132 AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
to his knees, but which is necessarily sour, con¬ 
taining very little nourishment, and which will 
probably egender worms. When frost and snow 
commence, he will be accommodated with an 
asylum in the farm-yard, where he will be 
driven about by the cows, perchance gored by 
their horns when picking a mouthful of barley 
straw or indifferent hay from the cribs which 
the jealous cows aforesaid wisely consider their 
just and exclusive prerogative. In March or 
April this colt is probably allowed the range of 
some meadow or pasture land, when, by meet¬ 
ing the young grass as it springs, he occasions 
damage to the future crop, and the succulent 
herbage relaxes his bowels. In May he appears 
a poor, weakly, mis-shapen, dejected object, 
pot-bellied, and looking as if he had been starved, 
which, in point of fact, is nearly true, although 
he has eaten or destroyed keep which might 
have been more profitably consumed in other 
ways. Now let us consider the one which has 
been properly treated ; he will be found to look 
kind and healthy ; having been sheltered from 
the elements he will be robust, and exhibit a 
fair proportion of muscle, and he will be play¬ 
ful and full of spirits. But, then, the opponents 
to this course will exclaim, he has cost so much 
more to keep him. Let us therefore ascertain 
to what extent. From October the 15th to May 
the 13th is thirty weeks. Two feeds of corn 
per diem, or a bushel per week, at three shil¬ 
lings, amount to £4 10s., at which price they 
mav be bought, although when consuming the 
produce off the land on the farm, it ought only 
to be estimated at the cost of growing it. Haif¬ 
a-hundred weight of hay per week, at £3 per 
ton, £2 5s. Bran mashes and swedes, 5s.; in 
all, £7. The valuable manure that will be made 
is equivalent to the extra attendance. The half- 
starved animal will consume or waste more hay; 
but we will estimate at the same amount—£2. 
The injury that he will do to the spring grass 
by meeting the keep and poaching the land can¬ 
not be valued at less than 10s. ; total, £2 10s., 
making a difference of £410s. But what would 
be the relative value of the two animals if of¬ 
fered for sale? much more than the difference 
in the keep. To sell at this early age, how¬ 
ever, is not the object; it has therefore to be 
considered which will make the most valuable 
horse at four or five years old—one which has 
had every opportunity for establishing a healthy, 
vigorous constitution, or one which having been 
badly kept in its youth will grow up to be a 
puny, badly-shaped, infirm animal. It is the 
latter mode or rearing them which produces so 
many horses of little value, and which has led 
to the impression, that the breed of saddle 
horses has deteriorated. We have plenty of 
good material to work upon, if that material is 
properly manufactured. A superficial observer 
comes to the conclusion, when he visits a large 
fair, that there are very few good horses to be 
met with, because all the rubbish is taken to 
that market; but those which have been more 
judiciously managed by breeders who have ac¬ 
quired fame, are eagerly sought for by dealers 
and others, who go to the farms where they 
are bred, and there make their purchases. 
Those horses are never seen at the public fairs 
at all. 
There are so many little items connected with 
rearing horses which may appear trivial in de¬ 
tail, yet are collectively important, that it be¬ 
comes necessary to mention some of the most 
essential. When a foal is taken from its dam, 
the loss it sustains from being deprived of its 
mother’s milk is considerable; that must be 
met by offering nourishing food, consisting of 
oats, which should be bruized, occasionally 
bran mashes; the addition of a little boiled lin¬ 
seed in the water is highly beneficial. As it is 
used on many farms for feeding fat stock and 
other cattle, there cannot be much trouble or 
expense in supplying the small portion requi¬ 
site to the young foals. Shelter is of great 
consequence at all seasons, especially during 
the fall of rain. The texture of the coats of 
young horses is of that nature, that when it 
once becomes wet it is a long time getting dry 
again, more especially in the winter season. 
During the process of drying, the evaporation 
which takes place very materially reduces the 
quantity of nutriment contained in the blood 
destined to form fat and muscle on the growing 
frame, and thus much of the benefit to be ex¬ 
pected from the food which the animal consumes 
is wasted. Colds taken at an early age are cal¬ 
culated to injure the constitutions of young 
horses to a considerable extent. Some persons 
urge that horses should be brought up without 
attention to such matters, in order to render 
them hardy ; but a moment’s reflection will de¬ 
cide which of the two is most likely to consti¬ 
tute an animal which, having arrived at matu¬ 
rity, is required to be in possession of his phy¬ 
sical powers in the utmost state of development 
—one which has enjoyed uninterrupted health, 
or one which has been constantly in a state bor¬ 
dering upon disease. Although colds may be 
slight, when frequently repeated they become 
constitutional. Settling upon the lungs, they 
are often the origin of cutaneous disorders, 
swelled legs, blindness, and general debility. 
That organ being the medium through which 
the vital principle of the air is conveyed to the 
blood, its pure and healthy state, and conse¬ 
quently the general vigor of the animal, must 
be affected more or less by the condition of the 
lungs. When the trachea or windpipe is at¬ 
tacked by colds, and the membrane with which 
it is lined becomes inflamed, roaring is a fre¬ 
quent result; but it is a mistaken notion to sup¬ 
pose that malady ever proceeds from the lungs. 
Strangles, and the epidemic called “ influenza,” 
often occasion roaring, but more especially when 
the membrane lining the windpipe has become 
the seat of chronic inflammation produced by 
colds. 
