1859 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
833 
Kindness vs Whip and Spur. 
The adage says : “A merciful man is merciful 
to his beast.” And is not the wise man so, like¬ 
wise. from notions of economy 1 If I kick, beat or 
otherwise wrong my horse, or cow, or ox, in the 
stable, he will, of necessity, become sour and ill- 
natured. He will not enjoy his food, or get all 
the benefit out of it. And if he kicks back, or 
bites, or crowds, or in other ways injures his 
cruel master, will he not become less valuable as 
property 1 So, if I overwork any of my domestic 
animals, or whip them unnecessarily while work¬ 
ing, or assail them with shouts and curses, they 
will not work as well as they would, if treated 
kindly and spoken to in a pleasant voice. They 
will be, for much of the time, in a state of ex¬ 
citement or irritation, and when their work is 
done, they will go to their stables chafed and ex¬ 
hausted. Any one who lias studied the nature of 
animals, knows that in the respect now noticed, 
there is a wonderful sim¬ 
ilarity between them and 
man. What they do 
cheerfully they do well 
and easily, what they do 
by compulsion they do 
poorly and with difficulty. 
Any excess of loading 
which a horse or ox is 
compelled to draw by fear 
of the lash, is usually a 
waste and injury to him. 
Any excess of speed in 
riding or driving, got by 
spur or whip, beyond 
what the animal can 
easily accomplish, wears 
upon his strength and his 
permanent health. If a 
person must needs draw 
very heavy loads, let him 
buy horses or oxen that 
can draw them without 
being forced to it by 
fear of brutal whipping. If he wants to drive a 
fast horse, let him buy a fast horse, and not com¬ 
pel a slow one to make a speed which he can not 
do without being overtaxed and injured. There 
is much to be learned yet, in our treatment of do¬ 
mestic animals. Mercy to them, no less than to 
our fellow-men, is twice blessed, blessing him 
that gives and him that receives it. 
Cruelty of the Check-rein. 
There are some apologies, we know, for the 
use of this contrivance. It may help, at times, in 
the management of a young unbroken colt. In 
the case of carriage horses, too, it improves their 
appearance ; and when they are to be driven at 
only a moderate pace, it may perhaps do no harm. 
It is held, also, that horses which are not sure¬ 
footed are less apt to stumble, if checked up, and 
if they stumble, are less liable to fall. But at 
best, it seems to be an unnatural and cruel piece 
of apparatus, especially for team-horses. In the 
endeavor to haul his load, the horse naturally 
throws his head forward and downward, so as to 
get a sort of leverage ; or, as one expresses it, 
he tries to “ throw his weight into what he has 
got to do.” What, then, if his head is girded up 
into the air 1 He works at very great disadvan¬ 
tage. 
When a man has hard work to do, he natural¬ 
ly rids himself of all unnecessary ligatures, 
clothing, and weights. He does the same, if he 
is going to run, walk a long distance, fight, or re¬ 
create in any way. He seeks to get free play of 
muscle and free respiration. Now, why should 
he treat his faithful horse differently, unless he 
wishes wantonly to oppress or injure him 1 The 
N. E. Farmer is hardly too severe in saying that 
“ any person whose attention has been called to 
the subject, and who still persists in the use of 
the tight check-rein, ought to have his own head 
placed in a similar position for a considerable 
time. If I were the Grand Sultan, every man 
who tormented his horse with a check-rein, 
should hold his arm at right angles with his body 
for an hour at a time, once in twenty-four hours, 
as long as he continued the check-rein. For 
working horses, Ihe use of this pernicious strap 
is especially cruel. The horse, in endeavoring to 
put forth his strength, needs the free natural use 
of his head and neck.” And any thing which 
cramps and restrains him is both cruel to the 
animal, and makes him less serviceable to his 
owner. 
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta Carolinensis.) 
[til tho letter containing the notes below, came a 
beautifully prepared specimen, made by skinning the 
bird, and pasting one side, or half of the skin, neatly upon 
a card. The feathers were all in place, and even the bill, 
and skin of the feet. At a little distance it had all the 
appearance of the live bird. A few pencil marks upon 
the card filled out the representation of the brandies, etc. 
