416 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
}’ay  23.  11*01. 
Tlie  Veterinary  Surgeon. 
A  much-abused  and  loDg-suffering  man.  He  is,  as  a  rule,  sent 
for  when  a  case  is  getting  into  a  critical,  if  not  hopeless,  state,  and 
is  confidently  expected  to  work  miracles.  We  are  not  sure  that  this 
habit  amongst  larmers  of  avoiding  the  employment  of  the  “  vet.”  as 
much  as  possible  is  not  quite  as  much  owing  to  a  want  of  faith  in 
the  average  veterinary  practitioner  as  in  the  desire  to  save  his  fees. 
In  practice,  a  farmer  rarely  consults  a  “  vet.”  as  to  ailment  amongst 
sheep,  the  shepherd  being  expected  to  possess  all  the  necessary 
knowledge  as  to  their  treatment,  and  the  knife  is  freely  resorted  to 
should  there  be  any  doubt  as  to  the  wisdom  of  administering  drugs. 
The  same  applies  very  generally  also  to  cattle,  veterinary  skill  being 
rarely  requisitioned.  In  bygone  days,  when  the  old-fashioned  village 
farrier  was  a  feature  of  country  life,  and  farmers  knew  less  of 
veterinary  science,  drugs  also  being  dear  and  difficult  to  obtain,  the 
farrier  did  most  of  the  cow  doctoring.  Since  the  latter  has  died  a 
natural  death,  and  the  fully  qualified,  though  more  pretentious, 
graduate  of  the  Royal  College  has  it  all  to  himself,  he  really  gets  no 
more  practice  amongst  cattle  than  he  used  to  do  in  former  davs. 
The  result  of  this  is  that  a  wide  district  is  necessary  to  keep  a  really 
good  man,  his  work  being  practically  confined  to  horses,  and  those 
who  live  in  out-of-the-way  places  are  often  hardly  able  to  get  a  “vet.” 
at  all,  and  then  only  with  great  difficulty  and  expense.  We  have  had 
experience  of  living  near  a  really  good  man,  also  of  having  no  one 
worth  sending  for  within  twelve  miles,  and  we  know  the  feeling  of 
■comfort  produced  by  the  former  state  of  things.  The  advice  of  a  very 
shrewd  old  farmer  used  always  to  be,  “  If  you  have  anything  amiss 
with  a  horse  give  it  a  pint  of  linseed  oil  and  send  for  the  ‘vet.’ ;  ”  but 
what  can  be  done  when  there  is  not  one  to  send  for  ? 
We  often  hear  medical  men  blamed  because  things  have  not  gone 
as  well  with  their  patients  as  their  friends  hoped  and  wished  ;  but  a 
veterinary  surgeon  always  has  to  accept  full  responsibility  for  all  want 
of  success  in  his  treatment,  whilst  receiving  very  meagre  credit  for 
success.  In  a  very  large  proportion  of  cases  of  loss  blame  for  sms  of 
omission  and  commission  is  due  to  the  farmer  aud  his  employes, 
whereas  the  “  vet.”  has  it  heaped  upon  him  after  things  have  gone  the 
wrong  way,  although  he  may  have  been  working  at  a  practically 
hopeless  case,  or  in  the  dark  as  to  the  real  history  of  it;  information 
being  withheld  by  an  attendant  because  speaking  out  would  involve 
censure  upon  himself.  In  how  many  other  cases  has  science  been 
hindered  by  the  want  of  knowledge  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the 
Buffering  animal  has  recently  been  treated.  We  knew  a  “  vet.”  who 
made  no  secret  of  the  fact  that  he  often  suppressed  his  knowledge  of 
malpraciices  with  drugs  on  the  part  of  farm  men  who  attended  upon 
horses,  because  of  having  undertaken  to  do  so  in  return  for  full  private 
information  as  to  what  drugs  the  horses  had  been  doctored  with.  A 
man  who  attends  professionally  to  large  numbers  of  farm  horses  needs 
much  of  the  qualification  of  a  detective,  for  he  is  constantly  coming 
across  little  puzzles  which  need  considerable  skill  to  solve.  Another 
man  who  had  a  good  connection,  although  not  a  qualified  man,  used 
to  sell  balls  and  powders  in  considerable  quantities  to  waggoners  and 
horsemen.  He  excmed  himself  for  so  doing  on  the  ground  that  if  he 
did  not  supply  them  they  would  get  supplied  elsewhere,  and  probably 
with  something  deleterious,  which  he  took  good  care  not  to  let  them 
have;  whilst  it  did  not  matter  to  him  whether  the  master  or  the 
servant  bought  horse  medicine,  and,  at  any  rate,  the  latter  paid  cash, 
which  his  master  did  not. 
