118 the cultivator. 
THE WILD HORSE.—(Fig. 00.) 
b^.crinarji SD^partm^nt. 
MANAGEMENT OF THE HORSE. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker— The accompanying 
cut of a Wild Horee, gamboling in his native freedom, is 
a fancy sketch, from the ‘‘ Spirit of Humanity,” a com¬ 
pilation of numerous and weighty authorities in favor of 
the kind treatment of animals. It seems passing strange, 
while the treatises of the Encyclopedias, Agricultural 
Societies, and various talented and experienced individu¬ 
als, strongly recommend the mihler course for the bene¬ 
fit of the human race no less than the brute, that the 
lords of creation should so frequently and so grossly tres¬ 
pass and pervert their prerogative of dominion into ty¬ 
ranny. With the engraving, are two or three extracts 
from the “Stable Economy” of John Stewart, a very 
clever, practical and philosophical writer, and like his 
countryman John Lawrence, a friend of man and of hor¬ 
ses. Their excellent essays would well bear republica¬ 
tion in this country, in a cheap form. Being aware of 
the very extensive field from which the Cultivator is 
supplied, the selections offered below are quite limited. 
J. R. A. 
Docking.— In this country the horse’s tail is regarded 
as a useless or troublesome appendage. It was given to 
ward off the attacks of blood-sucking flies. But men 
choose to remove it without being able to give the horse 
any other protection from the insects against which it 
was intended to operate. The tail may be very useful in 
some respects, and in the good old times it was permit¬ 
ted to flourish as it grew, being only bound when it 
troubled the horse's rider. But in times like these,when 
men clamor for freedom, and practice tyranny, it must 
be cut off. 
It is said that the back becomes stronger after the tail 
is docked; that the back receives the blood which for¬ 
merly went to the tail. There is no truth in this. The 
small quantity of blood which is saved can be furnished 
by one or two additional ounces of corn, and there is not 
the slightest proof that the back becomes stronger. 
Some writers have contended that the tail of the horse, 
like that of the greyhound or the kangaroo, assists him 
in turning, in the same way that a helm guides a ship. 
Whether this be true or not, there can be no doubt about 
the utility of the tail in keeping off flies, which to some 
horses give extreme torment. I have heard or read of a 
troop of cavalry employed, 1 think, in some part ofindia, 
that was quite useless in consequence of the annoyance 
the docked horses received from a large species of fly. 
In this country, for two months of the year, thin-skinned 
horses suffer excessively, and many accidents happen 
from their struggles or their fears. At grass they are in 
a constant fever. 
It is surely worth while inquiring, whether all that is 
gained by docking balances the loss. In comparing the 
two, it ought to be remembered that lock-jaw and death 
are not rare results of the operation. 
Nicking. _In England and Scotland, this operation ap¬ 
pears to be fast and justly getting into disrepute. _ It is 
still very common in all parts of Ireland. Its object is 
to make the horse carry his tail well elevated. Two or 
three deep incisions are made on the lower surface of the 
tail' the muscles by which it is depressed are divided, 
and’a portion of them excised. The wounds are kept 
open for several days, and the tail is kept in elevation 
by means of pulleys and a weight.^ It is a surgical ope- 
ration^ but no respectable veterinarian would recommend 
it. It need not be described here. On the continent, a 
tail thus mutilated is termed Queue a I'Anglaise, in com¬ 
pliment, I suppose, to the English. _ _ 
There is a safer and more humane method pf attaining 
the same object. If the horse do not carry his tail to his 
rider’s satisfaction, it may be put in the pulleys an hour 
or two every day for several successive weeks. 
A cord is stretched across the stall, near or between 
the heel posts; the hair of the tail is plaited and attacheil 
to another cord, which passes upward, over a pulley in 
the transverse line, stretches backward, where it passes 
through another pulley and descends. To this a weight 
is secured, a bag containing sand or shot sufficient to keep 
the tail at the proper elevation. A double pulley on the 
aross cord permits the horse to move from side to side 
without twisting the tail. The weight should 
vary with the strength of the tail. From one 
to two pounds is sufficient to begin with. Af¬ 
ter a few days it may be gradually increased, 
so as to keep the tail a little more elevated 
than the horse is wonted to carry it. 'Lhe time 
which he stands in the pulleys need not in the 
first week exceed one hour; on the second 
week he may stand thus for two or three hours 
every day, and at last he may be kept up all 
day', or all night, if the horse be at work dur¬ 
ing the day. Should the tail become hot or 
tender, or should the hair show any tendency 
to fall out, the elevating process must be omit¬ 
ted for a day or two, till the tail be well again, 
when it may' be resumed and carried on every 
day, unless the hair again become loose, which 
is a sign that the weight is too great, or too 
long continued. 
