1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



475 



did, •when the flies tormented him more than 

 the trap by which he was held. A friendly 

 swallow proposed to drive them away, "Oh, 

 no," said the fox; "these^ have their fill; 

 drive them away and another hungry swarm 

 will succeed, and rob me of every remaining 

 drop of blood in my veins." So the poor 

 horse stamps with his feet, switches with his 

 tail, and swings his head from side to side, 

 while hungr}' swarm after swarm succeed each 

 other, until darkness compels them to suspend 

 their voracious attacks. So the horse requires 

 more feed in consequence of this exertion, 

 and will often lose flesh, though working but 

 little and fed highly. 



Now all this is unnecessary, and ought not 

 to be so. A little care, and a very little gen- 

 ius, will prevent it all. 



Throw open the windows, and hang over 

 them an old piece of carpeting, horse-blanket, 

 or any other cloth that will exclude the light. 

 Keep the stalls dark, but admit light enough 

 before the horse to enable him to see clearly, 

 if possible. In very hot weather, close the 

 doors and windows during the day and open 

 them at night. 



In this arrangement, horses will stand just 

 as quietly in their stalls through the hot 

 weather as they do in the winter. They can 

 stand at rest or asleep at will, eat less, and are 

 better able to work than when constantly tor- 

 mented by flies. 



It is a matter of surprise that so many per- 

 sons — persons who are great lovers of the 

 horse, too — neglect these faithful animals in 

 this particular. They see that they are well 

 fed and groomed ; that they are not driven 

 too hard, or suffer from cold, and yet allow 

 them to be eaten alive during the heats of 

 summer ! 



In some neighborhoods, the stamping of 

 horses in the stables may be heard all around 

 during all the long summer days. On some 

 farms the noise is as familiar as the cricket's 

 song in an August evening, A radical change 

 in this matter ought to take place every- 

 where. 



When on the road, or on the farm at work, 

 the horse is in a defenceless condition. He is 

 buckled up, strapped up, and hitched up, so 

 that he can scarcely turn right or left to de- 

 fend himself, and yet very little is done to 

 protect him from annoyances which some- 



times well-nigh lead him to madness. In 

 passing through a piece of wood in a hot 

 day, we have seen yellow flies dart upon the 

 horses in a shower, and in many places where 

 they struck a drop of blood would instantly 

 follow. When reined up by the check so that 

 their heads cannot reach the ground, they 

 sometimes drop upon their knees, and plunge 

 the nose into the soft earth, to drive off some 

 insect whose sting or bite becomes unbearable. 

 All this is allowed, when most of it might be 

 prevented by a few yards of the thinnest cot- 

 ton cloth, or nets, or grass cloths made for the 

 purpose. 



If an "ounce of prevention is better than a 

 pound of cure," we wish the Society for the 

 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals would urge 

 these considerations upon all owners of horses. 



The following formula is given in one of the 



late Dr. Dadd's books, to protect animals 



against the torture of flies and insects : — 



Walnut leaves 4 ounces. 



Lobelia leaves 4 " 



Boiling water , 1 gallon. 



When cool, strain it, and add four ounces of 

 the tincture of aloes, and apply a small quan- 

 tity to the surface by means of a sponge. 



PEAS FOR POBK-MAKINQ, 

 New England farmers have always raised 

 peas for pig-fattening, often in connection 

 with oats. The following good word for peas 

 we find in Mr. Harris' book on the Pig, which, 

 as he served his apprenticeship at farming in 

 England, is probably based on English rather 

 than Yankee practice. 



Few things would pay a grain growing far- 

 mer better than to raise peas for his pigs. No 

 matter how "buggy" the peas may be, the 

 bugs or beetles pemain in the peas u.ntil about 

 the first of November ; and when the peas are 

 fed out before this time, the pigs will eat peas 

 and bugs together, and there will be but Ijttlt 

 loss. Nothing makes firmer or better pork 

 and lard than p?as, and the manure from pea 

 fed pigs is exceedingly rich. A heavy crop 

 of peas, too, is a capital crop to produce 

 winter wheat. They wi41 smother the weeds, 

 and if sown early, are off the land in good 

 season to altow thorough working of the land 

 before wheat sowing. 



If other food is scarce, a few of the peas 

 may be cut in June, as soon as the pods are 

 formed, and fed green to t-he pigs, and a daily 

 allowance may be fed until the peas are fully 

 ripe. In fact many farmers feed all their 

 peas to the pigs without threshing. But this 

 is a wastelul plan. When the peas are ripe, 



