22 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  ASD  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
Januarj'  !>  1903. 
Might  there  not  be  a  danger  of  horses  kicking  each  other 
when  loose  in  so  confined  a  place  as  even  a  good  yard  1 
Otherwise  we  quite  agree  they  would  be  very  much  healthier. 
Sir  Richard  Green  Price  in  speaking  of  the  Welsh  Pony 
and  Cob  Society,  thinks  that  a  ci’oss  with  good  Polo  blood 
would  improve  the  riding  type,  and  make  nice  small 
hunters,  we  suppose  for  ladies  and  the  youthful  sportsmen. 
Be  it  for  better  or  worse,  nowadays  we  hear  of  little  else 
but  education,  and  Sir  W.  Gilbey  has  evidently  taken  the 
infection  in  a  strong  foi-m.  “  Schools  for  horses  ”  is  capital 
reading  and  should  be  laid  to  heart  by  those  who  have 
to  do  with  young  horses.  How  many  are  (like  children) 
spoilt  by  over-indulgence,  and  then  by  over-punishment ! 
Again,  like  childi-en,  training  cannot  begin  too  early.  By 
training  we  mean,  in  this  case,  handling  and  haltering. 
Indeed,  those  foals,  who,  with  their  dams,  make  an  early 
appearance  in  the  show  rings,  are  bound  to  be  put  into 
some  sort  of  form.  The  breaker  must  be  both  gentle  and 
fimi  ;  many  of  a  horse’s  faults  arise  from  timidity,  and  that 
timidity  must  be  overcome  by  judicious  kindness.  The 
.sketch  of  the  driving  school  delights  us.  Now'  the  apparatus 
employed  here  is  difficult  to  describe  without  a  sketch.  It 
reminds  uS  most  of  all  of  what  used  to  be  most  common  in 
bygone  daj^s  on  all  farms  around  about.  A  large  wheel  in 
the  centre,  wuth  long  spokes  attached.  To  these  horses  were 
yoked,  and  they  made  the  motive  pow'er  which  drove  the 
threshing,  cutting,  or  pulping  machine.  It  used  to  be  con¬ 
sidered  a  fine  thing  for  the  breaking-in  of  a  young  horse,  or 
for  the  purpose  of  getting  work  out  of  a  lazy  one.  Go  they 
must,  whether  they  liked  it  or  not,  and  there  was  no  chance 
of  kicking  either  their  neighbours  or  of  doing  themselves  an 
injury.  Now  the  principle  of  the  old  roundabout  is  just 
what  Sir  Walter  has,  except  that  it  is  used  entirely  and 
solely  for  breaking  purposes,  and  it  is  so  arranged  that  there 
is  an  outer  track  where  one  can  run  a  motor  car  or  any 
horrible  or  offensive  object  so  that  the  young  horse  amid 
home  suiToundings  may  get  quite  accustomed  to  any  amount 
of  infernal  machinery  before  it  goes  out  on  to  the  open  roads. 
What  about  Horses  for  the  Army?  We  do  not  want  any 
more  scandals  in  the  future,  and  we  do  want  horses  that  will 
be  of  real  service  in  the  field.  On  his  horse  depends  the  life 
of  a  trooper  in  a  great  measure.  We  always  learn  something 
by  our  wars,  and  one  of  the  many  lessons  learnt  this  time  is 
that  we  must  have  a  reserve  of  good,  sound  horses  for  our 
times  of  need.  Bought  of  the  breeder  at  three  years  old, 
kept  till  they  are  five  at  the  national  expense  in  the  mount 
depots,  kept  hardy,  fed  and  treated  as  though  they  were  on 
active  service,  we  should  have  fewer  breakdowns  and  fewer 
risks  of  sending  “  misfits  ”  to  the  front.  Sir  W.  Gilbey 
advocates  ten  permanent  depots  which  would  each  accom¬ 
modate  400  horses,  with  the  necessary  staff  to  break  and 
train.  If  farmers  knew  there  was  a  constant  market  for 
three-year-olds  they  would  have  much  more  encouragement 
to  breed  than  they  have  at  present.  We  think  they  should 
sell  direct  to  the  Government  without  calling  in  the  aid  of 
the  dealer. 
