304 



XEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



weighted, nor suffered to draw more than two 

 or three times at wliat he cannot move. Throw 

 off tlie load and relieve him. It will encour- 

 age and make liim true as steel. 



If tlic green colt .should contract the habit 

 of pulliii<j at the halter, he can be broken of 

 the vicious haV)it by extending the tying rope 

 to the halter, through a ring in the manger, 

 and attaching the same to his hind foot. 

 "When the colt settles back to pull, the great 

 strain comes upon thts leg, and he will soon 

 give up the practice of attempting to pull at 

 the halter. 



The most dangerous of all habits contracted 

 by the horse is the pernicious practice of 

 kicking in the harness. Should the wild, un- 

 tutored colt turn out a kicker, he will have to 

 be subdued by kicking straps or gearing, to 

 guard against danger to life and limb from 

 this vicious habit. 



Several kicking straps have been invented 

 that are simple and effective. One of the 

 safe-guards consists of a rope attached to the 

 hocks, playing through a pulley or ring, in the 

 belly-girt, to correspond with the motion of 

 each hind leg in the act of walking or trot- 

 ting. It is utterly impossible for the horse to 

 kick, or to move but one hind leg at the same 

 time, which puts a veto upon running away, 

 and confines the subject to a walk or trot. It 

 will prove a sovereign remedy for kicking in 

 harness. 



The horse can be reclaimed from many 

 vicious habits by the law of kindness. When 

 George M. Patchen was in the zenith of his 

 glory, and matched with the queen of trot- 

 ters. Flora Temple, they chanced to change 

 grooms. This was disgusting to the old hero 

 of stallions. He fought the new-comer till 

 they were forced to restore his old groom. 

 When his old, cherished groom, who had slept 

 in the stable for years, returned, the horse 

 resumed his former quietude, and trotted that 

 season some of his most celebrated races. — 

 Cor. West Rural. 



GALLED SHOULDERS ON HORSES. 



There are few things more painful to look 

 at than a poor horse wincing and baulking at 

 every root which comes against the j)lough', 

 while the ploughman is slashing him with the 

 line and goading him into a passion, for his 

 restiveness under the torture of a sore shoul- 

 der. 



In using a new collar, it is best always to 

 wet it thoroughly before you put it on the an- 

 imal. A few hours' use will give it a sc^t to 

 the peculiar formation of the shoulder, which 

 it will always keep. The same collar siiould 

 always be used for the same horse. There is 

 no worse practice than shifting gear upon a 

 plantation. Every horse should have his own 

 gear, and it should never be used for another, 

 and every laborer should be held responsible 



for its condition. We prefer the common 

 bark or shuck collar to any other kind. 



If the shotdder should become galled, a pad 

 of cotton may be put on so as to keep the 

 pressure off the sore. A little neat's-foot oil 

 applied every day will heal it up. It is best, 

 however, when the first appearance of a bruise 

 is noted, to apply spirits of turpentine. But 

 it is better still, to prevent such mischief. 

 We always keep at the stable a bottle of vine- 

 gar with a few spoonfuls of alum dissolved in 

 it, and recjuire the shoulders to be washed 

 with it when the horse comes in at noon and 

 night. If it be inconvenient to use this solu- 

 tion, a strong decoction of oak bark will an- 

 swer a very good purpose. This astringent 

 preparation toughens the shoulder and pre- 

 vents the galling, and if a little oil should be 

 applied when the galled part first appears, the 

 annual can be worked and the sore healed per- 

 fectly in a little while. — Rural Carolinian, 



Winter Oats in Illinois. — I have a 

 piece of winter oats, one and a half acres, 

 sown last August, that conunenced to head 

 April 23d. Some of the stalks to-day (May 

 loth) measured one and one-half inches in 

 circumference, three feet and eight inches in 

 height, and still growing, with blades one and 

 three-eighths inches in width. IMany of the 

 heads measure fifteen to sixteen inches in 

 length, and are not yet fully developed. One 

 stool counted one hundred and ten stalks, 

 many of them having fifty and si.xty. It is 

 grown on ordinary compact, clay soil, rather 

 wet, without fertilizers of any kind, nor has 

 the land been manured during thirty years' 

 cultivation — only by pasturing or laying out 

 to the commons. The extreme cold weather 

 this winter — thermometer 13° below zero — 

 did not injure it in the least. Spring oats, 

 sown March 22d on adjoining land, is about 

 four inches high, and sutiering much from the 

 drought. I am using the winter oats for early 

 feed. — A. D., Da Quoin, III., in Rural 

 New Yorker. 



Dressing Mutton. — Everybody, says the 

 World, knows that the oil which lubricates 

 wool is disagreeable to both taste and smell. 

 In slitting and taking oil" the jielt, it is difH- 

 cult to prevent a contact of the woiil with the 

 llesh along the lines where the skin is first 

 severed, preparatory to being stripped off. 

 The accomplished butcher cannot wholly pre- 

 vent this contact, and he therefore very 

 thoroughly scrubs the parts exposed with sal- 

 eratus, dissolved in cold water, which wholly 

 removes the disagreeable odor and flavor. 

 The farmers, for a long time, were not aware 

 of the necessity of such purgation, which 

 should be applied at once, as soon as the pelt, 

 by the greatest activity, can be removed. 

 This done, the meat is as free from the taint 

 of wool-oil as the meat of any other animal. 