As I would urgently recommend that all 
horses should be sheltered from the inclemency 
of the elements, so would I as earnestly recom¬ 
mend that they should be allowed the free en¬ 
joyment of pure air when the weather permits; 
but for this purpose they should not be turned 
into wet foggy meadows, where the grass is 
rank and luxuriant. Small paddocks or yards 
are the most suitable during winter, or a dry 
upland pasture that has been eaten close by 
sheep; but the existing conveniences must in 
some measure regulate this event. 
CULTIVATION OF FLAX FOR 1854. 
Tnn following are directions for the cultiva¬ 
tion and preparation of flax, whi .h has been is¬ 
sued this spring to the Irish farmers, by Messrs. 
Leadbetter & Co., of Belfast: 
Choice of Soil and Rotation —By attention 
and careful cultivation, good flax may be grown 
on various soils; but some are much better 
adapted for it than others. The best is a sound, 
dry, deep loam, with a clay sub-soil, or a light 
soil with clay sub-soil. It is very desirable 
that the land should be properly drained and 
sub-soiled, as, when it is saturated with cither 
underground or surface water, good flax cannot 
be expected. 
Without method there cannot be success; 
different soils require a differenceof rotation. 
In the best soils of Flanders, flax is grown in 
the third year of a seven-course rotation, or the 
fifth year of a ten-course rotation. In Belgium 
it follows a crop of oats. It is a very general 
error among farmers to consider it necessary 
that flax should follow a potato crop. Except 
on very poor soils, a better crop will be pro¬ 
duced after grain, and the double profit of the 
grain and flax secured. If old lea be broken 
up, and potatoes planted, followed by a grain 
crop, a very fine crop of flax may be obtained 
in the ensuing year. 
Preparation of the Soil —One of the points of 
the greatest importance in the culture of flax, is 
by thorough draining, and by careful and re¬ 
peated cleansing of the land from weeds, to 
place it in the finest, deepest, and cleanest state. 
This will make room for the roots to penetrate, 
which they will often do, to a depth equal to 
one-half the length of the stem above ground. 
After wheat, one plowing may be sufficieut, 
on light, friable loam, but two are better; and, 
on stiff soils, three are advisable—one immedi¬ 
ately after harvest, across the ridges, and two 
in spring, so as to be ready for sowing in the 
first or second week of April. Much will, of 
course, depend on the nature of the soil, and the 
knowledge and experience of the farmer. The 
land should be so drained and sub-soiled, that 
it can be sown in flats, which will give more 
even and much better crops. Sub-soiling should 
not be done at a less interval than two years 
prior to the flax crop. This gives the land time 
to consolidate. But until the system of thor¬ 
ough draining be general, it will be necessary, 
after oats, to plow early in autumn, to the depth 
of s ix or eight inches. Throw the land into 
ridges, that it may receive the frost and air; 
and make surface drains to carry off the rains 
of winter. If weeds make their appearance, 
cross-plow in spring, about a month before 
sowing, but only two or three inches deep, so 
as to preserve the winter surface for the roots 
of flax. Following the last harrowing, it is ne¬ 
cessary to roll, to give an even surface and con¬ 
solidate the land, breaking up this again with a 
short-toothed or seed harrow, before sowing, 
which should be up and down, not across the 
ridges, or anglewise. 
Sowing —The seed best adapted for the gen¬ 
erality of soils is Riga, although Dutch has been 
used, in many districts of the country, for a se¬ 
ries of years, with perfect success. American 
seed does not generally suit well, as it is apt to 
produce a coarse branchy stem. If used, it 
should be on deep loamy soils. Dutch seed 
lias been used frequently of late, and produced 
excellent crops. In buying seed, select it 
plump, shining, and heavy, and of the best 
brands. Sift it clear of all the seeds of weeds, 
which will save a great deal of after trouble, 
when the crop is growing. This may be done 
by fanners, and through a wire sieve, twelve 
bars to the inch. The proportion of seed for 
sowing may be stated at three and a half impe¬ 
rial bushels to the Irish or plantation acre. 
(This is about 2 bushels to the imperial acre, 
the same as the U. S.) It is better to sow too 
thick than to thin; as with thick sowing, the 
stem grows tall and straight, gets only one or 
two seed capsules at the top ; and the fiber is 
found greatly superior, in fineness and length, 
to that produced from thin-sown flax, which 
grows coarse, and branches out, producing much 
seed, but a very inferior quality of fiber. The 
ground being purverized and well cleaned, roll 
and sow. If it has been laid off without ridges, 
it should be marked off in divisions, eight to ten 
feet broad, in order give an equable supply of 
seed. After sowing, cover it with a seed har¬ 
row, going twice over it—once up and down, 
and once across or anglewise; as this makes it 
more equally spread, and divides the small drills 
made by the teeth of the harrow. Finish with 
the roller, which will leave the seed covered 
about an inch—the proper depth. The ridge 
should be very little raised in the center, when 
the ground is ready for the seed, otherwise the 
crop will not ripen evenly; and, when land is 
properly drained, there should be no ridges. 
The sowing of clover and grass seeds along with 
the flax is not advised when it can be conveni¬ 
ently avoided, as the plants injure the root-ends 
of the flax. But carrots may be sown, in suita¬ 
ble soils, in drills, so that the person pulling the 
flax may step over the rows, which may be af¬ 
terwards hoed and cleaned, and should have 
some liquid manure. A stollen crop of rape or 
winter vetches, or of turnips of the stone or 
Norfolk globe varieties may be taken, after the 
flax is pulled. Rolling the ground after sowing 
is very advisable, care being taken not to roll 
when the ground is so wet that the earth ad¬ 
heres to the roller. 
Manure — Well-rotted stable manure is as 
good as can be applied. 
