5?4 
^OVk^^AL  Ok  BOkTtCUM’tIM  AND  OOTTaQK  OAkhUNDU. 
BecSmbeJ  lO,  1808. 
filled  that  cart  there  is  load  enough  without  hi*  great  idle  carcase. 
There  is  not  only  positive  cruelty  to  horses  inflicted  by  blows  from 
fork,  shafts,  kicks  in  the  belly  from  a  heavy  foot,  and  other  rough 
treatment,  but  there  i*  quite  as  much  cruelty  practised  by  the  man 
who  means  no  harm,  who  gets  up  too  late  in  the  morning  to  allow 
his  horses  a  proper  feed,  and  a  little  digesting  time  after  the  feed. 
The  master  provides  neceseiry  food,  but  from  the  nature  of  t'^ings 
has  to  leave  the  administration  to  his  men.  A  horse  is  not  always 
in  the  same  condition  of  health,  and  what  it  would  eat  cheerfully 
at  one  time  will  leave  rejected  at  another.  A  good  horseman 
knows  this,  and  he  also  knows  two  horses  are  rarely  alike.  He  has 
it  in  his  power  to  vary  the  diet  (of  course,  at  a  little  trouble  to 
himself),  but  he  will  not  eat  his  own  supper  cheerfully  if  he  knows 
his  charges  are  merely  toying  wdth  theirs. 
A  horse  regularly  fed,  well  groomed,  will  bear  a  great  deal  of 
hard  work  and  yet  show  a  healthy  bloom  on  his  coat.  Now,  to  get 
this  bloom  and  healthy  appearance  without  the  due  expenditure  cf 
labour  and  care  is  often  the  aim  of  young  farm  servants,  and  they^ 
in  their  crude  ignorance,  inflict  on  these  noble  animals  untold 
suffering,  whilst  their  masters  may  be  thankful  if  they  get  off 
without  actual  loss  of  life.  Indeed,  this  evil  has  assumed  such 
proportions  in  some  parts  of  the  country  that  a  society  has  been 
organiied  to  prosecute  any  men  found  giving  deleterious  drugs  to 
their  horses.  Unfortunately,  the  law  does  not  help  us  much  ;  the 
punishment  does  not  fit  the  crime. 
We  recall  a  case  where  the  four  best  carthorses  were  found 
suffering  from  some  unknown  disease.  A  vet  soon  discovered  that 
the  waggoner  in  charge  had  been  using  most  deadly  drugs  ;  but, 
^las  !  his  disclosures  came  too  late — all  remedies  were  in  vain,  the 
poor  beasts  lingered  in  agony  for  several  days,  three  died,  one 
recovered  to  be  only  a  shadow  of  her  former  self.  Horses  were 
dear  then  ;  it  was  the  spring  of  the  year,  when  work  was  plentiful^ 
and  it  cost  the  farmer  £200  to  make  good  his  loss.  The  waggoner 
was  fined,  and  got  one  month.  Comment  is  needless. 
This  wa*  ignorant  cruelty,  but  nevertheless  cruelty,  that 
ended  in  death.  It  is  not  onlv  by  drugs  that  harm  may  be  done. 
Who  has  not  heard  of  stolen  Wheat  and  Barley  ?  stolen  probably 
in  the  hurry  and  rush  of  a  threshing  day. 
“  Ram  Wheat  into  um,”  says  waggoner.  There  i4  colic  and  a 
stoppage,  great  anxiety  on  the  master’s  part,  and  a  heavy  bill  for 
“  drinks,”  “  balls.”  That  is  the  minor  evil,  the  major  is  lameness 
in  the  feet — fever  in  the  feet ;  turn  out  to  grass — a  long  rest — and 
premature  decay.  ’ 
It  is  easv  to  tell  whether  a  gartbman  understands  his  business 
or  not.  •  Go  into  a  yard  full  of  feeding  beasts,  observe  their 
attitude  towards  you.  Do  they  go  on  quietly  chewing  their  cud,  or 
do  they  jump  up  all  on  the  alert  for  a  rough  word  or  rougher  blow  ? 
Why,  the  very  first  essential  for  feeding  stock  is  perfect  rest  and 
quietness. 
In  quietness  and  confidence  they  possess  their  souls  and  lay  on 
fat.  There  is  another  small  cruelty  exercised  towards  cattle — 
irregularity  of  feeding  times.  You  do  not  like  to  be  kept  waiting 
for  your  dinner  ;  it  disturbs  your  digestion  ;  it  spoils  your  appetite. 
