44 
SACHELBEfc 5 COEN PLANTER, ETC. 
making a biter harmless in the stable. A cord is 
fastened to the halter head, and passes through the 
ring, or staple, or hole into which the halter stale, 
Or strap, is fastened, and passes from thence to an¬ 
other at the end of the stall division post in the 
rear of the horse. Here it is fastened, that it may 
not be drawn through. When the groom is to enter 
the stall, he pulls the cord, and draws the horse’s 
head up to the ring to which the halter is fastened, 
and then the cord is tied. His head no longer at 
liberty, the horse is no longer dangerous. This 
method is cheap, simple, and easily adopted. A 
hole in the stall partition, when of boards, and one 
in the post of the partition, which anybody may 
bore with an auger, will answer the purpose to 
pass the cord through. This method is convenient 
and cheap. When the horse is taken out without 
the halter there is no trouble in it, for it costs as 
much trouble to take off the halter without the 
safety-cord as with it. If the halter be left on the 
horse, it is as easy to untie the cord from the halter 
as to untie the halter; and it may be made for a few 
pennies (or shillings if made with rings) at most. 
Among biters, those -which threaten are in 
general but little dangerous, and are much less 
so than those which give no warning. The vice 
seems to have all degrees; and the worst is that 
which shows itself in the horse who gives no indi¬ 
cation of his vice. If such a biter be timid he will 
wait until the groom is within reach, dart at him, 
bite him severely, and then fly to the other side of 
the stall, and crouch or tremble in every fibre. 
Having learned that punishment follows the biting, 
he seems only to fear it when he has incurred the 
penalty. He may be whipped severely, and in an 
hour he will repeat the biting. Here punishment 
will do no good. Let the groom when he enters 
the stall assume a resolute air, and threaten, and 
the timid biter is overawed, and so long as the 
groom keeps up his hostile air he is safe. This is 
the better course, and punishment should net he re¬ 
sorted to. To threaten it will deter, but to inflict it 
after the biting will not prevent a recurrence. 
Where the horse is savage and bold, and will, 
if punished, resist, he is the most dangerous of all 
biters. He of course does not warn, but will dash 
at one even when he knows he is watched, and 
not only bite, but do it repeatedly, and retain the 
grip of his jaws, and not unfrequently use his feet, 
and trample the object of his violence under his 
feet. This is the mode in which ferocious stal¬ 
lions kill their grooms, and it has occasionally oc¬ 
curred with geldings. 
Nothing will cure the determined biter. Caution 
aione will render him safe. He should be managed 
by one person. When the groom goes up to him 
it should be in a decided manner, boldly, and as if 
he was to command or overpower the horse. He 
should speak sternly to him, and keep his eye on 
him. If a bold horse, a whip should be used, and 
a blow threatened, unless with those in whom it 
would provoke retaliation. If it be necessary to 
do anything about the horse, it will be necessary to 
tie his head, or muzzle him. When the groom 
leaves the stall, he should back the horse to the 
*ength of the halter, and then step back out of the 
Btall, which he may do safely. 
All this will answer with horses that fear puns 
ishment; but with horses that are hold, and will 
fight if corrected, nothing but a head-cord to first 
fasten their heads will make them safe; and the 
cord must be relied on wholly. A muzzle will 
hinder the horse from biting, but it will not pre¬ 
vent him from striking; and tying by the head 
alone will answer. 
With all horses that bite, caution and kindness 
are the only means of safety. Kindness may re¬ 
claim the playful or moderate biter ; caution alone 
will make harmless the confirmed, savage, and fe¬ 
rocious one. 
BACHELDER’S CORN-PLANTER. 
Fig. 9. 
This is the best machine we have yet seen for 
planting corn. The seed is put into the hopper 
above the beam, and as the planter moves along, 
the share below opens the furrow ; the corn is then 
dropped by arms moved by a crank. These arms 
have holes in the end of them, and as they play back 
and forth from under the hopper, receive from three 
to five grains in each hole, and drop the corn through 
a perpendicular tube attached to the share, into the 
drill made by it. A triangular iron follows and 
covers the corn, and the roller passes over and 
presses it down. The arms are made to drop the 
corn nearer or farther apart by different sized wheels 
fastened on the crank, moving the arms quicker or 
slower as required. Those usually made here drop 
from two feet to four feet apart, as wished. The 
machine requires a small horse or mule to draw it, 
and with a boy to tend it and drive, will plant two 
to four acres per day, according to the width of the 
rows apart. The price is $ 16 . It is kept at our 
warehouse. 
PATENT SPRING TONGUE BUCKLE. 
We have been shown one of these, anu we ask 
attention to it for the purpose of both approval and 
condemnation. In principle it is a modification 
only of the common buckle; in the common one 
the draught is on the tongue , and the cross-bar of the 
buckle on which the tongue rests at its moving 
end; the trace is curved at the point where the 
tongue enters it, and the draught is oblique both on 
the tongue and the cross-bar; this arrangement 
spreads the draught over the whole of the trace, and 
the tongue and cross-bar both are employed in the 
draught. The buckle will sustain greater draught on 
account of the obliquity of the draught. The spring 
buckle places the tongue at right angles to the 
trace, and there is no pressure on the cross-bar from 
the trace itself, and only from the tongue. In all 
this it is inferior to the old buckle, and in use will 
destroy traces faster far than the common one. 
Then for traces or great draught it is worthless. The 
tongue is moved by a spring, and enters the strap 