We  do  not  think  it  would  be  wise  to  counsel  anyone  to 
try  and  retrieve  their  fortunes  by  breeding  thoroughbreds, 
but  the  chapter  on  them  by  C.  B.  Pitman  is  interesting  read¬ 
ing,  when  we  hear  of  mares  like  Sceptre  who  could  win  the 
Two  Thousand  Guineas,  the  Oaks,  and  the  St.  Leger,  and 
is  valued  at  24,000  guineas  !  La  Fleche  cost  Sir  Tatton  Sykes 
12,500  guineas,  but  her  four  yearlings  have  fetched  13,200 
guineas.  Sir  Tatton  would  tell  an  inquirer  he  is  still  out  of 
pocket ;  but  the  figures  look  just  grand  on  paper  !  Hackneys 
for  harness  have  met  with  good  prices,  and  sires  have  gone 
east,  west,  north  and  south,  and  hackney  breeders  have 
nothing  to  complain  of.  In  Show  hunters  the  same  old 
names  (of  breeders)  occur  over  and  over  again.  There  are 
<;ertain  men  who  somehow  or  other  always  seem  to  lay  their 
hands  on  the  best  of  their  kind,  and  they  have  a  wonderful 
knack  of  bringing  them  to  the  show'  ring  in  the  very  pink  of 
condition. 
The  articles  on  breeding  Cattle  for  Butter  Production  and 
Store  Cattle  we  should  like  to  deal  with  in  the  near  future. 
We  cannot  quote  them  at  length,  and  they  want  (to  do  them 
justice)  more  than  a  passing  notice.  When  Mr.  Thornton 
reports  £68,495  3s.  6d.  as  being  the  value  of  Shorthorn  stock 
sold  during  the  year  by  him,  w'e  must  acknowledge  that  trade 
has  been  brisk.  He  laments  the  death  of  many  noted 
breeders,  some  at  a  ripe  old  age  (80  and  82)  and  others  just 
in  their  prime.  The  death  roll  is  a  long  one.  It  appears  that 
the  Herefords,  as  a  breed  have  “caught  on”  in  the  U.S.A., 
and  that  there  are  now'  70,000  on  the  register.  Whether 
much  fresh  stock  will  be  w'anted  from  the  Home  country’ 
remains  to  be  seen.  We  might  say  Jerseys  are  looking  up, 
but  that  is  not  quite  the  term.  They  are  wonderfully  in 
favour ;  at  that  we  cannot  be  surprised  w  hen  we  read  their 
butter  record.  A  Jersey  bull.  Flying  Fox,  has  been  imported 
to  America;  his  price  was  sensational,  £1,500,  or  a  little 
over. 
The  lamb  crop  has  been  a  good  one,  and  we  needed  it,  as 
there  is,  we  are  sorry  to  see,  a  marked  decrease  of  breeding 
ew  es.  There  have  been  no  sensational  prices  for  rams,  and 
w  e  fear  many  breeders  have  been  hard  hit.  Wool  still  con¬ 
tinues  to  be  phenomenally  low' — a  great  loss  to  the  sheep 
farmer. 
It  is  often  urged  that  the  farmer  does  not  breed  his  fowls 
as  carefully  as  he  does  his  other  stock.  Partly  this  is  because 
in  time  past  he  has  rather  looked  upon  the  fowl  business  as 
infra  dig  ;  but  he  is  learning  nowq  in  this  day  of  small  things, 
that  there  is  profit  in  a  hen  yard  supposing  it  be  properly 
managed,  and  the  breeds  carefully  selected  according  to  his 
situation  and  surroundings.  We  can  make  no  better  sugges¬ 
tion  to  th’e  intelligent  man  than  that  he  should  place  himself 
unreservedly  in  the  hands  of  Mi’.  Ed.  Brown,  and  then  act 
in  strict  accordance  with  his  advice  to  farmers,  which  they 
w'ill  find  in  the  last  article  of  this  Almanac. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
There  has  been  so  little  rain  during  the  past  week,  and  the 
weather  has  been  so  mild  and  genial,  that  all  arrears  of  ploughing 
have  been  made  up.  We  have  had  nothing  to  hinder  the  steam 
cultivator,  and  we  are  now  in  the  happy  position  of  waiting  for  the 
severe  frost  ivliich  both  precedent  and  Transatlantic  prognostica¬ 
tion  (how  Mark  Twain  would  have  enjoyed  those  w'ords  had  they 
been  German  !)  have  promi.sed  us.  So  we  are  able  to  enjoy  our 
Christmas  in  peace  and  quietness,  although  it  be  more  green  than 
healthj'. 
