NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



55 



suming the crop was returned to the soil, there 

 ■would bo but very little exhaustion. 



Hon. Mr. Brooks, of Princeton, inquired to what 

 soils charcoal should be applied. He remarked that 

 brine and plaster were good to fix ammonia. Would 

 not these do as well as charcoal ? 



Mr. Teschomachcr replied, that charcoal dust should 

 be put into the compost heap and applied to any soil. 



Then followed a conversation in regard to the 

 effects of charcoal, and it Avas settled that it was in- 

 destructible, and not a fertilizer, but an absorbent of 

 fertilizing gases. 



Mr. Brooks said that he composted his manui'es in 

 a barn cellar, and he found that sixteen loads thus 

 prepared were worth as much as twenty-four loads 

 as he used to apply them green, and the shrinkage 

 was small in proportion, not more than one fourth 

 or one eighth. In England biu'nt clay is used as an 

 absorbent. 



lion. J. C. Gray, of Cambridge, said, that ho used 

 plaster of Paris as an absorbent, and that is as cheap 

 as any substance. A great improvement had been 

 made by composting manures, which prevented waste 

 by burning or becoming fire-fangled, as it is called. 



Mr. William Parker, of Boston, (owns a paper 

 mill in Sudbury,) said, that we ought to take care of 

 manure as well as make it. Farmers lost much 

 manure by exposure to rains, winds, sun, and frost. 

 Freezing is very injurious to manure. He uses sand 

 under his horses as an absorbent of the liquid manure. 

 With peat, and dust, and leach from his mill, which 

 is similar to soap suds, he made four or five hun- 

 dred loads of manure in a year. This was frequently 

 removed to his barn cellar, and spread over the ani- 

 mal manure. 



Hon. Mr. Leonard, of Norton, observed that econ- 

 omy was necessary, in order for the farmer to make 

 a profit, as labor was high. He used the fine dust 

 from coal-pits, in his famr yard and barn cellar- ; if 

 not enough, he used fine earth. 



Governor Reed said, that he was much pleased 

 with the practical remarks. He used three parts of 

 peat with one of animal manure, and in that way 

 made four times as much manure. 



This subject is continued for discussion, and will 

 be reported in our next number. 



BREEDING HORSES. 



We clip the following from a report made at the 

 last fair of the Windsor County Agricultural Society, 

 by the Committee on Horses. The report is the best 

 paper we have seen among those yet produced by 

 the agency of our County Societies. The 7-easons for 

 making the awards arc given in full, with excellent 

 practical remarks on the business of breeding horses. 

 It will repay a careful perusal. — Vermont State 

 Agriculturist. 



Your committee are of opinion that there is no 

 branch of stock-raising more profitable than the 

 rearing of the best of horses ; and they consider there 

 Ls no trouble in accomplishing this, provided that 

 none but the very best stallions are bred to, and 

 none are bred from, any but excellent horses, which, 

 by the way, are very scarce and hard to be obtained, 

 and for the following reasons : Owing to the hi"h 



price good " horse flesh " will ever command, the 

 majority of our best mares, as soon as they come to 

 maturity, find their way into our village and city 

 markets, and are never allowed to breed, save a few 

 that may be returned to the country after becoming 

 unsound in limb, or having their constitution broke 

 down with hard usage and old ago ; and many that 

 remain among the farmers are valued so highly for 

 their labor and fine a])pcarance, that they arc never 

 permitted to breed until they are in a similar condi- 

 tion to those returned from our business markets. 

 The consequence is, that nearly all of our horses arc 

 produced from the most ordinary nrares, or unsound 

 ones. An unsoundness of the limbs may not impair 

 the value of a breeding mare, but if she has a weakened 

 constitution, it must mrwo or less impair the strength, 

 Sliced, and endurance of the offspring, although they 

 may have fine forms. Your committee believe it 

 would be far more profitable to purchase and breed 

 from maros worth one himdred and fifty dollars than 

 from those whose average value for the last ten 

 years, in a sound state, has been no more than forty 

 dollars, (and this we believe is the class of a majority 

 of our breeding mares.) From mares of this stamp, 

 and to good stallions, we cannot raise colts which, at 

 four years old, would have sold, through the above- 

 mentioned time, higher than fifty dollars to seventy- 

 five dollars ; whereas, from the first class of mares, 

 and to the same stallions, we could A\ith equal cer- 

 tainty raise colts that would command double these 

 prices, and occasionally one may command four times 

 as much. 



Another thing that has a great tendency to multi- 

 ply the number of poor horses is, that farmers too 

 often estimate the profit of raising colts by the first 

 cost of getting them — bestowing their patronage 

 where they can be insured with a foal for the least 

 money, and frequently to a horse of ordinary quali- 

 ties ; when, by the addition of a few dollars, they 

 might secure the services of a horse whose stock 

 would afford them a profit similar to that spoken of 

 with the best class of breeding marcs. It should be 

 remarked, however, that stallions are of a much 

 higher qualitj' than the breeding nrares. Take them 

 as a whole, there has been a great improvement in 

 them, within a few years. And although we may 

 have only a few but what are valuable horses, yet 

 there is a great difference between them, — and even 

 among those of a very high order. Independent of 

 the pecuniary advantages of breeding from none but 

 the very best of horses and sires, one may enjoy 

 according to the fancy of the owner, from five dollars 

 to twenty dollars' worth of satisfaction, in producing 

 a superior animal. 



Allow your committee to throw out a few hints in 

 relation to breeding colts — docking, nicking, framing. 

 Colts should always bo kept in a good condition ; 

 not extravagantly fed, yet they should have some- 

 thing more than drj' food the first two winters. The 

 starving of colts will not only impede their growth, 

 but will bring on a contraction of the ribs, cords, 

 and muscles, especially about the chests and 

 shoulders, that will more or less impair their power, 

 action, sj^eed, and endurance, after coming to ma- 

 turity. 



It is the opinion of your committee that a horse 

 will have the most perfect strength and action with 

 a natural tail ; yet for appearance they would recom- 

 mend a moderate docking, which should be governed 

 by the build of the animal and the character of the 

 tail ; but we should very seldom leave a dock of less 

 than twelve inches ; and the docking shoidd bo per- 

 formed when the colts are one or two years old, (one. 

 year old is preferable.) Colts may bo docked at 

 these ages with less injury to them than when 

 nearly grown ; they will have more of a bush to the 

 tail, with longer hair, and will be inclined to carry 

 it in a more elevated position. Nicking should be 



