THE GENESEE FARMER. 



178 



" horee-doctors" are too often as ignorant as they well 

 can be; and we should gladly see sonicthiug done to 

 elevate and imijro\'e this dcjjartmeut of useful know- 

 ledge. Unfortunately, anatomy, physiolog}', and the 

 diseases of animals, are dry reading for the masses, so 

 tliat we are virtually forbidden to do more than al- 

 lude to these important topics. And yet anatomy 

 and physiology form the only relial)le basis for the 

 successful crossing and treatment of any race of ani- 

 mals. The horse has a small stomach, and may be 

 reared from its mother's milk to subsist mainly, if not 

 exclusively, on flesh. The Tartars have a race oi' war 

 horses hardly less ferocious than tigers. " Their keep- 

 ers," says Sir R. Kerr Porter, " always sleep on 

 their rugs among them to prevent accidents; and 

 sometimes, notwithstanding all this care, and that of 

 tying up their heads with double ropes, and fettering 

 their heels to fastenings in the ground, they manage to 

 break loose, and then the combat ensues. A general 

 neighing, screaming, kicking and snorting soon rouses 

 the grooms, and the scene for a while is terrible. In- 

 deed, no one can conceive the sudden nproar of such 

 a moment, who has not been in eastern countries to 

 hear it; and then all who have must bear me witness 

 that the noise is tremendous. They seize, bite, and 

 kick each other with the most determinate fury; and 

 frequently cannot be sepai-ated before their heads and 

 haunches stream with blood. Even in skirmishes 

 with the natives, the horses take part in the fray, 

 tearing each other with their teeth, while their mas- 

 ters are in similar close quarters on their backs." 

 The best varieties of the Persian horse for both 

 strength and elegance, occur in Kurdistan. Horses 

 of the best blood in the world may be constitution- 

 ally ruined by treating them as ladies treat their pet 

 lap dogs. They become smooth lumps of fat, with 

 feeble bones and feebler muscles, as a basis for it to 

 rest upon. Some run into the opposite extreme, and 

 half starve their breeding mares and foals, partly 

 under the idea of hardening them, but mainly from 

 sheer penuriousness. There are some American 

 farmers who breed and rear first rate horses, as al- 

 most any city will demonstrate, if its best " turnouts" 

 be examined; but ninety-nine in one hundred of our 

 horses indicate some material defect that art and sci- 

 ence should have prevented. 



Farmers must learn to prevent those errors in hus- 

 bandly which all know to exist. It is usually many 

 times easier to avoid a misfortune or evil, than to suf- 

 fer its consequences. Unless we try to improve our 

 domestic animals, their deterioration is inevitable. 

 The difference between a valuable colt and one com- 

 paratively worthless, often depends on the difierence 

 in ihsir keeping, and the way they are liroken to the 

 satdle and harness. If Northern horses have supe- 

 rioiity over Southern, it is mostly due to the manner 

 in which they are reared, trained and handled when 

 young. They need very little grain before they are 

 four years old, but good grass in summer, and good 

 hay or fodder in winter, with pure water, and a plenty 

 of exercise. Corn fed colts become clumsy, dull, 

 stumbling and stupid. It is better to feed them pea 

 hay with the. peas in, or oats in the bundle, than corn 

 in the ear. A little corn fed regularly we do not re- 

 gard as objectionable, where oats or peas are not at 

 hand and one has not good hay. We have had some 



experience in breaking colts as well as steers, and 

 know the importance of having these operations 

 wisely performed. They should not be delayed until 

 young animals obtain their growth, and the impress 

 of an incurable wildness. Early and gentle handling 

 always cultivates docility and kindness, mingled with 

 a cheerful habit and willing disposition. These 

 prompt a laboring horse or ox to do all he reasona- 

 bly can with spirit and confidence. Any working an- 

 imal is half ruined when his confidence in himself or 

 master has departed. Encouragement, wielded with 

 discretion and an even temper, often w^orks wonders, 

 where animals are well fed, w-ell housed, and never 

 beaten. Punishment is sometimes necessary, but 

 such cruel floggings as poor animals have been made 

 to suffer within our recollection, are most injurious 

 and inexcusable. 



THE HYGROSCOPIC POAVER OF SOILS. 



Tiui power of cultivated earth to extract moisture 

 from the atmosphere, presents a most inxiting field for 

 critical research in connection with the growth of 

 agricultural plants. Before stating our own doubts 

 and difficulties in the matter, we shall invite the read- 

 er's attention to the views and experiments of Sir 

 Hu-MFHEEY Davy, which throw much Hght on the 

 subject. He says : " The power of the soil to absorb 

 water by cohesive attraction, depends in a great 

 measure, upon the state of division in its parts ; the 

 more divided they are, the greater is these absorbent 

 powers. The power of soils to absorb moisture from 

 air is connected with fertihty; ivhc7i this jmiver is 

 great, the plant is svppUed with moisture in dry 

 seasons, and the effect of evaporation in the day is 

 counteracted by absorption of aqueous vapor from 

 the atmosphere by the interior parts of the soil during 

 the day, and by both the interior and exterior during 

 the night. The stiff clays, approaching to pipe clay 

 in their nature, which take up the greatest quantity 

 of water when it is poured upon them in a fluid form, 

 are not the soils which absorb most moisture from the 

 atmosphere in dry weather; they cake and present 

 only a small surface to the air, and the vegetation on 

 them is generally burnt up almost as readily as on 

 sands. The soils most .efficient in supplying plantg 

 with water by atmospheric absorption, are those in 

 which there is a due mixture of sand, finely divided, 

 clay and carbonate of lime, with some animal and 

 vegetable matter, and which are so loose and light as 

 to be freely permeable to the atmosphere. With 

 respect to this quality, carbonate of lime, animal and 

 vegetable matter are of great use in soils — they give 

 absorbent power to the soil, without giving it like- 

 wise tenacity; sand, which also destroys tenacity, on 

 the contrary gives it little absorbent power. I have 

 compared many soils as to their absorbent powers^ 

 with respect to atmospheric moisture, and I have 

 always found it greatest in the most fertile soils, so 

 that it affords one method of judging of the product- 

 iveness of land. One thousand parts of a celebrated 

 soil from Or-Miston, in East Lothian, which contained 

 more than half its weight of finely divided matter, of 

 which eleven parts were carbonate of lime, and nine 

 parts of vegetable matter, when dried at a tempera- 

 ture of 212 degrees, gained in an hour by exposure 



