THE INSTINCT OF THE SCOTCH COLLIE. 243 



*' Wattie," as we called him, observed the old cat now and then 

 carrying her kittens from place to place, and he took it into his head 

 to help her, but singularly enough never offered to carry any but 

 one a little black fellow. The cat carried her kittens, as cats do, 

 only with some definite purpose to hide them, but Wattie seemed to 

 have no such purpose with the black kitten he appropriated, and 

 seemingly did so only for mischief, for he kept at it even after the 

 black kitten had got to be a sedate, full grown puss. She never re- 

 sented it, and seemed to have as much satisfaction in being carried 

 around as Wattie had in carrying her. We got him so trained that 

 if we ordered him to "bring the black cat," even if a hundred yards 

 away, he bounded towards her, and taking her tenderly by the back 

 of the neck brought her all curled up to our feet. It was a curious 

 feature in the Collie, for he is not usually a carrying dog. Another 

 very comical practice of Wattie's was his encouragement of tramps. 

 If a tramp made his appearance at the gate, if Wattie happened to be 

 around he gave him to understand by his gambols that he was safe 

 and welcome, his practice being to run ahead of him and show him 

 the way to the basement. One morning tramps were more than 

 usually plentiful, and when Wattie had introduced the third one to 

 the cook for breakfast her patience became exhausted and she re- 

 monstrated with him, exclaiming: "Goodness, beast! what do you 

 mean? This is the third one you've brought this morning." But it 

 was discovered that like too many of his masters, Wattie had an axe 

 to grind in his seeming hospitality, for the tramps were in the habit 

 of giving him a part of their breakfast. Another true trait of the 

 Collie was possessed by Wattie. We had him trained so that we 

 could send him to hide behind the house and return at our call a 

 score of times in as many minutes. He undoubtedly knew the 

 meaning of simple words, for if ordered to go and hide in the most 

 ordinary tone of voice, without even looking at him, he never failed 

 to do so, returning from his hiding place on being told just as 

 promptly as a child of five or six years old would do. He was bit by 

 a rabid dog and I had to shoot him. I don't believe I would have 

 exchanged him for the most valuable Jersey cow in your herd. 



USEFUL TABLES FOR THE FARM. 



The following table of proper quantities of farm seeds for an acre 

 of ground will often be found useful for reference. It will be 

 observed that the quantities are somewhat more than is usual in 

 tables of this character; but we have found that it is always safest 

 not to risk the welfare of a crop for a little extra seed: 



