910 



THE GE^'ESEE FARMER 



do'sm-n-ar-i ;•:- as to tlirow Ms wei^liT into what he is 

 cadled upon to do. This is a fact within every one's 

 observation: we have onlv to persuade the first 

 wa<'oner we see (he is saie to have all his horses 

 ti^htlv borne vfo) to undo his bearing-reins, when j 

 down' will go everv horse's head so as to rebeve the ^ 

 wearisome" strain "upon his muscles, and give the; 

 weiatt of his bodv its due and natural power of over- 

 comrns resistance': and thus each horse becomes en- ^ 

 abled "to do his work as comfortably and easily as , 

 nature intended he should do : for nature never m- 

 tended a heaw animal like a cart horse to perform 

 slow work on:v, or chieSy by strain of muscle, but 

 on the contrarv, bv the powe'r of weight as the rule, l 

 assisted bv strength of musde as the exception, when j 

 extra resistance has to be overcome. \ 



Thus, when we curb up a horses head with our 

 senseless bearinsr-reins. and make him as ewe-necked , 

 as we appear to do, we are inverting the rule and 

 or-ier of nature : we are evidently tiying to preveiit 

 his usin? the fall unrestrained power of his weight, 

 ani are^compelling him to over-strain and over-exert 

 constantly those verv muscles which should be kept 

 in reserve for extra' dilBculties—^ch as greater me-, 

 qualities of the road, new-laid stones, .fee > ow any ; 

 one can see that to an old, worn-out, half-starved, ■ 

 over-worked animal, as too many, aye, by far the ; 

 greater proportion, are, this must be intolerable; 

 cruelty. It is a mistake to think a bearing-reia can | 

 be of 'anv service whatsoever, unless, as a very exeep- , 

 tional case, to a very young, headstrong, unbroken 

 horse. It is a mistake 'to think it improves a horse's 

 appearance — ^nothinz contrary to nature can everj 

 really do this. It is a missake to think it can ever j 

 prevent a horse's falling down, though it has been the 

 means of preventhiz "many an old one recovering] 

 from a stumble. But until our horse-owners be taught ; 

 to look at this matter in its true light, the light of i 

 common sense, and until it be taken up by the influ- , 

 ential land-owners and more enlightened and more ; 

 considerate of the tenant farmer among us, it is in , 

 vain to hope for any mitigation of this but too-uni- 1 

 versal cruelty. Hundreds of humane men, employers ', 

 of horse-labor, there are in all our counties and towns, ; 

 who. if their attention were but called to the sense- 1 

 lessness and cruelty of the practice, would at once j 

 SBC the necessity of the only prompt remedy ; and in 

 these ?o-a-head" days Prejudice and Custom have but 

 t)ttering foundations — ^t'he one is fast yielding to 

 common sense, and Lord AsHBrRTO>-'s much-to-be- 

 •leared "knowledge of common things," and the other i 

 \-rill not long stand its ground unless it has something ' 

 more than the prestige of mere antiquity in its feyor. | 

 We ourself have entirely done away with bearing- j 

 reins among our own heavy draught-horses ; though j 

 our carters were at first rather astonished at being 

 (ksired to discard them entirely, and substituting a j 

 loose halter or rein at one side instead, they soon j 

 foxmd that their hors^ were not a whit less managea- j 

 ble without bearing-reins, and that they did their , 

 work with far greater ease to themselves. A great ; 

 friend of ours, who has turned the sword of a dra- 

 goon into a plowshare, and has paid ^at and sue- j 

 ce^ul attention to fanning afiairs, gives it as his j 

 opinion that " a pair of horses, when freed from this ] 

 useless tackle, and left to step in freedom, would plow j 



from a quarter if not a third more land in a day, and 

 with greater ease to themselves and less fatigue when 

 the days work was over, than when confined in their 

 action'with bearing-reins." 



It does appear not a littie desirable that improve- 

 ments should be made generally in our team-harness, 

 so that all unnec^sary weight, and perhaps gear, 

 bearins-reins, kc, should be got rid of; and perhaps 

 if the°Eoyai Agricultural Society were to offer a 

 prize for improved harness, and give the sanction of 

 its authority to some improved type, we might hox>e 

 to see ere long a great and beneficial change in this 

 respect Change is by no means desirable for its own 

 sake, but the change from a bad system to a good 



one ^from a bad to a good implement— cannot be 



otherwise than advantageous to the conununity; and 

 it is only by observing and obeying natures laws that 

 we can hit upon improvements which may fee real 

 and lasting, whether in mechanical appliances for 

 plows, cart^ and harness, or with respect to the prac- 

 tical details of scientific cultivation, or the condition 

 and household comforts of our agricultural laborers. 

 Agriculture fosters and embraces in its maternal 

 oTOsp the knowledge of high and noble sciences as 

 well as that of " common thln^ :" and it is most un- 

 reasonable to hope that that powerful Society, which 

 pre-eminentiv repr^ents the influence, the talent,_the 

 enterprise, and the humanity of our English agricul- 

 turists, will, among the thousand-and-one other im- 

 provements which it has introduced and is introducing, 

 not deem it beneath its notice to throw the energy of 

 its influence against the unnatural system of bearing- 

 reins. — Mark Lane Express. 



HOUSE-FEEDING OF SHEEP. 



The house-feeding of sheep is surrounded with 

 many more difficulties than that of the ox, and hence 

 in practice has made less progress ; at the same time 

 examples are sufficiently numerous to prove that it is 

 not £i exception from the general rale that shelter 

 from the inclemency of our climate is necessary to 

 the health and proper development of the bodies of 

 all our domestic animals, and that this is best obtained 

 in properly-constructed feeding-boxes, on artificial or 

 mixed food. For example, breeders and feeders for 

 the exhibitions of the Fcoyal Agricultural Society 

 and Smithfield Club have 'found that they cannot 

 enter into competition on the out-door or natural sys- 

 tem against the artificial or house-feeding— unless for 

 i the ii&erior quality of stock ; and that before the 

 ! greatest weights can be obtained in the shortest time 

 I from a given quantity of food, it is necessary to have 

 I recourse to drv, well-ventilated and quiet feeding- 

 I boxes. And b'eades the cases of extra fat stock, the 

 apricultural press teems with examples of a more 

 I crtneral character, where results generally are recorded 

 j m favor of the system. But while the vast majority 

 are thus recorded, there is, nevertheless, a respectable 

 minority to the contrarv; so that, as yet, public 

 opinion is divided on the subject, and before unammity 

 can be expected to prevail a more careful investiga- 

 tion of experiments is necessary. 



In the prosecution of this important subject, ex- 

 periments should never lose sight of first principles ; 

 for their experiments, however carefully performed, 