We  are  all  creatures  of  habit,  and  it  is  never  well  to  upset  Nature’s 
balance.  Some  will  cavil,  and  say,  Why,  if  the  food  is  given  some 
time,  what  does  it  matter?  But  it  does  matter,  and  a  good  garth- 
man  will  prove  to  you  in  few  words  that  punctuality  is  the  soul  of 
his  business  at  any  rate. 
We  ought  to  have  mentioned  the  next  point,  when  our  text  was 
horses,  “  Better  late  than  never.”  It  would  not  be  possible  to  give 
every  horse  a  loose  box,  but  we  do  know  men  who  have  perhaps 
one  hackney  and  a  good  two-stalled  stable.  It  never  occurs  to  them 
how  much  more  comfortable  their  “gee”  would  be,  and  how  much 
better  it  would  be  for  his  legs,  if  the  carpenter  might  make  a  set  of 
poles  that  would  convert  his  restricted  standing  into  a  free  and 
easy  loose  box. 
Imagine  the  sensation  of  always  being  tied  up  by  the  head  ;  of 
always  placing  your  poor  tired  feet  in  exactly  the  same  number  of 
inches,  and  hiving  to  stand  so  wpek  in  week  out — how  tvould  you 
like  it  ? 
Ja»t  one  last  word  to  shepherds.  Any  shepherd  who  has  any 
opinion  of  himself  is  “found”  with  an  old  “Galloway”  and 
possibly  a  cart.  The  bigge*t  sheep  pastures  now  are  not  immense. 
Could  not  you  manage  to  do  a  little  more  walking  round  the  flock 
yourself  in  lieu  of  “dogging  ”  them  ?  We  hate  to  see  sheep  racing 
and  panting  round  a  field  while  the  shepherd  sits  at  his  ease  in  his 
cart  ;  in  fact,  we  much  prefer  to  see  the  dog  safely  at  home  tied 
op.  It  is  used  much  more  frequently  than  need  be,  and  is  a  source 
of  terror  and  dismay  to  the  sheep,  if  not  of  anything  worse. 
WOBK  ON  THE  HOME  FABM. 
On  many  farm*  the  rush  of  aatumn  work  is  over,  and  horses  and  men 
are  taking  a  much-needed  breather.  The  weather  has  again  been  of  a 
favourable  character,  and  suitable  for  any  kind  of  work.  We  have  been 
doing  a  little  thraibing,  and  allowing  the  horses  to  rest  meanwhile.  Oats 
were  the  grain  thrashed,  and  they  came  out  in  good  condition.  The  yield 
was  quite  good,  but  price  not  up  to  expectations,  the  markets  for  ail 
cereals  (except  Wheat)  being  now  very  flat. 
We  still  hear  rumours  of  late  drilling  of  Wheat,  the  land  having  dried 
suflflciently  to  warrant  the  attempt  being  made  In  one  case  the  seed 
was  drilled  with  the  coulters  up  lengthwayof  the  ploughing,  no  previous 
harrowing  having  been  attempted ;  the  seed  thus,  in  great  part,  dropped 
into  the  seams,  and  was  effectually  covered  by  once  harrowing  across 
them. 
Progress  has  been  made  in  the  storing  of  Swedes,  but  has  been  inter¬ 
rupted  by  two  frosts  of  12°  and  15°  respectively,  sharp  enough  to 
remind  us  that  it  is  time  the  work  were  finished,  or  winter  may  find  us 
unprepared  for  it. 
The  ridges  of  the  Potato  and  Mangold  pies  may  now  be  covered  with 
soil  ;  it  is  not  often  that  frost  gets  into  them  along  the  top,  but  wet  docs, 
so  earthing  had  better  be  completed. 
We  have  ploughed  in  the  Mangold  tops  ;  some  people  eat  them  off 
with  sheep,  but  they  are  soon  consnmed,  and  we  find  them  of  more  value 
as  a  manure  ;  the  roots  are  all  drawn  off  for  consumption  elsewhere,  and 
it  is  only  fair  to  the  land  to  leave  the  tops.  The  frost  was  so  severe  on 
one  of  the  mornings  referred  to  above,  that  ploughing  was  found  impos¬ 
sible,  and  we  bad  to  cart  manure  instead. 
The  birds  are  paying  very  close  attention  to  the  newly-sown  Wheat ; 
its  worst  enemies  are  the  larks,  which  delve  it  up  as  soon  as  they  can  see 
the  green  blade  appearing.  On  light  soils  they  are  very  destructive,  and 
we  have  in  the  past  had  to  resow  fields  which  had  been  almost  denuded 
of  the  Wheat  plant  by  these  sweet  songsters. 
