AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
269 
1880 .] 
temptation to adulterate it, as has been done with 
Paris Green. The Purple is more finely pulverized 
and can be more thoroughly distributed either in 
the dry or wet way, and its color is more striking 
than the “Green,” an important characteristic in 
any poison, making it more conspicuous to the eye. 
About Training Animals. 
“ The Ox knoweth his owner, and the Ass his 
master’s crib,” was the expression used 2,640 years 
ago, by one of the grandest writers of that period, 
when he wished to express the stupidity of a peo¬ 
ple who could not or would not think or “ con¬ 
sider.” The form of expression and joining him 
with the ass, show the low estimate placed upon 
the intelligence of the ox in those days, and there 
has been little change in this respect down to our 
own times, despite the wonderful improvements 
made in the physical form of some bovine breeds. 
We attribute to horses a knowledge almost human, 
in the feats they are taught to perform, and we all 
have seen or heard of the “learned pig” even. 
But the most that is expected or sought for in the 
ox is to understand “Haw,” “Gee,” “ ’G’long,” 
and “ Whoa,” and the failure to do so brings the 
inevitable blow from the goad. Thanks to a Massa¬ 
chusetts farmer, and to the enterprise of the noted 
showman, this low estimate of our patient, faithful 
servant is likely to be greatly modified. The tens 
of thousands of boys, and men too, who visit Bar- 
num’s “ Greatest Show on Earth,” as he is pleased 
to call it, will carry home one new idea at least, if 
they profit as much as we did, by dropping in 
specially to see the “ trained steers,” as that came 
directly in the line of our profession. They will 
learn that patience, kindness, firmness, with a 
reasonable amount of mental ability themselves, 
and using it, will bring the ox up to almost as high 
a degree of intelligent action and performance as 
has ever been exhibited by any other domestic ani¬ 
mal, whether horse or pig, and we had almost said 
dog, though if half the stories told of dogs be half 
true, we must allow them to be a good deal human. 
One useful lesson we would inculcate is, that, as 
patient as is the ox, he doubtless feels, more thau 
we are apt to think of, the cruel blows that are 
ever falling upon him from the first hour of being 
yoked until led to the slaughter-house, and not 
even there allowed the most kindly mode of sacri¬ 
fice—as witness the clubbing, the torture of being 
swung up by one leg, encircled with a chain, etc. 
A second lesson is, that by proper treatment he 
may be trained to be even a much more service¬ 
able friend and servant than he now is. Our own 
artist has illustrated, a single feat we saw performed 
by a pair of young steers—grade Alderneys, or per¬ 
haps a cross between Alderneys and Ayrshires, said 
to be twins, rather under medium size, of dark 
chocolate dun color, shading into black, with flecks 
and patches of white—about three years old, and 
raised, we believe, by Henry N. Taft, of Worcester 
Co., Mass. Well, these trained steers or oxen 
marched to the sound of music, danced to it a good 
deal better than the writer could , they, at word of 
command, or by motion of a whip (not hit by it) 
changed positions, lay down in different postures 
and places; knelt and walked about on their knees; 
they gambolled with each other in various ways, 
just as signaled to do by word or a wave of the 
hand ; they each lay down, and the other walked 
over the prostrate one ; and they climbed and stood 
upon boxes scarcely larger than a barrel; one 
would stretch himself out with his fore and hind 
feet upon two separate boxes, and the other 
crouched down and passed back and forth under 
his mate as often as directed to do so, and then 
changed places and repeated the performance ; they 
walked up and down stairs, also came up in oppo¬ 
site directions, saluting (we suppose) as they passed. 
The boys cheered the most when one of them 
mounted the platform at the head of half a dozen 
steps, and reaching up his head pulled a string 
with his mouth that fired a pistol on the top of a 
pole above. (But this was a trick—the boys at a 
distance probably did not see that there was a small 
toothsome carrot on the end of the string.) The 
older people joined most in the cheering when these 
oxen deliberately, and with a good deal of ingenui¬ 
ty, managed to get on to 
the opposite ends of a 
long plank placed across 
a center stand two or 
more feet high as a ful¬ 
crum, and then changed 
their center of gravity and 
see-sawed as prettily as 
any two boys or girls do 
when they call out, “ now 
we go up, up, upie, and 
now we go down, down, 
downie.” And still more, 
one of them took posi¬ 
tion over the center, and 
by throwing his weight 
first upon his hind and 
then upon his fore-feet, which he did with ease, 
and made the long ends of the plank see-saw with 
a rapidity and regularity quite equal to their waltz¬ 
ing, in which they tripped off at a step that would 
hardly be called “ light ” or “ fantastic,” but live¬ 
ly, whirling and circling in a way which must cer¬ 
tainly have been dizzy and mazy enough for them. 