From this operation there is no danger of the 
horse dying of lock-jaw, nor of the tail being 
set awry, nor broken, as sometimes happens 
after nicking. It requires a much longer pe¬ 
riod to effect the elevation, but that is of no 
consequence, since the horse need not be a 
single day off work. 'When nicked he must 
be idle for several weeks. 
Bedding. —To a hard working horse, a good bed is 
almost as essential as food. Many' stablemen cannot 
make it. It should be as level and equal as a matrass. 
There should be no lumps in the litter; it should come 
well back, ami slope from each side, and from the head 
towards the center. Farm servants and carters never 
give the horse a good bed, although their horses need it 
fully as much as any other. They generally have the lit¬ 
ter all in a heap, or in a number of heaps, upon which 
the horse cannot lie comfortable for more than half an 
hour. The efforts such a bulky animal must make to rise 
and change his position, completely awakens him. His 
rest is broken, and his vigor never fairly recruited. 
Now, it is not difficult to make a good bed; any body 
with hands may learn it in a few days. But no one 
thinks of learning such a thing. Those who become ex¬ 
pert at it cannot help their expertness. They never tried 
to obtain it; practice gave it to them before they knew 
it was of any use. But for all this it may be learned. 
Show the man how to use the fork, and how to spread 
the litter; give him a pattern bed in one stall, and make 
him work in the next two hours every day, for a week. 
If he cannot learn it in this time—the operation is really 
worth such trouble—the man will never learn any thing. 
While the old litter is not in sufficient quantity to pro¬ 
duce any sensible impurity of the air, it can only be call¬ 
ed a slovenly, not a pernicious practice. But the stables 
of farmers a,nU cartcro arc Iii general tOO bad. Their 
horses never have a decent bed. There are no fixed 
times for changing the litter. When it becomes so wet 
and filthy that the keeper is somewhat ashamed to see it, 
he throws down some fresh straw to conceal that which 
ought to be taken away. That is done, perhaps, every 
day; but it is not till the horse is standing fetlock deep 
in a reeking dunghill, that the stall is cleaned to the bot¬ 
tom. 
Upon such a bed the horse can never obtain unbroken 
rest; and the stable can never be comfortable. The nox¬ 
ious vapors arising from the rotting litter, are destruc¬ 
tive to the eyes, the lungs, and to the general health or 
strength. When there is a circulation of air sufficient to 
carry off these vapors, the stable is cold. While the 
horse is lying, the cold air is blowing over him on the 
one side, and the dunghill is roasting him on the other. 
This is an old practice, and of course not to be aban¬ 
doned without a struggle. The farmer contends that it 
is the right way to make good manure, and the carter 
that it saves the consumption of straw. Manure may be 
made in this way, perhaps, well enough; but horses are 
surely not kept for that purpose. Visit the stables of 
those who have been successful farmers. See how they 
contrive to obtain manure. For the poor carter, who 
cannot afford to give his horse a comfortable bed, there 
is no remedy unless he can learn to live without quite so 
much whiskey. 
COLIC IN THE HORSE. 
Editors of the Cultivator —In your number for 
this month, I notice an article on “Colic in the Hoise,” 
and it gives me much pleasure to be able to concur with 
you most fully in regard to the severity and danger of 
the disease; and for the most part also in the treatment, 
which, so far as it goes, is in every respect unexceptiona¬ 
ble- and I think it not improbable that when resorted to 
in proper season, will, as Mr. Stewart believes, succeed 
in eight cases out of nine. 
The ninth horse however, ought to be saved if possi¬ 
ble, and I as freely believe that this last object may be 
attained in every true case of colic, as that the first eight 
will be saved by the remedies proposed. I cannot agree 
with you that the first object in the treatment is to arrest 
the fermentation, or that this is a primary cause of colic, 
believing it to be only one of the consequences. How¬ 
ever this may be, I would rather say that the first object 
is to allay the pain—-to relieve that excruciating agony 
which is, I apprehend, the very first morbid change 
which takes place in colic, and which being suspended, 
all other morbid phenomena subside of course, unless 
disoro-anization of the intestines has already taken place. 
Thisobject can always be attained by the proper use of 
opium—exhibited either alone or in combination with 
the stimulants advised by Mr. Stewart. These last, how¬ 
ever, I should think might be essential when there are 
evident symptoms of exhaustion and prostration of 
strength. 
In cases of much severity, two ounces of a saturated 
tincture of opium, (laudanum,) may be given every half 
hour, till the pain is relieved, and if the symptoms are 
peculiarly distressing, three ounces may be given once 
in 20 minutes. 
