1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARIMER. 



391 



been cast out discerned by a little practice and 

 care. When found, insert a wire with a very 

 small point turned up on the end, by which the 

 invader may be drawn out and killed. 



DOCTORING HORSES. 



There are certain practices with horses that 

 are sick, which are popular, certainly, but are 

 just as certainly not only unfeeling but abso- 

 lutely cruel. In the first place, the probability 

 is that not more than one horse in ten would be 

 sick in the whole course of his life, unless 

 through some carelessness, some want of 

 knowledge, or some cruelty of man. And yet, 

 when sick, how often it is that some terrible 

 dose is administered, such as a pint of gin or 

 rum, a half pint of castor oil in spirits of tur- 

 pentine, or a tremendous "ball of aloes," to 

 say nothing of the potent caustics, such as 

 bichloride of mercury, arsenic, nitrate of sil- 

 ver, sulphate of copper, &c., &c. 



"The horse's body," it is said, "docs not 

 quickly respond to opening medicine, but the 

 action, once eliciteil, is not invariably easy to 

 command. The animal's life is frequently a 

 prey to a potent purgative. The veterinarian 

 knows that the different creatures vary much 

 in their capacity of swallowing amounts of 

 aloes ; that the dose which will not move one 

 quadruped may destroy the inhabitant of the 

 next stall. One creature will imbibe two 

 ounces of the drug without marked effect, 

 another will be shaken by the action of less 

 than half an ounce of the same preparation." 



This practice is all wrong, and should never 

 be allowed by owners of horses. There can 

 be no doubt that many valuable animals are 

 lost by such desperate prescriptions. 



Among the first evils practiced is that of us- 

 ing the horse too soon. Few of them are now 

 permitted to grow until their sinews and mus- 

 cles are matured. A frequent, but light and 

 gentle use of young horses is undoubtedly 

 good for them ; but one fatigue, or strain, may 

 affect their whole life. Too often the impa- 

 tience of gain seizes the colt and subjects him 

 to long travel or hard labor, which brings on 

 one of the countless diseases or lamenesses to 

 which he is liable, and from which he never 

 fully recovers. 



Because the horse can endure, and will pa- 

 tiently endure, a vast amount of hard labor, 

 neglect and even cruel treatment, only a few 

 peraons reflect upon the marvellous delicacy of 



his construction. If they would study this 

 more, they would neglect, or over-drive, or 

 ovei'load the animals less. 



Half or more of all our horses are mean in 

 spirit and form. They come from old and dis- 

 eased animals to begin with ; animals loaded 

 with quarter-cracks, spavin, bots, rheumatism, 

 ring-bone, founder, grease, string-halt, and 

 forty other things, and with these they possess 

 some other faults, which makes them anything 

 but safe and agreeable, — such as stumbling, 

 running, and shying, though the latter may be 

 occasioned by the unnecessary and senseless 

 use of blinders. It is time a reformation were 

 commenced. 



From Chambers' Journal. 

 SUMMER IDLENESS. 



Under a "roof of pine," 



To hoar the ringdove brood, 

 With the sorrow of lung past, 



Thrillina; the listening wood; 

 Deep 'raid the clustering firs, 



Where the nightingale sings all day, 

 To hide in the diirknet^s sweet, 



Where the sunbeam finds no way. 



To ramble from field to field, 



Where the poppy is all on flame, 

 All but the little black coal 



At its core, that's still the same; 

 And where the ''speedwell" blue 



Cheers with its two kind words. 

 And the wild rose burns with a blush 



At the flattery of the birds. 



To bask on a grassy clifi", 



Lazily wutcliing the sail. 

 The blue plains of the deeper sea, 



And the shallows emerald pale; 

 The breezes' rippling track, 



And the sea-birds flickering white 

 Athwart the rosy cloud, 



And under the golden light. 



In the haycock sweet and dry, 



To lazily nestle down. 

 When halifthe field is grey and shorn, 



And half the field waves brown; 

 'Mid the clumps of purple thyme, 



When the evening sky is red, 

 To lie and rest on the llowers 



One's Epicurean head. 



Or, better, amid the corn. 



To turn on one's lazy back, 

 And see the lark upborn 



Over the drifting wrack ; 

 To hear the field-mouse run 



To its nei^t in the swinging stalk; 

 And see the timorous hare 



Limp over the hedge-side walk. 



Buch are the summer joys 



That Epicureans love; 

 Men with no morrow to heed, 



Heeding no cloud above : 

 Grasshopper-men, that sing 



Their little summer through, 

 And when the winter comes, 



Hide from the frost and dew. 



Happy the man whose heart 



Is granite against Time's frost, 

 Whose summer of calm content 



In autumn 's never lost; 

 Who, when care comes with clouds 



That gatht r from east and west, 

 Has still a changeless heart, 



And sunshine in his breast. 



