1817. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
279 
She has sometimes stood a jack-snipe when all the 
pointers had passed by it; she would back the dogs 
when they pointed, but the dogs refused to back her 
until spoke to, their dogs being all trained to make a 
general halt when the word was given, whether any 
dog pointed or not, so that she has been frequently 
standing in the midst of a field of pointers. In conse¬ 
quence of the dogs not liking to hunt when she was 
with them, (for they dropped their sterns and showed 
symptoms of jealousy,) she did not very often accom¬ 
pany them, except for the novelty, or when she acci¬ 
dentally joined them in the forest. Her pace.was 
mostly a trot, was seldom known to gallop except 
when called to go out shooting; she would then come 
home off the forest at full stretch, for she was never 
shut up but to prevent her being out of the sound of the 
call or whistle when a party of gentlemen had appoint¬ 
ed to see her out the next day, and which call she 
obeyed as regularly as a dog, and was as much eleva¬ 
ted as a dog upon being shown the gun. She always 
expressed great pleasure when game, either dead or 
alive was placed before her. She has frequently stood 
a single partridge at forty yards’ distance, her nose in 
an exact line, and would continue in that position 
until the game moved: if it took wing she would come 
up to the place and put her nose down two or three 
times; but if a bird ran off, she would get up and go 
to the place, and draw slowly after it, and when the 
bird stopped she would stand it as before. The two 
Mr. Toomers lived about seven miles apart, at Rhine- 
field and Broomey lodges; Slut has many times gone 
by herself from one lodge to the other, as if to court 
the being taken out shooting. She was about five 
years old when her master died, and at the auction of 
his pointers, &c., was bought in at ten guineas. Sir 
Henry Mildmay having expressed a wish to have her, 
she was sent to Dogmersfield Park, where she remained 
some years. She was last in the possession of Col. 
Sykes, and was then ten years old, and had become fat 
and slothful, but could point' game as well as ever. 
She was not often used, except to show her to strangers, 
as the pointers refused to act when out with her. 
When killed she weighed 700 lbs. Her death-warrant 
was signed in consequence of her having been accused 
of being instrumental to the disappearance of sundry 
missing lambs.” 
Instances are given of hogs having been trained to 
work in harness, and to draw carriages; and an eccen¬ 
tric old gentleman near St. Albans,' is said to have 
had, about thirty years ago, a, team of four of these 
bristly steeds, which he used to drive at a brisk trot 
round the country, harnessed to a chaise-cart. And 
in the island of Minorca, it is said that the ass and 
hog may to this day be regularly seen working together 
turning up the land. 
The Wild Boar, fig. 60, is regarded as the parent 
of our domesticated breeds. That he is so, there can 
be no doubt. * 11 The well known fact,” says Mr. 
Youatt, “ that all kinds breed with the [wild] boar, 
is in itself a sufficient testimony; but to this we can 
add that the period of gestation is the same in the NVild 
and tame sow; the anatomical structure is identical; 
the general form bears the same character, and the 
habits, so far as they are not altered by domestication, 
are the same. 
“ This animal is generally of a dark brown or 
iron-gray color, inclining to black, and diversified with 
black spots or streaks. The body is covered with 
coarse hairs, intermingled with a downy wool; these 
become bristles as they approach the neck and shoul¬ 
ders, and are here so long as to form a species of 
mane, which the animal erects when irritated. The 
head is short, the forehead broad and flat, the ears 
short, rounded at the tips, and inclined towards the 
neck, the jaws armed with sharp, crooked tusks which 
curve slightly upwards, and are capable of inflicting 
fearful wounds, the eye full, the neck thick and muscu¬ 
lar, the shoulders high, the loins broad, the tail stiff, 
and finished off with a tuft of bristles at the tip, the 
haunch well turned, and the legs strong. He is a very 
active and powerful animal, and becomes fiercer as he 
grows older. He is neither a solitary nor gregarious 
animal. For the first two or three years, the whole 
herd follow the sow, and all unite in defence against 
their enemies, calling upon each other with loud cries 
in case of emergency, and forming in regular line of 
battle, the weaker occupying the rear. But when ar¬ 
rived at maturity, the animals wander alone, as if in 
perfect consciousness of their strength, and appear as 
if they neither sought nor avoided any living creature. 
He is said to live about thirty years. He formerly in¬ 
habited the forests and wilds of all quarters of the old 
continent; but of late years is confined to the most un¬ 
cultivated portions.” 
A notice of “ Domestic Breeds,” with illustrations, 
will appear next month. 
Drawing off Corn.— Many farmers wish to sow 
wheat after corn. Good crops are often thus raised, 
if the corn has been well manured, and a small early 
variety planted. A very unfarmerlike operation is to 
leave the shocks of corn in rows, and plow and sow 
between. Solon Robinson describes the Jersey mode 
of drawing it off, in the Prairie Farmer, which he likes 
11 best of all modes .”—“ The corn being put into large 
shocks in the field, is hauled one at a time in a horse 
cart, in this wise. A light frame is made to take the 
place of the cart bed, having two long stakes behind, 
so that one is on each side of the shock when the cart 
is backed up, and the frame tipped back as though 
dumping a load. A small rope is now thrown over 
the shock, and this being attached to a small wind¬ 
lass on the thills and running through the forward 
part of the frame, on being wound up draws the 
shock tight to the frame, and then draws the frame 
down where it is held fast, the butts of the shock hang¬ 
ing off behind. When arrived at the place to unload, 
the rope being let loose, down goes the shock, stand¬ 
ing just as it did in the field. Where the distance is 
not over a mile, it is astonishing how soon a field may 
be cleared.” 
Cutting Wheat Early. —JI. B. Hawley says in 
the Prairie Farmer, u As soon as the bulk of the crop 
has got its brown color, and the berry is doughy and 
soft, I commence cutfing, and let lie in the swath one 
day if the weather is good, and do not wait for the 
small wheat to grow larger, for it never will. I let 
three acres of my best wheat stand until dead ripe, for 
seed; it weighed 61 lbs.; the weight, alongside, cut 
one week earlier, was 64 lbs.” The result of this ex¬ 
periment accords entirely with the same elsewhere. 
Wheat cut early affords more grain, yields less bran, 
makes better flour, shells less in harvesting, wastes 
less in gleanings, gives better straw, and enables the 
farmer to do the work more leisurely. 
Age of Goats. —Goats appear tp attain a greater 
age than sheep. When Alexander Selkirk was on the 
Island of Juan Fernandez, he caught above 500 goats, 
which he marked on the ear and let them go. In 
Commodore Anson’s voyage , it is mentioned that the 
Centurion’s men found on the island several venerable 
goats, which, from having their ears slit, they conclu¬ 
ded had been caught by Selkirk, who was left on the 
island about thirty-two years previous.—[/. H. Fen¬ 
nell in ike Scottish, Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. ] 