If the belly is distended and very hard, a moderate 
bleeding may be conjoined with this treatment with ad¬ 
vantage. 
I have known 8 ounces of laudanum exhibited in two 
hours, with perfect relief in a case of great severity, 
when all other remedies had failed of, even mitigating 
the symptoms. 'Very respectfulty, 
East Windsor, May 20, 1843. H. Watson. 
ALTERING COLTS. 
Editors of the Cultivator— The treatment of ani¬ 
mals has arrested my attention from the time when as a 
boy, I have witnessed, in the lower part of this state and 
S. Carolina, the yearly collection of marsh tackies,’ealves, 
&c., for the purpose of marking, branding, cutting out 
the lampas, emasculating, docking, &c., and to this lime 
I have hailed with pleasure any improvement, especially 
in the treatment of that noble animal, the Horse. By 
degrees I have seen the barbarous practice of burning 
out the lampas and cutting out the hooks, give way, at 
least among the enlightened, to the more rational, and I 
think more curative practice of depletion and change of 
food. 
And now, having witnessed, I am induced to describe 
to you an improvement in the emasculation of the horse, 
which strikes me as being well worthy of being gene¬ 
rally known. 
■When I came to this neighborhood a few years ago, I 
was told of a man who performed the operation without 
ticing the horse in any way, and I am free to confess 
that I thought it was a mistake; but now, to me, seeing 
is believing, allhough it yet appears strange. Being at 
the house of a friend on Saturilay last, I had an opportu¬ 
nity of seeing the performance under the following cir¬ 
cumstances : 
A three years old colt, with a simple bridle on, was 
backed info the corner of a worm rail fence, where he 
was held by a youth of sixteen, without any oilier re¬ 
straint than the bridle and fence. The operator ap¬ 
proached the animal with the same calm sang fni^ that 
an old bee-master handles a hive which he is about »■> 
rob of its honey; g-ofiig" to the right side, he laid hold 
of the bag with the left hand, and with the right laid 
open one testicle, and separated it in the usual way; and 
then did the same with the other, and so left them with¬ 
out any ligature; he then enlarged the opening in the 
envelop skin so that all the blood which came might 
freely fall off; a spoonful of lard and salt was then laid 
in to prevent an accumulation of coagulated blood on the 
parts, and he was then unbridled and turned loose. Du¬ 
ring the operation, there were no great efforts made by 
the horse to get away, and he was easily held in by the 
bridle; he appeared to incline towards the operator, as 
horses frequently do when they are tickled by the curry¬ 
comb; and once or twice he threw up the near hind leg 
as if to drive off a fly. There were no evidences of his 
suffering pain, such as groaning or the like. The man 
said he had operated on hundreds, and never lost one, or 
had been kicked but by one, and was successful with ei¬ 
ther old or young horses. A. S. 
Oakland Farm, near Lebanon, Cobb eo.. Geo., 1843. 
SPAYING SWINE. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —I have seen several 
dii'ections given for spaying swine; none however, I 
think, superior to mine, which is as follows: I have a 
crooked stick, in the form of the arm when half bent, 
about 18 inches long; to each end I attach a string, dou¬ 
bled, about 8 or 10 inches long, which I put in a noose 
over the hind legs, just above the hocks; hang them up 
head downward; tie the mouth to prevent squealing; let 
a boy stand at their back and hold the fore legs. I then 
with a sharp knife split the belly just between the hind 
four teats, sufficient to insert two or three fingers of the 
left hand, draw out the pride, and cut it off with the 
knife in the right hand; then with a large crooked needle 
and waxed thread, sow up the wound in the following 
manner: stick the needle through from outside to inside, 
then bring out the needle on the other side of the wound, 
from inside to outside; cut off the thread sufficiently long 
to tie; repeat the same so as to make three stitches; then 
tie them, being careful not to draw the sticthes too tight, 
and the work is done. I believe I can spay as many in 
a given length of time and with as little loss, as any man 
can any other way. John M. Johnson. 
Hamnibal, Mo., May 25, 1843. 
Mange or Mad Itch in Swine.— A correspondent 
of the Maine Farmer recommends the following : “ Take 
raw tobacco steeped cold and strong in chamber lie, 
pour off the clear liquor, then mix it, equal parts, with 
lamp oil, and then rub on the composition. It is a safe 
and sovereign remedy for mange, in all stages and all 
animals, brute or human. This ointment, if kept in a 
tight bottle, will keep good any length of lime. It should 
be well shaken together when used, for the parts soon 
separate when standing.” 