In the accompanying picture we give an exact sketch of 
the specimen, except the color, which could not, of 
course, be shown with black printing ink. The original 
itself we shall preserve enclosed in a glass case. We 
shall be much obliged for directions how to prepare these 
specimens. Our younger readers could engage in no 
more pleasant exercise, than in preparing similar ones 
from various kinds of birds.— Ed.] 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist : 
The bird named Sap-sucker by “ Young Agri¬ 
culturist” in the August number, page 251,1 sus¬ 
pect to be the White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta 
carolinensis), which has a general lead color, with 
the head and neck black above, and pure white 
underneath. Length 5$- inches. The foot has 
three toes before and two behind—the true wood¬ 
pecker has only two before and two behind. This 
bird resides here (Oneida Co., N. Y.) both Sum¬ 
mer and Winter, and probably also in all the 
sugar maple and heavy timbered districts of the 
United States. [We have seen them in large 
numbers in Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
AYestern New-York, Ohio and Michigan. Their 
general form is shown in the picture which is the 
exact size of the full grown bird. From the mode 
of preparing the specimen, the eye and toes are 
not perfect, and the engraver has not given these 
accurately. By remembering that the general 
color is lead, the reader will readily recognize this 
bird, and especially from the fact that it is one of 
the tamest of wild birds, and is rtiost frequently 
seen on the trunk of a tree with its head down¬ 
ward.— Ed] 
The Nuthatch is a friend and old acquaintance 
of ours. True, he does tap trees ; we have seen 
him tapping them in the cold month of January, 
when the “sap and mucilage ” were frozen hard 
as adamant; and we have seen him tap them in 
the hot month of August, when the sap would 
not run. We have seen him tap hemlock, spruce, 
beach, birch, ash, and indeed every thing else that 
came in his way, from a rail fence to a rotten 
stump. This will amuse your young readers, and 
well it may, for if sugar making be his business, 
instinct here is greatly at fault. Closet natural¬ 
ists say that he lives on nuts, and hence his name. 
But, whatever may be the habits of the European 
Nuthatch, our American AVhite-breasted Nut¬ 
hatch never takes any 
other food than insects 
and their larva. It may 
occasionally wash down 
its food from the sap 
spouts. If any of our 
young friends want an 
introduction to this beau¬ 
tiful young climber, we 
will give them the pass 
word and sign ; let them 
go to the sunny side of 
the wood or orchard, if 
they are clean and tidy, 
and have no smell of 
gunpowder about them, 
and he will walk down 
the body of the tree, head 
foremost, and meet them 
with a thousand wel¬ 
comes. (This is a Blon 
dinian feat, which no 
Woodpecker ever dare 
attempt.) Your boys and 
girls may call him “Nuthatch,” and give a reason 
for so doing. Though his name is a libel on his 
habits, we must be content; his christening was 
orthodox, performed with due pomp and solemni¬ 
ty by our savans of the R. N. H. S. (Royal Nat¬ 
ural History Society.) John Marsden. 
Oneida Co., N. Y. 
--0-4- W5 -$'C3I -*-«*- 
Tim Bunker on Dress—in Eeply to his 
Neighbors. 
Mr. Editor. —I was considerably astonished 
to see the letter from Tucker and Jones in your 
last paper. I did not suppose that I had said any 
thing to break the peace, or to stir up my neigh¬ 
bors, and even that letter don’t fairly convince 
me. You see it is a great country, where it 
takes two folks to write a letter—and soch a let¬ 
ter ! Any body that knows those two men, knows 
that they did not write that letter. It is not in 
them, and what is not in a man, can’t come 
out of him anyway. I took the paper right to 
Tucker, as soon as it come, and says I to him, 
says I, 
“ Tucker, do you know who wrote that letter.” 
“ No I don’t Square,” says he, “ blam’d if I do.” 
And neighbor Jones said the same thing. If 
they told a whopper, it probably is not the first 
one they have told, for though I say it, that should 
not, their reputation don’t stand any the highest 
for speaking the truth. 
I suspect they either got somebody to write 
the letter for them, or some envious person who 
wants to get hold of my piece of reclaimed marsh, 
