JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 24, 1882. ] 
189 
Society of England, the Royal Highland Agricultural Society of 
Scotland, and similar institutions in Ireland, may be made to 
furnish the basis of an example by taking and selecting carefully 
the names, and as far as possible the pedigrees, of those animals 
which for years past have obtained the approval of the Judges, 
and to which the prizes have been awarded by the principal 
agricultural societies throughout the kingdom in the hunter 
classes. 
Upon this matter Mr. Gamgee shall speak for himself. He 
states —“ The example set in the establishing of herd books, and 
registrations of the produce of greyhounds and other dogs, en¬ 
courages me to think that the difficulty in the more important 
case of the horse is more imaginary than real. Indeed, the longer 
period during which the horse lives and continues to propagate, 
and the relative slowness with which changes are effected in the 
race, render registration in their case more easy as well as more 
imperative. If the question be raised, How shall we get a satis¬ 
factory starting point ? our past history will give the best answer. 
With the increased demand for exportation of the finest mares 
the difficulty increases of supplying their places, and even pro¬ 
ducing stallions of their class ; indeed, the course of events leads 
rather to total dispersion than to mere deterioration or numerical 
scarcity. Though I submit that good blood stallions are alone 
reliable for the production of hunters, and that the mares should 
also be closely up to the required standard for speed, and whilst 
power and stamina should form the leading features in their cha¬ 
racter, I am in no way inclined to dogmatise on the exact amount 
of pure blood which affords the best promise of combining all 
the essentials in the clever hunter.” 
These observations contain one of the strongest arguments that 
can be used for the registration of hunters by a stud book ; for 
whilst so many of our best class of hunting mares are exported to 
other countries and realise long prices, the object of the stud book 
may be said to be doubly beneficial, not only in maintaining by 
selection and pedigree the most valuable animals, but at the same 
time is calculated to maintain a high value and paying price to 
those who engage in the breeding, rearing, and feeding of choice 
hunters. 
In another passage Mr. Gamgee says—“ Greater changes have 
been made in the breeding and management of horses in England 
during the last fifty years than in any similar period on record. 
Few good judges, and especially among those who can remember 
longest, see reason for congratulation on comparing the present 
with the past, particularly with reference to the hunter and the 
high-class hack and carriage horse. Meanwhile, in those animals 
which multiply more rapidly—such as dogs, pigs, fowls, and 
even sheep — great changes have been effected by individual 
enterprise in a few years ; whilst the horse, the favourite of 
princes and nobles, appears to require to be specially fostered 
by the patronage of the great, or by union and concert among 
the many.” 
These observations point in one direction ; but on various estates 
the practical carrying-out of the management, however it may be 
supervised by noblemen and gentlemen, devolves very frequently 
upon the home farmer or agent. In order that not only the objects 
of proprietors may be followed out, but that in doing so the home 
farmer must look to profits ; for although the breeding and 
parentage of the animals bred may be the result of correct prin¬ 
ciples, yet the profits of breeding cannot be fully attained without 
especial care and management in rearing the young animals as 
well as the mares in foal, for with care useful horses may be reared 
from indifferent stock, whilst without it the produce, though well 
descended, will not be worth their cost. In feeding young stock 
extremes should be guarded against. Liberal keep on sound grass, 
with corn and hay in moderation, proves the most economical, for 
when more food be given than the system can assimilate stout 
and fat animals of great bulk will be produced at the expense 
of strength and stanrna, and the digestive organs frequently 
injured. Still, liberality in feeding must be the order of the 
day if we design to apply early maturity to horses as well as 
cattle, and we certainly contend that it should be so ; for as 
regards profit, with special care and freedom from accident, which 
are the points of management in the hands of the home farmer, 
there is no better period of selling the off-going stock than at a 
little over two years old. To accomplish this certain rules apply 
in connection with exercise, shelter, and warmth. For the first, 
space and liberty combined with security are most essential. 
With respect to temperature, it may not be desirable for young 
animals that it should be specially equalised. It must be ad¬ 
mitted that wet and cold are uncongenial to horses, and volun¬ 
tary shelter for them should be available at all times. Not only 
j. should young horses be properly cared for in feeding, but they 
should have protection from rain, and they will know when to 
seek it; and when they have a dry surface under foot in their 
yards and pastures, with space for voluntary exercise, the usual 
temperature of our winter months will not prove injurious to 
them. Although horses in a roomy paddock if well fenced do 
not suffer from a shower in summer, but long exposure to rain in 
confined spaces is injurious to them, and to guard against this 
shelter sheds in connection with their paddocks are desirable, 
and it is also essential that their sheds should have a north-west 
aspect to afford shade and protection from the sun and flies, as 
these always follow the sunlight. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour .—There is much work now, especially in connection 
with the use of the mowing, reaping, and binding machines, and in 
consequence it is best to use two horses at a time, but in relays, 
whereby each pair may work about five hours, but may be afterwards 
used during the day in any light tillage or carting corn or hay. 
