492 



NEW ENGLAND FARJklER. 



Oct. 



fair a few remarkable animals, and continually 

 parading their feats and dwelling upon the 

 money made by them, has caused many a man 

 to attempt to produce likewise a fast steed, 

 who, after all his care and expense, has seen 

 his labors come to naught. With this one 

 object in view, breeders have gone to an ex- 

 treme, and are filling the country with stock 

 horses said to be fast, when they were not 

 needed. Had the enterprise been expended 

 in producing horses of all work, roadsters and 

 draught-horses, the capital would have been 

 better invested, and greater and more lasting 

 benefits would have been apparent, because 

 there is a great and growing demand for horses 

 of these classes. Plain farmers can breed 

 animals of the latter description with some 

 certainty of a remuneration. Great speed is, 

 of all qualities, the least desirable to farmers ; 

 a rapid walk, ability to draw, are qualities 

 that will always render a horse saleable. 



There are too many dull, slow-walking, 

 slightly built, and stnall horses in our markets. 

 More time is lost daily by slow walking than 

 has been gained by all the improvements in 

 high speed. 



Another point to be considered in connec- 

 tion with these trials of speed is the immedi- 

 ate effect upon the horses. Trotting inside of 

 three minutes requires great exertion ; few 

 horses can do it without taxing their powers to 

 the utmost. It is like loading a horse with the 

 last pound he can draw, just to see him pull. 

 Because a horse can draw two or three tons, it 

 is no reason for putting that load upon him ; 

 and because a horse can trot a mile inside of 

 2.40, is it kind, merciful usage to put him to 

 that test for amusement ? Did these trials of 

 speed serve to strengthen, prolong the life, or 

 render a horse more useful, or give any posi- 

 tive benefit to spectators, then something 

 might be said in their favor. They are simply 

 putting a dumb animal to his utmost. Over- 

 driving is the same as over-loading. Whether 

 it is done upon a common road or under the 

 auspices of an agricultural society, it is haz- 

 ardous in the extreme, and such violent exer- 

 tion tends directly to break down and shorten 

 the days of the strongest constitution. Since 

 this fashion for fast driving has prevailed, 



many a promising colt has been injured, per- 

 manently injured, by the ambitious and vain 

 hope of its owner to make a fast horse of it. 

 The association that fosters this taste by year- 

 ly opening grounds to contests of mere speed, 

 and bestows its highest premiums upon the 

 fastest horses, sanctions fast driving any- 

 where. 



Thus, in whatever aspect the subject is 

 viewed, it is open to serious objections. The 

 society that desires to promote the interests of 

 farmers, is bound to respect the interests of 

 all, and not let one class of exhibitors, or ob- 

 jects, monopolize the premiums, to the exclu- 

 sion of others of equal and far greater impor- 

 tance. Those societies who choose to make a 

 specialty of the horse, and let horsemen gov- 

 ern, should at least take another name than 

 agricultural. n. 8. T. 



Lawrence, Mass., Aug. 25, 1870. 



DO BEES GATHER OR MAKE HOWETP 



I am decidedly of the opinion that they 

 gather it and deposit it in the hive, without 

 any modification whatever. There are few 

 things we can say we know are not so ; but 

 it seems to me to be too late in the day for 

 any one to maintain that honey is manufac- 

 tured by the bees. As for their making honey 

 from molasses, I will not say I knoio they 

 never will, but I do know 1 never could in- 

 duce them to use a particle of it, and 1 have 

 tried numerous experiments with it. The 

 foundation for the belief that they ever use it, 

 probably lies in the fact that the bees will 

 gather the sugar settled in the bottom of mo- 

 lasses casks, but observation will show that it 

 is only the sugar. I never could detect them 

 carrying off one drop of liquid molasses. 



Likewise, I have satisfied myself that bees 

 seldom visit more than one kind of blossom 

 during one excursion ; have known exceptions. 

 There is no evidence, however, that, as is 

 maintained by some, they are particular about 

 storing each kind of honey by itself in the 

 hive. One may discover cells of clover honey, 

 discolored by buckwheat, which is neither 

 pure clover or buckwheat. — M. Quinby, in 

 Rural New Yorker. 



