56 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



looked upon as a cruel and useless practice, •which 

 undoubtedly impairs the strength and action of the 

 horse, and may sometimes seriously injure the con- 

 stitution. 



Great care should bo used, in breaking colts, to have 

 them kind ; and there is but little difficulty in this, 

 provided they have projjer and gentle treatment. 

 They very seldom need but little if any whipping. 

 They should be learned to do their -work in an easy 

 and handsome manner, and -without fretting. A 

 horse that is trained to chafe and dance in the har- 

 ness, or under the saddle, may do very well for fops 

 and horse-jockeys, but it is not what a sensible man 

 wants in a horse designed for service, as it is a waste 

 of strength and action without accomplishing any 

 useful purpose. And in forming an opinion of a 

 restless horse, it will bo well to consider whether the 

 apparent energy and action is natural, or whether it 

 is brought about by ("/•(zmt'^^r and the ^car of the braid. 

 All of which is respectfully submitted. 

 In behalf of the Committee, 



EEENEZER BllIDGE, C/ialrman. 



LANGUAGE OF BARN-YARD FOWLS. 



Fowls use a great variety of language that be- 

 comes familiar to those who have the care of them, 

 and the voice of the parent is well known to the 

 young. When a hawk is approaching, the caution- 

 ary voice of the mother induces her young brood to 

 hide instantly. When the danger is past, a different 

 note of her voice calls them forth. 



We put a hen and her brood of chickens into a 

 garden of vegetables to devour the insects that had 

 become numerous. They all ate freely under the 

 approving voice of their mother. "VVe gently drove 

 them to a carrot-bed, where large, green worms were 

 on the i^lants. As soon as the hen came near these 

 Avorms, she gave a caution to her chickens, and her 

 language was perfectly understood, and, with im- 

 lilicit obedience, they made their escape from the 

 place of danger. These are but few among numer- 

 ous cases. The following extract from the " Natural 

 History and Anticxuities of Shelborne " depicts, in 

 beautiful style, the power of language possessed by 

 barn-yard fowls. 



" No inhabitants of a yard seem possessed of such 

 a variety of expression and so copious a language as 

 common poultry. Take a chicken of four or five 

 days old, and hold it up to a Avindow Avherc there 

 are flies, and it will immediately seize its prey, with 

 little twitterings of complacency ; but if you tender 

 it a Avasp or a bee, at once its note becomes harsh, 

 and cxpressiA'C of disapprobation and a sense of dan- 

 ger. When a pullet is ready to lay, she intimates 

 the CA^ent by a joyous and easy, soft note. Of all the 

 occurrences of their life, that of laying seems to be 

 the most important ; for no sooner has a hen disbur- 

 dened herself, than she rushes forth Avith a clamorous 

 kind of joy, Avhich the cock and the rest of his mis- 

 tresses immediately adopt. The tumult is not con- 

 fined to the family concerned, but catches from yard 

 to yard, and spreads to every homestead within hear- 

 ing, till at last the whole village is in an uproar. As 

 soon as the hen becomes a mother, her new relation 

 demands a new language ; she then runs clucking 

 and screaming about, and seems agitated as if pos- 

 sessed. The father of the fiock has also a consider- 

 able vocabulary ; if he finds food, he calls a favorite 

 to partake ; and if a bhd of prey passes OA'or, Avith a 

 warning voice he bids his family beware. The gal- 



lant chanticleer has, at command, liis amorous 

 phrases and his terms of defiance. But the sound by 

 Avhich he is best known is his crowing : by this he 

 has been distinguished in all ages as the country- 

 man's clock or 'larum, as the watchman that pro- 

 claims the divisions of the night. Thus the poet 

 elegantly styles him 



-the crested cock, whose clarion sounds 



The silent hours. 



FLAX-WATER AS MANURE. 



It is Avell known to farmers, or it was in days of 

 flax-raising, that flax is a great exhauster, and will 

 not bear a succession of crops ; and in Ireland and 

 Holland, where a great deal of flax is raised, this 

 crop is taken only once in five or six years, as it ex- 

 hausts the soil of some ingredients Avhich it requii'cs 

 several years to restore. 



But by scientific experiments that have been made 

 within a few years, it is ascertained that those ex- 

 tracted from the eaith by the flax, Avhich tends so 

 much to exhaustion, are not in the fibre Avhich is 

 wanted for use, but mostly in the refuse, and the 

 soluble parts that remain in the water in Avhich 

 the flax Avas rotted, water-rotting being the general 

 practice in those countries. 



By returning the refuse of flax, including the 

 water, to the soil, it would bear a succession. Thus 

 science aids the practical farmer and explains Avhat 

 might appear as a mystery. This view of the subject 

 is confirmed by the following article : — 



Flax-Steep Water as a Manure for Floavers. 



" I used the water in which I had flax steeped as a 

 manure for flowers last year. I followed up the ex- 

 periment this year ; and although I Avas from home 

 for five Avecks, during Avhich time none of the plants 

 had been Avatered Avith the flax-steep, still I am 

 able to say that those dahlias to Avhich I used the 

 Avater early continued to keep ahead of those not so 

 treated. The latter grew from two and a half to 

 three feet high, Avhile those to Avhich steep-Avater 

 Avas applied, grew from scA'en to eight feet high, 

 Avhen three of them broke down, the sticks being 

 too Aveak to support them against the wmd ; but 

 their beauty, from the abundance of bloom, surpassed 

 any thing that I haA^e seen. I haA'e not manured 

 my garden for these last four years, being determined 

 to keep it poor, in order to try Avhat effect llax-Avater 

 Avould haA'C in producing good full-grown floAvers in 

 cold Avorn-out soil. I am noAV able to assert that 

 none of my neighbors had such a bloAV of roses or 

 dahlias as I have had ; and to them I can refer, as 

 they were Avitnesses of the fact. I had, by the 

 use of flax-Avater last year, dahlias from ten to 

 twelA'e feet high, loaded Avith the most perfect 

 flowers. This rich liquid manure (for it desciwes 

 the name) Avill be found invaluable to market 

 gardeners and groAvers of floAvers. I find it to anni- 

 hilate the green fly." — J. Dickson, British Flax 

 Mills. 



Lost wealth may be restored by industry — the 

 Avreck of health regained by temperance — forgotten 

 knowledge restored by study — alienated friendship 

 soothed into forgetfulness — even forfeited reputa- 

 tion Avon by penitence and virtue. But who CA'er 

 again looked upon his vanished hours — recalled his 

 slighted years, stamped them with wLsdom, and 

 cfi'aced from Heaven's record the fearful blot of 

 Avastcd tune ? 



