28 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 



art's Stable Economy. It should be read by the farmer ; and 

 just as much by every man, of whatever calling, who uses a 

 horse, or owns one. It is of standard authority in England. 

 Mr. Stewart has long been a professor in veterinary institutes. 

 Every man ought to know how to treat a sick horse. Sup- 

 pose a horse to be taken sick on a journey ; most frequently 

 the driver is the only one at hand' to prescribe. If you are 

 at a tavern, of what use, generally speaking, are the brag- 

 ging pretensions of those that crowd around you ? Stop- 

 ping for a night at a wretched hole of a tavern, one of my 

 horses, at night fell sick. I knew no more than a child 

 what to do ; the landlord (ah me ! I shall never forget him !) 

 was equally ignorant and much more indiiferent. A big, 

 bragging, English booby was the only one pretending to 

 know what to do ; and to him I yielded the animal. After 

 sundry manipulations — punching him in the loins ; pulling 

 at his ears, etc. — he rolled up a wad of hair from his tail, 

 and crammed it down the horse's throat! presuming, I 

 suppose, that the hair would find its Avay back to the place 

 it came from, and so pilot the disease out! I inwardly 

 resolved never to go another journey until in possession 

 of the best remedies for the attacks common to horses on 

 the road. 



Preparing Cuttings in the Fall. — Cuttings of the 

 currant, gooseberry, and grape are better if cut immedi- 

 ately on the fall of the leaf, plunged into moist sand two- 

 thirds of their length, and placed in a cellar. If nature is 

 as propitious to others as she has been to us, the cuttings* 

 will be found in the spring with the granulations completed 

 at the lower end, and the roots just ready to push ; and on 

 being planted out, they grow off immediately, forming dur- 

 ing the season well established plants. 