Although it is frequently the case on some farms, it is bad policy to 
allow the horses to be idle during the early part of the harvest period, 
and it is too frequently the case that they are turned out to graze, 
and the carters and teamsmen put to assist in cutting the crops both 
of corn and second cutting of Clover for hay. In our opinion, how¬ 
ever, nothing can justify such a proceeding, for even where hands 
are scarce reaping and binding machines can be hired in almost every 
part of the kingdom. We still advocate making corn ricks round, as 
they take less thatch and are less likely to be torn by the wind. At 
the same time we advise their being placed in the field where the 
crop is grown, unless the field happens to be near any building? or 
premises where the ricks are usually placed for certain convenient 
purposes, such as having the straw and haulm which may be required 
as cattle fodder near to the yards where the cattle may be wintered. 
It is now time to consider the extent of autumn tillage necessary to 
be done ; and in those cases where fallows are required to be made 
or partially made before Wheat-sowing commences, the home farmer 
should ascertain whether his animal power is sufficient for purposes 
of seeding for the fodder crops, such as Rye, Trifolium, and Vetches. 
We recently saw a sample of black winter Barley, which we previously 
thought had been banished the country ; and we take this occasion to 
say that we first introduced this for early spring food for sheep or to 
cut up as green fodder in 1827. We found it produce fodder earlier 
than Rye with a much larger and more succulent stem and broader 
leaf, and as it originally came from Russia it will the better stand 
against any severe weather likely to happen in this country. 
We will now refer to a plan of supplementing the horse power of 
the farm in the absence of steam, which we advocate for effecting 
with certainty the autumn fallowing during the harvest and subse¬ 
quently. We recommend that oxen be used—strong animals three 
years old broken-in to work before purchase—either Herefords, Sussex, 
or Devons, which in our opinion are valuable asw r e have placed them, 
Herefords being more so than the others. For every hundred acres 
of arable land the farm may contain we would purchase on the ap¬ 
proach of harvest three oxen, and continue them in work whenever the 
weather is favourable, using the scarifier and plough for raftering 
during the whole time of harvest and until the sowing of Wheat 
commences, up to which time the horses of the farm, having assisted 
the oxen in autumn tillage, the work will be in a forward state. The 
oxen will then assist the horses in helping forward the Wheat-seed¬ 
ing. After the Wheat-sowing has been completed the oxen and 
horses join in fallow-ploughing all the land intended for roots the 
following season. The work of the farm will then be sufficiently 
forward to dispense with the services of one horse for every hundred 
acres, or in other words to employ three horses instead of four.. The 
result will be, that except under steam cultivation the land will be 
more forward than by any other means, and done at a less cost than 
by employing the usual number of horses during the year. The 
accounts will then stand as follows 'Three oxen for four months 
will cost the same in feeding as one horse for the twelve months, and 
when kept in this liberal manner they will each increase in value £1 
during the four months, whereas the horse during the twelve months 
would have lost in value £3 3s. The advantages resulting from this 
mode of proceeding are obvious. The root land will be all tilled in 
the autumn and done at less cost; when the oxen have done work 
they will be found in improved condition, will be accustomed to the 
climate, and will be valuable to put into the boxes to fatten off at 
the end of twenty-one weeks from the time of completing the work 
assigned them. The odd horse or mule employed on the farm should 
be daily employed during the harvest in carting Clover and other 
green fodder for the horses and cattle of every kind requiring it, and 
in some cases the dairy cows, without interfering at all with any 
harvest operations, so that all the men and horses besides the odd 
one may be engaged in harvest work entirely until completed. 
Hand Labour .—As soon as any men can be spared the Swedish 
Turnips, as well as the common Turnips, will then require another 
hoeing, and the late crops horse-hoeing and singling ; some men will 
be also employed in attending the threshing machine if any Wheat or 
white Oats, <fec., are required for immediate sale or for use on the farm. 
Live Stock .—There is now abundance of food for the breeding ewes 
of any kind ; and as the season for mating them is arrived they will 
now, whether of the short-woolled or^long-woolled breeds, keep com- 
