630 = 364 
Practical Agriculture. 
arable in many counties from Wiltshire to Northumberland, thi 
average is one working-horse to every twenty-three acres. 
Management. There is no distinctive English system of managing farm 
horses. They are stabled in various ways, — either kept singl 
in stalls, or in pairs in stalls, or placed together in a long stable 
sometimes separated from each other by a swinging bar, 
partitioned-off box being reserved for a kicking or restive horse 
On some farms the horses are kept in loose boxes ; in othe 
cases the old plan is still retained, namely, of feeding in th 
stable and turning the horses into an open straw-yard, parti 
under a shelter-roof, for the night ; while in many newly bui 
premises the horses lie in covered yards. 
Breeding. On the great majority of large and medium-sized farms it i 
the custom to breed a sufficient number of cart-colts to kee 
up the working stud ; many managers dispose of the mo; 
saleable of their horses after about a couple of years labour i 
the field. Larger numbers of colts are bred for sale on hol( 
ings which comprise a good proportion of old pasture ( 
ordinary quality, tolerably free from stones, with well-fence 
moderate-sized enclosures, in a not very steep country, but wit 
a moist climate, and where no excessive demands upon tl 
teams in summer are made by the necessities of clay-Ian 
culture. The system of travelling-stallions is almost universa! 
but in spite of the vast improvement accomplished of late yea 
by competitive Shows of the Royal and the County Societies, ar 
by the introduction of good sires by very many large landownei 
many districts still complain of the difficulty of obtaining go( 
sound horses for service on cart-mares. 
Colts. Foals are generally dropped in May, weaned in the autum 
and wintered for two successive years in sheltered padded 
furnished with shelter-hovels ; though in some counties, pa 
ticularly in the rainy and cold north and west, this treatmc 
is deemed too severe, and the young horses are wintered 
yards. 
Breaking. They are not always broken in to work as four-year olds ; 
three-year-olds are commonly trained in some of the midla 
counties and elsewhere by putting them to part-day hauling 
the single-file three- or four-horse teams, often on land whi 
two stout horses could plough without difficulty. 
Feeding. Very varied are the practices of different localities with rega 
to hours of labour, including single short bouts in winter, a' 
two bouts per day in summer, with a bating time between ; t 
number of men, or men and boys to work and groom the pa 
horse, three-horse, or four-horse teams ; and the summer a 
winter feeding. As a rule, the old wasteful system of giving 
