X 



Published bu John B. Rdssem., at JVo. 5'-i Vorth Market Street, (over the ^grieultitral fVarehouse). — Thomas Q. Pessei»i>en, Editor. 



VOL.VT 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1828. 



N0..35. 



AGRICULTURE 



FOR THB NEW ENO 



AND FARMER. 



I would quote, if I hail the book, the words of 

 Vcjptius, vvhi wrote in the rei^n of ValTitinian, 

 when the wh'>lp world was interested in horse 

 fle«h, and who calls tHrninff horses out at all sea 

 HORSES. ] sons a Hnnni-h practice. He wrote for the clim- 



SiR— In my first cominunication.for "relaxations' ates of .Syria and Spain. The benefit to a horse 

 of luxury," read •■emulalions, &c." a very differ- )of rejrnlar work and nourishinc food increases his 

 ent thing ; in the ni"th paragraph, as it is printed, powers for years in succession. He appears to 

 for "last observation," read "last observation in jrrow thicker. A particular kind of horse, who, 

 the last sentence ;"for "•diiferent," read "unnatur- to use such an expression, carries his work in 

 al ;" for "caries of tha bones; — which are," read his leirs and his carcass, and not in any original 

 "caries of the bones of the foot: which appear to jroodness of his own, n stasre-coach proprietor 

 be ;" there should have been no dashes ; ia my j must frequently notice this fact in; and he is the 

 second comniutiicition. for "a superior bone,"read j most viluahle horse he can tret. I mean a horse, 



natnrnllv of modernte powers of performance for 

 ri sino-jp dav, but who has a deep carcass, with an 

 insensible foot and consequently has open to him 

 a chance of receivinff the highest desree of im 

 Drovement to he derived from a succession of 

 /ears of strong food anr' stron? exercise. 



2. As to how he should he confined in the sta 

 kle The universal practice in Massachusetts, as 

 ii most other nlacpa. is to tie him in a narrow sttll 

 with hu-. fore feet higher than his hind ones. In 

 sime stables the declivity is very considerable. 

 I' is mv opinion, that if there must be a declivity, 

 it shoiild he forwards A horse worked every 

 diy on a fast trot over a hard road, as a coach 

 lurse, sufFers enough in his fore feet when he is 

 ound. One of the first siyns of incipient disease 

 1 thern, nr rather of the crowded state which pre- 



•a superior horse;" for "more than any o(her 

 horse, read "more than at any other age." I will 

 now make a. few remarks upon the treatment of a 

 horse kept for his work. 



1. As to whetlier he should ever be turned out. 

 It was once the received opinion of Knglish sports- 

 men, that he should be perioilically brought back 

 to what some people considered his natural state, 

 turned out to grass, deprived of bis corn and his 

 shelter from the weather. Hunters, consequent 

 ly, e.Nceptins; those of a few sagacious individuals, 

 were regularly turned to jrass to shift for them- 

 selves in the summer. This system has been, of 

 latf years, attacked by a very powerful and cIhs- 

 sical writer, who asserts, that as to periorni the 

 work of an English hunter, the horse's strength 

 must be vastly increased upon nature by. a lonif 



uninterrupted course of high keep in tlie stable, iceries disease, is his throwing his weight as much 

 to turn him out, is not only to expose him to ruin as he can on his hind less I aiii inclined to doubt 



from taking cold, hut to throw away all his 

 quired strength. The continued summer rest of 

 a hunter, which a horse not exposed to the same 

 exertions does not require, he says, can be tak- 

 en in a small inclosure at home, the dampness of 

 the earth can be supplied by standing in wet 

 clay, some hours every day, and the grass, if he 

 must have it, can be put into his crib. The ultra 

 stabulist has completely triumphed, and convinced 

 the English nation, that where a horse is kept ten 

 months of the year in a heated atmosphere, to 

 sleep upon the dam ground, in a variable climate, 

 the remaining two, can do him no good whatever. 

 In our cities, when a horse gets weak or lame. 



the fact of his preferring- to stand up hill under 

 such circumstances. One reason for such an opin- 

 io!' is the manner in which his weight is thrown 

 on his toes when he stands up hill, even if his 

 he;ls are raised. Another ffreat disadvantaco of 

 his standing so is that he throws the whole weight 

 of his forehand upon the same muscles and ten- 

 dois he uses most in drausrht. It is certainly of 

 imiortance. that if be must have an unnatural 

 stnin any where when he is not at work, it should 

 not be where the strain must be where he is. It 

 is I vast comfort to a horse to be kept in a box. 

