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PT 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMER. 



83 



THE GRAZIER 



Points of a Good Horse. - 

 The New York Spirit of the Times gives 

 the following directions for examining the 

 condition of a horse : 



"In purchasing a good horse, sight, wind, 

 feet and limbs mast be the uppermost ob- 

 jects of inquiry; for nine horses out of ten 

 are defective in one of these particulars. 

 First, then, examine his eyes, and do this 

 before he comes out of the stable; see that 

 they are perfectly clear and transparent, 

 and that the pupils or apples of the eye are 

 exactly alike in size and color. Next ex- 

 amine his pipes; if good and sound, on be- 

 ing nipped in the gullet, he will utter a 

 sound like that from a bellows; but if his 

 lungs are touched, and he is broken winded, 

 he will give vent to a dry, husky, short 

 cough ; look to his limbs also, and in pass- 

 ing your hand down his legs, if you find 

 any unnatural protuberance, or puffiness, or 

 if feeling first one leg then the other, you 

 discover any difference between them, dis- 

 ease more or less is present; he may not be 

 lame, but he is not clean upon his legs. If 

 he is broad and full between the eyes, he 

 may be depended on as a horse of good 

 sense, and capable of being trained to al- 

 most anything. If you want a gentle horse, 

 get one with more or less white upon him; 

 many suppose that the parti-colored horseg 

 belonging to circuses; shows, etc., are se- 

 lected for their oddity; but it is on account 

 of their docility and gentleness; in fact, the 

 more kindly you treat horses, the better 

 you will be treated by them in return." 



■ — <» 



Vrom th* Cotmtry OcBtlamftn. 



The Best Cattle for Slanghtering. 



The rearing of cattle for the beef-market 

 will certainly call into requisition a larger 

 amount of scientific and experimental know- 

 ledge, when the consumers and venders of 

 beef shall have made the discovery, more 

 generally than at present, that the beef of 

 certain breeds, and still more, of certain 

 modes of feeding, is greatly superior to that 

 otherwise produced. When a proper dis- 

 tinction of this shall be more generally 

 made, liiere will be a call for superiorly fed 

 animals, which will attract more attention 

 and greater numbers to that department of 

 agricultural skill and labor. 



To those who are at present engaged in 

 the raising of cattle for the market, or in 

 the production of the best quality of beef, it 

 may be both interesting and instructive to 



be informed as to the principles and practicM 

 of those who have been the longest employ- 

 ed iu this department of business, and who 

 have brought to its pursuit all the resource 

 found in physiology, chemistry, the analysis 

 of food, &c., together • with the facts ac- 

 cumulated during a long experience. That 

 the business of rearing and feeding of ani- 

 mals for the production of beef and other 

 kinds of meat has been pursued during a 

 longer series of years, and has received much 

 more attention in Great Britain, than it 

 has, as yet, in this country, will be at once 

 acknowledged. From the best experi- 

 ence of those in that country, who are 

 the most successful in this department of 

 business, there are few in this country, we 

 presume, but might gather many useful hinti 

 and items of information. We have, ac- 

 cordingly, been induced to select a few such" 

 hints and items from recently published es- 

 says and discussions, giving the results of 

 the experience of those who have been most 

 skillful and most successful, in the business 

 referred to, on the other side of the Atlantic 



To obtain stock best fitted for feeding, or 

 for the laying on of fat and flesh and early 

 maturity, breeding by crossing distinct or 

 allied breeds is much resorted to among 

 British feeders. It is a fact, pretty general- 

 ly known we presume, that a vigorous pro- 

 geny is usually obtained as the result of a 

 cross of two distinct breeds. This fact or 

 law is the foundation and explanation of the 

 practice just named. Another result of the 

 crossing of breeds is, that the of&pring are 

 generally precocious, with a tendency to an 

 increase of size. To secure this result with 

 the greatest degree of certainty, and to the 

 utmost extent, it is the usual practice to se- 

 lect a male having the peculiar properties of 

 early maturity, and the disposition to ac- 

 cumulate flesh and fat rapidly. Size is also 

 a quality which is regarded; but ought to 

 be, always, deemed of less importance than 

 a hereditary tendency to obesity, precocity, 

 and superior quality of flesh. As the Short- 

 horns possess these qualities in an eminent 

 degree, this breed is almost invariably re- 

 sorted to for a male for crossing females of 

 other breeds. Where the rearing of eattla 

 is followed mainly with the view of obtain- 

 ing stock for the production of beef, the 

 practice in many districts is to use a pare 

 bred male of the Short-horn breed, witii a 

 female of the breed peculiar to or prevalent 

 in the particular district. This system of 

 crossing is gradually extending over the 

 whole of Great Britian and Ireland. This 

 class of cattle is rapidly extending in mort 



I 



