FARM AND ROAD-HORSES. 
291 
Hess of the Superintendent of Highways, (the road 
master,) to see that no noxious weed is allowed 
to grow within his peculiar dominion, the highway, 
and we can, and ought to compel him to perform 
his duty in this respect, if he neglects it; and the 
wholesome provision of the common law,“ that every 
person must so use his own property, as not to in¬ 
jure that of his neighbor,” should deter each of us 
from allowing any weed to mature its seed, so as 
to be wafted upon his neighbor’s premises. Let 
each of us then attend diligently to his duty in 
this respect, and I doubt not that our good exam¬ 
ple will either encourage or shame our less diligent 
neighbor into the performance of his duty, and 
save us the necessity of a resort to even remon¬ 
strance on the subject. 
As worthy of the especial attention of every 
farmer, I would particularly notice the weed com¬ 
monly known among us as Toad-Flax; in its 
grasping, self-appropriating disposition, in the 
rapidity with which, by root and seed, it will over¬ 
run our land, and in the tenacity with which it 
clings to the slightest foothold it may obtain in the 
soil, it has, I believe, no successful rival in the 
great family of weeds—not even excepting that 
high dignitary among agricultural tormentors, the 
Canada thistle ; with it we must do battle to the 
death—it will make with us no compromise—it 
claims all, and it will take all, wherever it obtains 
the mastery. To study its habits is, perhaps, the 
surest mode of ascertaining its cheapest and most, 
ready destroyer. “ Every bane has its antidote 
and a full measure of honor and reward is due him 
who shall discover the antidote for this. Careful 
cultivation, in a series of crops, which admit of 
the frequent use of the plow, the cultivator, and 
the hoe, will, it is said, not only destroy it, but 
convert it into an excellent manure; but it seems 
to choose for its abode high, broken, and stony 
land, and there this slow process must prove inef¬ 
fectual. The fact, however, that it selects such 
ground as most congenial to its nature, and the 
further fact, that it is never, at least as far as my 
observation extends, seen in low, wet, or clay soils, 
suggests the idea that such soil, and especially 
muck, may be ihe remedy we want. I am now 
trying the experiment of its application, and trust 
that others will do so likewise. 
At the close of the address, some spirited reso¬ 
lutions were passed, gentlemen pledging them¬ 
selves to considerably augment the funds of the 
society another year, and thus enable it to extend 
its future usefulness; all of which we have no 
doubt will be carried into effect. The award of 
premiums was then read, and toward sunset most 
of the spectators returned to their respective 
homes, seemingly well pleased with the show, 
and determined to make it as much fuller and as 
much more spirited as possible another year. 
On the whole, we were highly pleased with the 
excursion to Orange county and what we saw 
there, and, as hinted in our last number, at the 
close of the description of some of its butter dairies, 
it is our intention to give particulars of our visit 
hereafter. Situated as Orange county is, so near 
and so easy of access to this city, one of its chief 
products must, for a long course of years, be milk; 
the greatest attention, therefore, should be paid to 
their breed of cows in this particular. We think 
that the society ought to increase its premiums on 
these, and take such further measures for their 
improvement, as shall ensure this point in them 
being developed to its utmost extent. 
FARM AND ROAD-HORSES. 
There is nothing like that attention bestowed 
upon the breeding of good farm and road-horses 
that there should be; we mean the horse of all 
work ; one that is reasonably showy, and possess¬ 
ing strength, endurance, and docility ; with a walk 
of four miles an hour, and an easy trot to itself, 
over a good Jevel road, of seven miles an hour. 
We have occasionally seen match horses, with 
which one could plow two acres easily in a day, 
and do any kind of farm-work in proportion; such 
as hauling out manure from the barn-yard, wood 
from the forest, going to mill, transporting produce, 
&c., &c.; at the same time they made a handsome 
appearance single in a buggy, or double in a car¬ 
riage on the road; were equal to nine or ten miles 
in an hour, without much fretting, or fifty miles 
in a day; and were also easy and pleasant un¬ 
der the saddle. Such animals, however, are rare, 
yet they should not be; for with proper atten¬ 
tion bestowed upon the breeding of horses, the 
farmers might generally as easily produce those 
we have described, as the miserable and ordin¬ 
ary animals which now pervade the country, and 
are scarcely worth the cost of rearing. The pub¬ 
lic is remarkably supine on this important subject, 
and we despair almost to attempt to rouse it to a 
proper sense of the advantage of breeding a good 
race of farm and road-horses. 
For hardiness, strength, quickness on the road 
in walk or trot, and in endurance, the Canadian 
horse has few superiors ; but he lacks show, and 
is not of sufficient size to suit the generality of our 
citizens. A few of the Vermont, horses come as 
near to perfection as anything we have ever seen, 
for the road, saving that they usually want four or 
five inches more of height, and a proportionable 
size in other respects, to fit them for the heavy 
work of the farm, or making a sufficiently showy 
appearance in the carriage. At the west they 
have size enough; but reared on their rich, succu¬ 
lent pastures, and fed with corn without stint, 
they are leggy, lathy, soft, spongy, and without 