The  labour  market  has  quickly  settled  down  since  Martinmas  ; 
the  young  men  found  that  work  away  from  the  land  was  not  so 
easy  to  obtain  as  they  had  expected,  and  they  have  come  back, 
many  of  them  to  the  old  places,  with  a  good  grace.  Tliere  are  far 
worse  lots  than  that  of  a  single  horseman  on  a  farm,  but  he  must 
begin  young  if  he  is  to  properly  undertake  the  feeding  and  work¬ 
ing  of  farm  horses.  The  Bishop  of  Hereford  has  in  the  House 
of  Lords  proposed  that  all  youths  from  the  ages  of  fourteen  to 
seventeen  should  be  compelled  to  attend  a  continuation  school. 
With  modifications  w'e  agree  with  him;  but  w^e  should  require 
that  in  rural  districts  elementary  education  of  a  compulsory 
nature  should  cease  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  and  that  further 
compulsory  teaching  should  consist  entirely  of  that  provided  by 
evening  continuation  schools,  w  hich  would  not  interfere  with  em¬ 
ployment  during  the  day,  but  would  have  a  very  w'holesome 
effect  in  preventing  rowdy  behaviour  in  many  village  streets.  Any 
such  legislation  as  w'e  now'  indicate  might  have  a  much  greater 
influence  on  the  w'ork  of  the  farm  than  at  first  sight  some  of  our 
readers  would  allow',  for  it  would  have  a  ino.st  considerable  in¬ 
fluence  in  keeping  youths  on  the  land. 
In  visiting  an  outlying  farm  to-day  we  had  the  infelicity  to 
have  to  drive  in  ruts  quite  2ft  deep,  but  of  great  irregularity. 
The  tenant  of  the  farm  said  such  bad  roads  were  very  bad  for  his 
horses,  but  the  idea  of  doing  anything  to  improve  them  never 
occurred  to  him.  If  the  landlord  had  neither  the  ability  nor  the 
will  to  keep  an  occupation  road  in  good  repair  the  tenant  will 
often  in  sheer  stupidity  decline  to  do  anything,  although  he  must 
perforce  use  the  road,  and  the  chief  sufferers  are  his  owm  poor  un¬ 
complaining  horses. 
With  the  weather  so  ver3’^  mild  a  great  number  of  cattle  may 
daily  be  .seen  out  at  grass.  With  a  sufficiency  of  other  food  we 
very  much  question  the  wusdoin  of  this  procedure.  Yet  farmers 
have  great  reason  to  economise  straw'  and  fodder,  for  a  really 
excellent  one  has  just  confessed  that  last  w'inter  he  largely  de¬ 
pended  for  yard  bedding  on  hedge  trimmings  and  bank  refuse, 
and  that  he  thought  it  made  very  good  muck.  So  it  might !  but 
what  about  the  comfort  of  the  poor  cattle  ?  As  w'e  are  in  a  vein 
of  sentiment  w  e  w'ill  close  by  wishing  our  readers  a  most  happy 
New'  Year,  with  both  hay  and  straw',  and  money  galore,  to  last 
them  all  the  year.  Will  our  fellow'-gardener,  the  Poet  Laureate, 
forgive  us  the  poor  rhyme  ? 
American  Agriculture. 
Mr.  James  Wilson,  Secretary  of  Agriculture  to  the  Federal 
Government  of  the  United  States  of  America,  has  issued  a  verj' 
interesting  annual  report,  and  a  summarised  review'  of  many  of 
the  points  appears  in  “  American  Gardening  ”  for  December  13. 