 He should be able to choose his own position, at 

 least to sleep in. and relieve what muscles he 



who is used to a hot, dry stable, perhaps to being Iwishes to. In a stall, he must sleep, through life, 

 clothed, with a plethorick system begging for di- with his head held in the air, and his le^s unde- 

 scases of the lungs and throat, incalculahl) less his body. His gettinj cast in a box is not a com- 

 accustomed to the nig: t air than the generality of mon occurrence. Ten feet square will do well ; 

 men, he is sent into the country to be turned out ; if he cannot have a larger one In a box he is 

 particularly in the autumn, when the weather first freed from the torment of hearing walking and 

 changes to cold, and he is changing his coat! If talking behind him. 



any person will go into a large livery stable in ;}. As to how he should be fed. I have never 

 .Boston in May, before the windows are taken out 1 yet met with a person having the charge of hors 

 for the summer, when the doors are opened al j es, who in my opinion attached sufficient impor 

 daybreak, he will find, that though he canuo' re ] tance to the impropriety of allowing a horse his 

 main an instant in it himself, the horses have been usual allowance of corn when suffering from cold. 



quietly sleeping-. sometimes two in a stall, their own 

 breath and eflluvia chiefly confined to their con- 

 tracted stalls, their nostrils the farthest possible 

 from the air, that they are most of them in good 

 health, and some in high condition. After the 

 efforts nature must ha\e made to bear this, will 

 she instantly retrace her steps.' That she will, is 

 defend«d and acted upon by persons who think 

 they uudei-Btand horse-flesh. To such persons, 



Not only is the corn thrown away, but it must al- 

 ways do him some harm, and may do him a great 

 deal. Many horses that suffer from a thickening 

 of the windpipe, a disease for which we have here 

 no name, many that are brokenwinded, many that 

 are ruined in their feet, may have it ascribed to 

 being fed on severe colds. The corn increases 

 the disorder of the system by the difficulty with 

 which it is digested, and when digested, it exag- 



gerates what tei dency may exist to local inflama- 

 tion. Oats are t le least dangerous corn, they be- 

 ing here so very light. There is another remark, 

 which I would make, which is, that no horse 

 should be fed higher than usual, when forced to 

 any accid.-ntal - iolent exertion. He never ought 

 to be forcerj;.jo"" any, which he has not been, iii 

 some deirree, prepared for ; and his ability tO' . 

 make it, shoul.l be looked f-.r, from the previous_ ,•' 

 preparatitm, iiot from any unusual means of sup- • 

 porting his st cngth. Oats appear to be the corn 

 best suited W a horse's stomach ; but he wants 

 somethincr better than ours for full work. There 

 is to an experienced eye, a particular lightiiesE 

 and hollowness between the hip joint -drnt'^^^^. 

 stifle joint, in worked horses that get nothing bet- 

 ter than oats, which is not to be seen in those that 

 get Indian corn As I observed in my last com- 

 munication, there is a great difference, generally, 

 in the constitution of the round-chested, and the 

 deep and n.arrow horse. The fitst has a much 

 more comfortable one to deal with ; the other is of- 

 ten strouffer, faster and better winded ; but varies 

 infinitely from day to day; feels the seasons more* 

 ia not so good v feeder ; nor ought he to b?; for. , 

 his stomach is weaker and more readily oppress^' 

 ed. . . •• 



4. As to hovv' he should be worked. It is a com- 

 mon pr.nctice in Massachusetts to water horses 

 just before thy leave their stable. This is ridi- 

 culous : hut 1 worse practice is to water them 

 during their stap-o ; which last is universal. They 

 unquestionably inay become accustomed to it, as 

 to any thinff eUe ; but it injures many of them. 

 If driven on a^'ain immediately, and thrown into 

 new perspiration, it may possibly prevent the wa- 

 ter from injuritig them ; but 1 entirely question 

 the fact of its l-ssening the fatiguing effects of 

 their work. I know that it is hard to tire a pe- 

 destrian that will drink but little ; and that if he 

 is to walk all day, every tumbler of water, drunk 

 when hot. takes two or three miles from a pedes- 

 trian's day's work. It is also a common practice 

 to drive horses throui_'h a stream of water when 

 they are hot, to rr'fresh them. The immediate ef- 

 fect, unquestionably, is to refresh them ; but they 

 soon fefl an increased stiffness from it. It is the 

 practice of some people to tie them up after they 

 come in. in the strongest draught of air which can 

 he founi, (a damp brick yard where the sun never 

 shines is still better), and wash their legs with 

 cold water. This is jroing for the whole. The 

 universal manner in w hich coach horses are driv- 

 en in Massachusetts is reprehensible. They are 

 starteil oft' at a pace much faster than they arc 

 expected to hold, and continually galloped for 

 short listances. when the pace at which they are 

 expeced to perform their stage does not exxeed 

 SIX orso^en miles in the hour. I do not believe 

 that occasional gallo'iing relieves the horses in 

 slow coaches, where the hills do not render it 

 necessary. I believe they should always be driven 

 as nparly as possible at the same pace ; and it 

 certainly has a much more coachmanlike appear- 

 ance. 



No horse is worth breeding now, that will not 

 be able to trot over a fair road his ten miles in the 

 hour, with ease to himself ; and to do this he 