We do not remember all their performances, but 
have given enough to show what can really be done 
in the way of teachiug oxen. They were as gentle 
as cosset lambs, yet bright, sprightly, and quick in 
their motions. They travel in the yoke together, 
and go through all their performances without any 
boisterous words of command, without any whip¬ 
ping, but with a small whip always in sight, and 
perhaps an occasional threat, to quicken their obedi¬ 
ent action. Their performances are simply the re¬ 
sult of training, and as such are the evidence of 
patient, careful work, hour after hour, again and 
again repeated, by a kindly man. His success natur¬ 
ally suggests to the thoughtful mind the topic of 
How to Do It. 
The writer has had a certain success in training 
animals, which leads him not only to appreciate 
good results, but to know by what means they 
were brought about. When dogs are trained under 
the lash, they may do very well, but it is eroucli- 
ingly, with the tail between the legs, with a certain 
uncertainty, as if they did not know for sure 
whether the dreaded lash might not be their re¬ 
ward even for well doing. This is pitiable, and is 
not the case with Mr. Barnum’s cattle. They know 
that the whip is in reserve—and that is right. They 
have enough of what we may say is “human ” in 
them to need both the reward of well doing, and 
the dread of the consequences of inattention and 
laziness. These are the “ besetting sins ” of oxen, 
and in fact of animals generally—as well brute as 
human. Now and then we have a horse, a dog, an 
ox, not unfrequently a boy, nervous, wide-awake, 
quick, thoughtful, prompt, easy to teach, that is, 
quick to learn, and with a good memory. Such are 
pleasant pupils, and do their teachers credit, but it 
is no reason why the stupid or less bright ones should 
not also be trained. Here is where the use of the whip 
comes in, not to produce fear of the consequence of 
honestly made blunders, if we may use the expres¬ 
sion, but to keep the faculties active, and the wide¬ 
awake condition the prevailing one—not a punish¬ 
ment, but a spur. The observations apply equally to 
horses, dogs, cattle, and children, but of course each 
of these has its peculiar nature and tendencies which 
must be rationally considered, and must guide our 
training; with oxen which are slow in their motions, 
and deliberate'in their thought and perceptions, the 
quality of patience and kindliness is especially nec¬ 
essary in training. It is easy to make any animal 
wild and scary, and so spoil the work of hours of 
patient labor, and cause a lack of that confidence 
in the trainer which is absolutely essential to suc¬ 
cess. When provoked by stupidity or wilful oo- 
stinacy, the trainer is very apt to get angry. It is 
the worst thing he can do, and if he can’t help it, 
the thing for him to do—the only thing for any 
teacher to do—is to lay down his whip or rod and 
go away by himself and cool off; stir up in his own 
heart a sympathy for the brutes or for the boys. 
We do not mean that in training animals a man may 
after a while go back, when cooled off—and then 
punish—that is well enough in the case of boys, for 
we “humans” have better memories and reasoning 
powers than brutes, and understand that punish¬ 
ment may be delayed and still be just, while with 
animals the punishment must always follow the 
offense quickly, promptly, kindly, coolly, coldly, as 
if a law of nature had been broken. If an ox runs 
into the thorn-bush, the thorns prick, they scratch 
his hide, they enter his flesh, they hurt —not after a 
while, but then and there, without consideration or 
pity. The punishment is exactly measured to the 
offense. We have an advantage over this thorn- 
bush system of training in that we may use per¬ 
suasive measures —rewards as well as punishment— 
carrots and sugar as a reward for well doing. When 
the cattle in the show fired a pistol, they did it by 
nibbling at a carrot. (We suggest to the great 
Showman that a duel between the oxen, with clowns 
for seconds, a mule for referee, and the carrots 
labelled “satisfaction,” would be an appropriate 
satire, which would be appreciated by the people 
and satisfactory to the cattle, if the carrots be fresh.) 
A Garden Brush.— Mr. L. Prentice, Leaven¬ 
worth Co., Kansas, sends a sketch and description 
of a Garden Brush which he has “ used with great 
satisfaction for putting in small seeds. It con¬ 
sists of three poles about three inches in diameter, 
two of which are arranged as cross bars pinned to¬ 
gether near each end, but about eight inches apart; 
and the third one, serving as a tongue, passes under 
the front bar and over the rear one, and is pinned 
Fig. 1.— CONSTRUCTION OF THE BRUSH. 
or bolted to both. The front bar has several up¬ 
right pins on which the brush is hung by forks in 
the brush, and passing under the rear pole is held 
at an angle of about 45 degrees, bringing the small 
ends of the brush into wear until worn too short, 
when they are easily replaced.” The construction 
of this garden brush, which is so handy for smooth- 
Fig. 2.— THE BRUSH COMPLETE. 
ing over the ground and covering small seeds sown 
in rows, is shown in figure 1, and in figure 2 it 
is complete and ready for use in the garden. 
