many horses with the eye winker worn oft' by 

 rubbing against the blind ; all such things have 

 a tendency to make the horse uneasy and fret- 

 ful. 



lieve it is called in jockey phrase spring-kneed. 

 I think the main cause is the ill-constructed 

 floor. Stall floors in these days are universally 

 made quito slanting, so as to let the urine run 

 back to keep the horse clean and dry ; but it 

 should not be so. The horse is tuckered out, 

 drove hard, gets his cords and muscles lumbered 

 up and stretched : he is brought in and put on 

 to a hard plank floor so slanting that his toes 

 will be nearly an inch higher than the heel. He 

 stands in this way till the cords begin to stiffen 

 and shrink : to ease this feeling the horse bends 

 his knee, the cord becomes inflamed, contracts 

 and shoves the knee forward. To remedy this 

 evil, have your floor level where the horse's fore 

 feet will naturally stand, and you will see no 

 crooked kneed horses. The neck should always 

 stand upright so as to prevent the hay seed or 

 chaff from dropping into the horse's eyes. 



Shoeing is a very important matter to be seen 

 to. Our blacksmiths make what I call a square 

 toed-shoe, that is all wrong; God made the hoof 

 of the horse very near a half circle; and it should 

 be kept so as near as possible— lo make the shoe 

 to the hoof not the hoof to the shoe. Convex 

 the shoe at the heel a little; it will have a ten- 

 dency to spread the hoof; if concaved it will 

 have a tendency to draw in the hoof and make 

 the horse narrow heeled. 



Good points in a horse I cannot describe with- 

 out having him before me to he well understood. 

 But there is one thing that seems not to be gen- 

 erally known. That is, a colt at four or five 

 weeks old will be the same shape as when full 

 grown if he has a good chance of milk. You 

 'can then see every point he will have when he 

 becomes a horse. 



One word more, and 1 am done: don't check 

 up your horse too high: it does not add lo the 

 looks, and it is a great damage to the horse. A 

 check rein should never go through ear-loops, 

 hut should go straight from the bit to the hams 



or book : in that way the horse will keep 



his head in its natural position and will look 

 more graceful. 1 have seen horses lied round a 

 meeting house and other public places with then- 

 heads checked up so high that in attempting to 

 fight the flies he would have to throw 

 bis head round with his nose protruded in near- 

 ly a horizontal line with the body, and I would 

 rather have my horse travel ten miles than stand 

 one half day at church in that condition. 



MUSIC— BY A NEW HAMPSHIRE FARMER. 



Music, in a moral point of view, is that which 

 we don'l all understand, or at least all others 

 don't understand it as 1 do. It is like the wind : 

 we can hear the sound thereof, and we can feel 

 it, but we cannot see it. We can feel it with a 

 thrill of joy acting on the soul, which gives us 

 courage and gladdens our hearts. Therefore, 

 every thing that will give courage or exbilirate 

 the spirits of the farmer, may properly be called 



There is music in the farmer's life, 

 There is music in his song, 

 There is music in the friendly strife 

 To r.iise ihe biggest corn. 



There is music when the farmers meet 

 And interchange Iheir views, 

 I. earn how lo raise Ihe tallest wheat, 

 Talk o'er Hie lalesl news. 



Its music when we meet and hoar 

 VVho raised the largest crop — 

 How he prepared his land this year, 

 What kind of seed he dropp'd. 



There is music in the new mown grass — 

 There is music in the scythe — 

 There is music in the new made hay : 

 It makes our cattle thrive. 



There is music in the waving grain, 

 As it rolls from side to side : 

 There is music in the wind and rain — 

 The crop is the farmer's pride. 



There is music on the mountain top — 

 There is music in the vale: 

 There is music in the threshing floor 

 When resounding wilh the flail. 



There is music in the lusty team — 

 There is music in the cow : 

 There is music in the furrow still 

 Turn'd over hy the plough. 



There is music in the planting bird, 

 Singing perch'd upon a stake ; 

 There is music in the bobolink 

 As he lights down on the brake. 



There is music in the lowing herd, 

 As it echoes through the vale ; 

 There is music in the evening bird 

 That sings -go-whip poor-Will. 



There is music in the poultry yard, 

 In plumes and yellow legs : 

 There is music in the custard pie 

 Made from the new laid eggs. 



There is music in the writing book, 

 The ink-stand and Ihe rule: 

 There is music in the children's glee 

 When playing home from school. 



There is music in the noble horse, 



As he proudly treads the sod — 



There is music when he speeds the plough — 



It was so ordained of God. 



So you see .he farmer's life 



Is music to the mind : 



May good young men who want a wife, 



A farmer's daughter find. 



There is music in the garden rose, 

 In all the pinks and flowers -, 

 Music in conscience' sweet repose — 

 May thai repose be ours. 



There is music in the farmer's life, 

 The path of virtue trod — 

 His conscience clear, and free from strife, 

 And his peace is made with God. 



Another Wife in Trouble. 



On my return home after a week's absence, 

 the first question my wife asked me was, " Have 

 you paid Gov. Hill for bis Monthly Visitor ?" 

 My answer was — " never a cent .'" 



She clasped her hands and exclaimed, "O that 

 ever I was married !" What's the trouble now ? 

 said I. " Such examples of dishonesty set by a 

 parent before his children: O did you ever?" 

 "Why, wife, what has happened?" "Such 

 meanness! take a newspaper and cheat the 

 printer!" "Has Gov. Hill sued us?" "Sued 

 us! No: we are too mean for n suit;" and at 

 the same time banded me your last Visitor with 

 her finger upon " A wife in trouble." 1 read it, 

 and answered her I would set myself about find- 

 ing out how much I owed you, and have the bill 

 paid. My wife began to look cheerful, and lold 

 the children their father did not mean to be dis- 

 honest—that it was all carelessness. 



December '26, 1849. 



A ploughman on his legs is higher than a gen- 

 tleman on his knees. 



What maintains one vice would bring up two 

 children. 



The master's eyes will do more work than 

 both bis hands. 