The  fact  is,  that  in  country  districts  where  game  is  heavily  preserved 
and  birds  of  prey  are  exterminated,  many  of  the  smaller  birds  are  now 
much  too  numerous.  Tenting  larks  is  almost  an  impossibility,  they  are 
9)  bad  to  see,  and  they  spread  themselves  over  such  a  wide  area. 
TELE  DAIRY  DIARY.® 
We  have  just  seen  a  useful  little  book  with  ruled  spaces  for  the  entry 
of  dairy  produce  At  a  glance  can  be  ascertained  the  quantity  of  milk 
brought  into  the  dairy  each  day  of  the  week,  what  quantity  is  used 
new,  and  the  house  cream  supply,  together  with  an  account  of  butter 
churned.  There  are  some  useful  dairy  hints  given  of  things  that  every 
one  should  know,  but,  alas  1  that  everyone  doe6  not  know.  The 
influeace  of  food  on  the  milk  ;  the  management  of  the  cow  in  health  ; 
some  simple  remedies  and  precautions  in  case  of  illness.  We  have  seen 
aconite  given  with  the  best  results  in  eases  of  milk  fever,  and  this 
writer  is  evidently  a  firm  believer  in  its  efficacy. 
Seed  Stands  at  the  Smithfield  Show.— We  are  informed  that 
Messr*.  Webb  &  Sons  and  Messrs.  Sutton  &  Sons  have  very  fine  atauds  of 
roots  and  other  products  at  the  above  show  ;  bat  as  the  authorities  have 
not  sent  tickets  for  the  purpose,  the  exhibition  cannot  be  repor  ed  in  our 
columns. 
MBTBOROLOGIOAL  OB8KBVATION8. 
Oamdhn  Squarb.  London. 
Lst.  61°  sa'sO"  S.:  Long.  0°  S' n>'  w.:  Altituflp  HI  fppt 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
a 
03 
1896 
November. 
and 
December. 
Barometer  > 
at  32°, and 
1  Sea  Level.  ! 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot. 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperatur* 
Dry. 
Vi7et. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
On 
Grass. 
Inchs. 
leg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg 
deg. 
deg. 
Inohs 
Sunday  ..  29 
30'296 
3b-l 
33-4 
N.E. 
3h-4 
39-2 
32-8 
56-1 
26-3 
— 
Monday  . .  30 
40  361 
29-1 
27-3 
K. 
38-3 
38-2 
25-4 
60- a 
191 
— 
Tuesday  . .  i 
SO-000 
'34-3 
31  2 
B. 
37-4 
40-0 
2»'9 
49-2 
20-8 
0-268 
Wednesday  2 
29-702 
37-8 
37-0 
B. 
3o-l 
47-2 
85-8 
48-2 
29  0 
(-751 
Thursday ..  3 
29-58 « 
47-1 
46-9 
S. 
38  3 
50-6 
37-2 
58-4 
36-1 
0090 
Friday  . ,  4 
29-288 
46-7 
45-2 
B. 
40-9 
47-9 
42  4 
60-1 
35-4 
0-618 
Saturday  ..  6 
23-972 
42-9 
42-2 
W. 
41-9 
46-3 
42-3 
69-1 
37-8 
0-150 
29-740 
39-1 
37  6 
38  9 
44-2 
36  1 
63-0 
29-1 
1-877 
REMARKS. 
SStih. — Bright  sunshine  almost  all  day  ;  clear  cold  night. 
30th. — Gold,  with  bright  sunshine  all  day. 
Ist. — Sunny  morning  ;  overcast  afternoon  ;  rain  at  night. 
2nd.— R  tin  till  5  A  M.,  r.hen  du)l  and  drizzly  till  2  P.M  .  and  continuous  rain  after. 
3rd.— Rain  early ;  Joggy  and  damp  morning ;  sunihine  at  1  P.M  ,  and  at  interval 
after  ;  rain  from  10  r  M  to  midnight. 
4th. _ Overcast  anj  damp  morning  ;  rain  from  noon  to  3.S0  P.M.,  then  a  gleam  of  sun, 
and  dull  and  damp  after,  with  rain  at  night 
5th.— Rain  till  7.30  A.M.,  then  dull  and  damp  ;  bright  sun  for  an  hour  at  noon  and  lair 
after. 
Temperature  about  the  average. 
rainfall  above  it.— G.  J.  SVMONS. 
*  Messrs.  Beechings,  174,  Strand. 
