214 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



faculty tlie characters of men and horses as depicted upon their 

 countenances. It has been said, doubtless with much truth, 

 that Mr. John S. Rarey,the famous horse-breaker, was familiar 

 with every thought and feeling of which a horse was capable, 

 and that this knowledge, resulting in part from his extensive 

 experience and still more from his natural insight into the 

 character of the horse, was the principal cause of his astonish- 

 ing boldness and marvellous success. If there be any talent 

 born in the man, it is the faculty to govern and to teach, and 

 lience really excellent instructors are by no means numerous. 

 There are two very unlike kinds of government — the one com- 

 mon to men and beasts, and which may be called the govern- 

 ment of brute force or of fear, and the other practiced by those 

 intelligent and humane individuals who are able to appreciate 

 and apply it, and which may be called the government of kind- 

 ness. Among animals the stoutest and fiercest bear undisputed 

 sway over their weaker companions, simply because they are 

 sure to inflict bodily injury upon all offenders ; and the same 

 principle is commonly employed by men in the discipline and 

 training of both human beings and dumb beasts. If the sailor, 

 or soldier, or school-boy, or child is disobedient, severe corporal 

 punishment is the almost universal consequence with very 

 sliglit regard to the circumstances which may have attended 

 the commission of the fault. In the same way horses, oxen and 

 other domestic animals are habitually flogged and abused with- 

 out the least consideration of causes or results. Consequently? 

 they have neither love for, nor confidence in, their masters, and 

 instead of laboring with a cheerful spirit to the best advantage, 

 they become either stupid, spiritless drudges, or nervous and 

 unmanageable machines, or finally revengeful, fighting brutes, 

 disposed to do as little good and as much harm as possible. 



In the government of kindness it may be necessary to resort 

 to severe measures in special cases, but instead of incessant 

 threatening and whipping by which all the worst passions are 

 aroused, habitual and ready obedience is secured by rational 

 means. In the management of animals and young children, a 

 correct method is even more important than in the case of men, 

 because they are incapable of reasoning upon the subject, and 

 therefore of inferring or supplying any thing which may be 

 omitted in the instructions. They arc also unable to under- 



