460 



NEW ENGLAIST) FARMER. 



Oct. 



wheat. You will find a great saving in your ex- 

 penses. You pay too much of your money to 

 middle men. On the principle of profit and econ- 

 omy, its cultivation ought to be encouraged. It 

 is a preferable grain to accompany clover and 

 herds grass for mowing purposes. 



For the Neio England Farmer. 

 MAD AND QOOD-NATUBED DOGS. 



Mr. Editor : — "Pray Keep up your War upon 

 Dogs," was the piece that first caught my atten- 

 tion on taking up the i-'anner this noon. Up 

 here in the country, we have no dog tax, and no 

 man is paid for the sheep which die or are killed 

 from his flock ; consequently, we do not have 

 many sheep killed by dogs. Our dogs are a great 

 benefit to us by driving stray cattle from our 

 doors and the wild animals from our premises. 

 I have a little dog, which "C." would shoot if he 

 had the liberty, Avho has killed twenty wood- 

 chucks this summer, and I have not heard of his 

 killing any sheep, although there are plenty round 

 here. "C." says, "Why give a bounty for wolves 

 and wild-cats while you allow protection to the 

 dogs, that do more damage in one year than all 

 the wild animals do in ten." How would they 

 catch their wild animals without dogs ? Would 

 they put their own noses to the ground and fol- 

 low them to their lair ? I trow not. Why do 

 not such persons as"C." give their full name and 

 place of residence ? or is he ashamed to be found 

 complaining against that useful and noble ani- 

 mal, the dog ? In no age has man found a more 

 faithful friend than his dog or horse. Man was 

 never so faithful to man as the dog to his master*. 

 The dog is a help to the farmer to protect his 

 fields, to the merchant to guard his property from 

 thieves and robbers, and to the citizen as a play- 

 mate for his children. Some dogs will kill sheep, 

 I allow, yet the generality of dogs will not. Why 

 not shoot every dove that flies over your prem- 

 ises, under the charge that he is no profit to his 

 owner, and that he destroys your grain fields ? 

 Why not shoot a man's rabbits, under the same 

 pretence ? Are the persons who talk about dogs' 

 damages the same that talk about the poor, abused 

 crow, or are they somebody else ? We have sub- 

 scribed for the Farmer ten years, and I have seen 

 much pro and con about the worthless dog. If 

 you know Mr. "C.'s" address, please send this 

 letter to him, or give it a place in your paper, 

 that he may see it. I call on every friend of the 

 dog to stand in his defence. 



Alexandria, N. H. George F. Holt. 



Remarks. — Nothing was made in vain. For 

 everything that the All-wise Creator has formed, 

 there is a proper place, where it may be made 

 useful to man. With our correspondent, the dog 

 may be so ; but he must not think strange that 

 others, who have suffered by the depredations of 

 dogs, should think differently. Where game is 

 abundant, and may be made useful as food, or 

 where it is dangerous, a good dog may be useful 

 to his master; but a man has no right to subject 

 me to the expense and danger of keeping a dog 

 to drive his cattle out of my fields or away from 



my door. There is a law in New Hampshire 

 which ought to regulate the matter of cattle run- 

 ning at large. 



Our correspondent says, "The dog is a help to 

 the citizen as a playmate for his children." If 

 he could see the awful cases of pain and terrible 

 death that we frequently find noticed in our ex- 

 change papers, caused by the bite of one of these 

 "playmates," we think he would sometimes shud- 

 der on seeing one of his children frolicking with 

 his dog. Two shocking cases — one of a man, 

 the other of a child — have occurred in the city of 

 Boston within a short time, where death ensued 

 in its most frightful form, and similar ones are 

 reported every week, if not every day in the year. 



In most parts of Massachusetts, there is cer- 

 tainly no real use for dogs. We have no bitter- 

 ness of feeling in this matter. Our rule is to 

 leave every man to the enjoyment of his own no- 

 tions, if they do not molest us or prejudice the 

 public. We like dogs, and kept them until we 

 became satisfied that, to us, they were both use- 

 less and dangerous, and since "poor Trim" died 

 of a bullet, causing every eye in the family to be 

 suffused with tears, no dog has been owned on 

 our premises. We could say of "Trim" as did 

 the soldier — 



"My dog's the trustiest of hia kinti, 

 "With gratitude inflames my mind ; 

 I mark hi8 true, his faithful way, 

 And in my service copy Tray." 



And "Trim" came to his end through his very 

 faithfulness. He never allowed a strange dog 

 upon the premises, unless accompanied by hia 

 master, and he never failed to drive them ofiF, 

 however large and ferocious they might be, — for 

 if he found one that was likely to prove too much 

 for him, like a lightning stroke, he v/ould catch 

 the fore paw of his enemy in his mouth, and put 

 one of his sharp canines through the leg, just 

 above the paw, and in an instant the stoutest 

 mastiff was his prisoner. This was not a chance 

 stroke, but his practice ; and, if the dog were a 

 large one, that terrible grip would sometimes con- 

 tinue for an hour. 



One day, a large black dog was seen upon the 

 premises, and "Trim," with his head up, and his 

 large, bushy tail curled gracefully over his back, 

 was warning him off in the true Pickwickian 

 style ; but the strange dog, disregarding the cour- 

 teous warnings of "Trim," resented and resisted ; 

 upon which some skirmishing took place, some 

 savage growls were heard, and not a little dog's 

 hair was seen going down the wind ! But he 

 ejected him, large as he was, from the premises, 

 and stood on the bank-wall snuffing the wind, the 

 very personification of a hero who had just won 

 a glorious field ! 



A few minutes later, in another part of the 



