THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



249 



ber of dogs now in Virginia, is a serious disad- 

 vantage to the Agricultural interest of the State ; 

 that the number of sheep might be vastly in" 

 creased but for the losses, either actual or antic- 

 ipated, occasioned by the incursions of dogs into 

 every flock ; that the present laws upon the sub- 

 ject are insufficient to protect either the sheep 

 or. the owners of them, owing to the difficulty of 

 proving the act, or the invidiousness of applying 

 the remedy. 



The undersigned are aware, at the same time* 

 that it is difficult to adopt an instant remedy in 

 the existing state of prejudice on the subject. 

 They would therefore most respectfully petition 

 your honourable body to adopt such legislation 

 in this regard as will interfere as little as possi- 

 ble with supposed existing immunities, and will 

 not operate a burden or grievance on the pres- 

 ent rights of dogs and owners ; and they would 

 suggest that a tax of not less than five dollars 

 be laid on every bitch within this Commonwealth, 

 charging every animal of that description in 

 the possession of a negro to his or her owner or 

 owners. 



IMPROVED BREEDS OF ANIMALS. 

 " Why shall I buy a good Bull," we have 

 heard several times said in reply to our exhor- 

 tations to various individuals to purchase im- 

 proved animals; "why should I buy a good 

 bull, or boar, or ram ? My neighbours still 

 keep the common stock of each, they permit them 

 to go at large, as the law allows them to do, 

 they jump, or tear down, my fences, get into my 

 inclosure3 ; and a runt, a "land pike," or a 

 "shabby sheep," is the consequence." 



This is most true, and it is a reflection on the 

 farmers, that they have never made an effort to 

 correct an evil of more magnitude than they 

 suppose it to be. 



The remedy is simple if it is only applied, 

 and can be had, one would hope, for the asking. 

 It is merely to affix a penalty to " wilfully," or 

 " negligently" permiting such animals to go at 

 large. There is nothing new in this. It is now 

 the law with respect to stallions, and has been 

 for a great length of time, not as may be thought 

 on account of their superior power to do mis- 

 chief, but for the purpose of improving the 

 breed. In Henning's Statutes at Large, vol. 3, 

 p. 35, we find the following : 



AN ACT FOR THE BETTER IMPROVING THE BREED 

 OF HORSES. 



Forasmuch as the breed of large and strong 



horses in this country, will not only extend to 

 the great help and defence of the same, but also 

 prove of great use and advantage to the inhabi- 

 tants thereof, which is now much decayed and 

 impaired by reason that small-stoned horses of 

 low statute aud value, be not only suffered to 

 pasture and feed in our woods and other waste 

 grounds, but also to cover and leap mares feed- 

 ing there; whereof cometh a numereus breed to 

 the little profit, but great damage of this coun- 

 try, and will further increase to the detriment 

 thereof, unless some effectual remedy be speedily 

 "provided te prevent the same. For prevention 

 therefore of so great an evil, and for the increase 

 and breed of better and stronger horses hereaf- 

 ter to be had in this colony. 



Be it enacted by the Governor, Council and 

 Burgesses of the General Assembly, and by the 

 authoritie thereof, it is hereby enacted, That no 

 person or persons whatsoever, after the last day 

 of July, which shall be in the year of our Lord 

 1687, shall have or put to feed into or upon any 

 woodland grounds, marshes or other waste 

 grounds, not haveing a sufficient fense about the 

 same, any stoned horse or horses, being of the 

 age of two yeares, and not being of the height 

 of thirteen hand full and an halfe, to be mea- 

 sured from the lowest part of the hoofe of the 

 forefoot, unto the highest part of the withers , 

 and every hand full to contain four inches of 

 the standard, upon the penalty and forfeiture of 

 such horse or horses, or four hundred pounds of 

 tobacco," &c 



Under this law, dating back one hundred and 

 sixty-nine years, and steadily continued to the 

 present day, the breed of horses steadily im- 

 proved until about the time of the Revolution, 

 when they were about at their best. 



There is no reason why it should not have 

 the same effect on other kinds of stock, at least 

 in Eastern Virgiina, and no doubt that many 

 are deterred from making efforts to improve for 

 want of such a law. How many for instance, 

 are willing to purchase such splendid cows as 

 our friend, Mr. Mathews, of Wythe, exhibited 

 at the Fair, when the chances are in favour of a 

 progeny by a " ticky Bull ?" 



There is one defect in the law as applied to 

 stallions which should be corrected in enact- 

 ments with regard to other stock. It makes the 

 offence punishable by a fine of twenty dollars ; 

 see Code of Virginia, p. 455 ; one half to the in- 

 former, and holds the offender harmless for the 

 first offence. This is wrong ; how many gentle- 

 men would be willing to go before a magistrate 

 at a warrant trying and present a neighbour for 

 a nuisance of this sort, and pocket a part of the 

 forfeiture ? And how many would be found will- 

 ing to appropriate an animal so found going at 



