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ceed may be raifed or cultivated. They likewife, in fome 

 cafce, require to rife quickly, in order to be good or ot a 

 proper quality. n i • j 



The llalks of feveral different forts, too, Hand in need 

 of fupport, as all thofe of the twining and fome other 

 kinds. 



STALKER, in Bridmaiing. See Brick. 

 Stalkers, in our Old miters, a kind of fi(hing-nets. 

 Stut. 13 Ri>.h. II. cap. 20. . r , 



STALKING, a term of confiderable import m fowl- 

 ing; applied to a kind of fcreen, or device to hide the 

 fowler, and amufe the game, while he gets within fhot. 

 Of fuch devices there are feveral kinds. 

 SrALKiSG-Hor/e, is a horfe trained up for the purpofe. 

 This horfe (hould be chofen of the tallcft and largeft kind ; 

 no matter how old he is, but he mull be well trained, and 

 ready at command. The horfe, being properly trained, will 

 walk flowly along in any fort of ground, as tlubble-fields, 

 moorifh places, or the banks of rivers, and will always feed, 

 or pretend to feed, as he is direfted. The fportfman is to 

 conceal himfelf and his gun behind the horfe's fore-(houlder, 

 bending his body low by his fide, and keeping the whole 

 body of the horfe always full between the fowl and himfelf: 

 when by this means the fportfman is come fo near to the 

 birds, that the gun will reach thera with llrength to kill, 

 he is not to attempt advancing any nearer, that they may 

 not be difturbed. Some recommend the fhooting over the 

 horfe's buttocks, and fome over his neck, but the bell way 

 13 under the neck, and before the breaft, for by this means 

 the body of the fportfman is covered by the fhoulder, and 

 his legs by the legs of the horfe. When the birds are Ihot, 

 the dog will bring them to his mafter, and as they often tall 

 in places where a man cannot come at them, this creature is 

 of very neceffary fervice. 



This is the bed of all methods of ftalking ; but as fuch 

 a horfe is difficult to train, chargeable to keep, and is not 

 always to be had, there are many contrivances introduced to 

 fupply the place of it : among thefe, the principal are the 

 ttalking-wheelbarrow, the ftalking-bufh, and the ftalking- 

 kedge. The firll of thefe is to be thus contrived ; take a 

 wheelbarrow, made on purpofe of light fir, and fet round 

 about it boughs and bulhes in fuch a manner, that you may 

 fit in it, and not be dilcovered by the fowl, and drive it 

 along without giving them difturbance. 



The ftalking-bulh is to be contrived of feveral burties well 

 platted together, with all their leaves on ; it is to be faf- 

 tened to a ftake, which is to have an iron point at the end ; 

 the whole is to be the height of a man, and thickly fet with 

 boughs all the way, from top to bottom. When the fportf- 

 man lees his game before liim, he is to advance flowly with 

 this artificial bu(h between him and them ; when he is come 

 within a proper diltance, he is to fix the bufii into the 

 ground, by running in the iron fpike, and then to (hoot 

 through the boughs. 



The ftalking-hedge is geoerally made about nine feet 

 long, and a yard and a half high : it is to be made of fmall 

 wands, fo woven together, as to give room for the placing 

 cf green boughs among them, that it may refemble a great 

 growing hedge : this is to be carried before the fportfman, 

 and, in the manner of the bufh, it is to be fattened down 

 when near enough for the gun to kill from it. 



As birds, however, are apt to have fome apprehenfion of 

 terror from feeing a tne or hedge move, thefe machines are 

 to be carried on very flowly ; and the refemblance of a real 

 animal, as a horfe, or cow, are better for the purpofe: 

 thele may be made of canvas, fupported on a flight frame, 

 and with uiU of hair. For phealants, woodcocks, and the 



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like foolilh birds, the common flat figure of a horfe will do > 

 but the water-fowl are generally much more fliy, and it is 

 neceflary, for the getting near them, to have the body made 

 hollow, and fluffed witli hay, or fome other matter, to keep 

 it out. The proper time to ufe thefe engines is either early 

 in the morning, or late in the evening ; for the fun-fliine in 

 the middle of the day very foon difcovers to the fowl the 

 imperfeftion of the engine. 



STALL, in Rural Economy, a fort of inclofed place, in 

 which a horfe, cow, or any other kind of animal of the 

 fame or other defcription, is f«d, foddered, or kept ; as a 

 divifion or feparate portion in a liable, cattle-fticd, cow- 

 houfe, or any other building of the fame nature. See 

 Cattle-5/&<'^, Cow-Hou/e, and Stable. 



In the flails, the cattle, in the moll improved modes, are 

 commonly tied up, and faftened to upright round polls of 

 about four inches in diameter, made perfcfily fmooth on 

 their furfaces, by means of loofe iron rings and Imall wooden 

 bows or bands, which are put round the necks of the cattle, 

 and Aide readily up and down in the rings on the pofts, as 

 the cattle may want them. The upper parts of the bows, 

 yokes, or bands, are moflly flat, and have two holes in tliem ; 

 and the bow or band parts, which are m general formed of 

 tough fplit a(h, have a fort of button or knob at each end 

 of them, which is put into the circular holes of the flat 

 head-pieces, when, by the fpring of the bows or bands, the 

 knobs or buttons are prevented from returning, by their 

 flipping over into nicks or notches made in one end of the 

 head-pieces, where they become fixed until the animal be 

 wanted to be let out, which is readily done by a little pref- 

 fure being made on the bow parts. Thefe Halls have, in 

 many cafes, cribs alfo contrived for the cattle to eat their 

 fodder out of or in. And pafl'ages are not unfrequcntly 

 formed in front, or before the heads of the cattle, for the 

 convenience and facility of giving them their fodder from, 

 as much faving in time and labour is thereby produced. 



The flails in the cow-lheds, houfes, or linneyt, as they are 

 called in fome of the fouth-weflern dirtridts of the kingdom, 

 have their boxes or cribs fo formed, as to contain the hay, 

 flraw, and other fimilar matters for the cows in winter, and 

 the lucern, tares, vetches, and other fuch materials, in the 

 fummer feafon. They have alfo troughs for turnips, pota- 

 toes, cabbages, and other food of the fame kind. And 

 likewife vealing places for the calves, which are rendered 2 

 little dark, in order to promote the procefs of fattening 

 them. There are fometimes, too, large leparate ftalU or di- 

 vifions for fuch cows as are near calving, or have jull calved. 

 For young cattle-Hock they are occafionally divided, alfo for 

 three-years old, two-years old, and one-year old ones, in order 

 that the young beads may not get injured or inconvenienced 

 by running among the others. And the head-ways, by being 

 made fliorter in proportion to the fize of the diftcrent year's 

 growth of the animals, render them capable of all dunging 

 into the fame grip or gutter, and confequeiuly of being 

 more readily cleaned and kept in order. 



The divifions or flails for the fattening of bullocks or 

 oxen fliould always have fufScient fpace, without allowing 

 any unneceflary waile of it, as where two oxen are fattened 

 in one flail from eight to ten feet, that is, four or five feet 

 to each beaft, according to the fize of the beall ufually fat- 

 tened. Thefe divifions, in the beds or foundations of them, 

 fliouId conflantly decline in a gentle manner backwards, fo 

 as to draw off the urine, and have a fmall rifing at the heels 

 of the animalf, as in the cow-flieds or houfes, and for the 

 fame purpofes. 



There fliould be a crib or manger in each ftall, which 

 fliould have the conveniency of a feparate partiiiun for dif- 

 ferent 



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