How  careless  farm  servants  are,  and  how  handicapped  a  “  vet.”  often 
is,  was  shown  by  a  case  which  occurred  but  a  few  days  ago  The 
“  vet.”  was  fetched  a  distance  of  five  miles,  and  was  shown  a  horse  which 
was  lame,  but  the  foreman  quite  forgot  to  show  him  a  mare  in  the 
next  box,  and  which  was  the  chief  came  of  his  beiDg  sent  for.  The 
visit  was  paid  late  in  the  evening,  so  the  omission  was  not  discovered 
until  next  day,  when  a  hasty  message  brought  him  too  late  to  be  of 
use.  In  his  own  words,  “£60  worth  of  horseflesh  was  practically 
thrown  away.”  As  may  be  gathered  from  what  we  have  written,  we 
know  there  are  badly  qualified  as  well  as  good  men  practising  in  the 
country.  It  is  so  important  that  a  skilful  man  should  be  available 
when  required,  that  where  there  is  not  such  a  man  it  would  pay  farmers 
to  form  an  association,  with  subscriptions  proportionate  to  the  size  of 
their  holdings,  and  to  give  an  annual  subsidy  to  a  first-class  man  to 
induce  him  to  come  into  residence.  Where  there  is  a  very  large  estate 
the  landowner  would  be  easily  induced  to  take  a  lead  in  the  ma’ter  : 
but  we  fancy  that  districts  dominated  by  big  houses  are  generally  well 
served,  and  it  is  only  in  remote,  non-residential  neighbourhoods  where 
such  action  would  be  found  necessary  or  beneficial.  'One  result  of  the 
formation  of  such  an  association  would  be  to  enhance  the  interest 
taken  in  the  man  and  his  work,  and  he  would  probably  be  much  more 
freely  sent  for  than  he  would  be  if  the  farmers  had  no  monetary 
interest  in  him.  Suggesting  that  farmers  should  combine  for  mutual 
benefit  is,  however,  almost  a  waste  of  words ;  yet,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  complaints  of  the  want  of  a  skilled  veterinary  surgeon  are  so 
often  heard,  the  idea  is  worthy  of  consideration. 
Work  on  the  Home  Farm. 
Sunny  weather,  with  easterly  winds  but  no  actual  frost,  has  much 
benefited  the  Wheats,  and  they  have  quite  lost  the  slight  ruBtiness  whioh 
had  attacked  them.  Spring  Corn  also  is  making  sure,  though  steady, 
progress,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  we  may  have  an  early  harvest 
notwithstanding  a  late  spring  time.  Work  on  the  fallows  is  not  so 
satisfactory ;  the  weather  has  come  too  much  in  lumps,  and  a  true 
British  mixture  would  be  desirable  now.  Light  and  easy  working  soils 
are  all  right,  and  there  is  no  difficulty  at  all,  but  on  the  stiffer  land  a 
good  Turnip  mould  will  not  be  easy  to  obtain.  The  successful  working 
of  strong  land  is  no  easy  matter,  and  requires  infinite  patienoe  as  well 
as  faith — patienoe  to  wait  and  look  on  during  wet  weather  whilst  the 
teams  of  more  fortunate  neighbours  are  doing  useful  work,  and  faith  that 
when  the  land  has  become  thoroughly  dry,  the  rain  in  sufficient  quantity 
to  properly  reduce  it  to  a  pulverised  condition  will  be  forthcoming 
when  wanted.  Heavy  soil  is  indeed  a  good  servant,  but  a  bad  master. 
Potato  ridges  have  been  harrowed  dowD,  and  none  too  soon,  for  the 
haulm  was  appearing  in  many  places.  The  ridges  on  land  that  had 
been  Clover  lea  were  very  rough,  and  have  taken  a  good  deal  of 
reducing  to  a  friable  condition.  A  very  useful  implement  for  the 
purpose  is  a  Cambridge  roll,  with  a  certain  number  of  the  rings  taken 
out  at  intervals,  and  a  strong  washer  substituted,  the  washer  occupying 
the  part  whioh  passes  over  each  ridge,  and  the  rings  crushing  the  rough 
clods  in  the  furrow.  An  iron  age  hoe  following  this,  as  well  as 
preceding  it,  makes  capital  work.  To  grow  Potatoes  well  the  land 
must  be  well  stirred  and  ventilated,  in  faot  for  all  crops  the  proper 
aeration  of  the  soil  is  an  important  factor ;  but  this  all  means  work, 
and  work  is  the  thing  that  costs  money,  whioh  very  few  farm  produots 
will  purchase  in  paying  quantity,  wherein  lies  the  difficulty  of  farming 
at  the  present  day. 
Farmers  are  enjoying  better  luok  than  during  the  last  few  years 
with  their  foaling  mares,  which,  taken  in  connection  with  the  small 
proportion  of  barren  mares,  is  very  satisfactory.  Farm  horses  have 
been  rather  scarce  of  late,  and  two  or  three  successful  breeding  seasons 
were  badly  wanted.  Several  farmers  of  our  acquaintance  are  being 
seriously  inconvenienced  by  having  so  many  mares  foaling,  and  by 
their  inability  to  obtain  temporary  substitutes  at  a  reasonable  cost. 
- - 
How  to  Weigh  a  Haystack. — Measure  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  stack  ;  take  the  height  from  the  ground  to  the  eaves,  add  to  this 
last  one-half  of  the  height  from  the  eaves  to  the  top;  multiply  length 
by  breadth,  and  the  product  by  the  height,  all  expressed  in  feet;  divide 
the  amount  by  27,  to  find  the  cubic  yards,  which  multiply  by  the 
number  of  pounds  supposed  to  be  in  a  cubio  yard — viz.,  in  a  stack  of 
new  hay  132  lbs.  avoirdupois  each  ;  if  old  hay,  154  lbs.  each. 
The  Study  of  Rooks  and  Crows. — A  German  savant,  Herr 
Rorig,  has  devoted  years  to  the  investigation  of  the  question  whether 
crows  are  useful  or  deleterious  birds.  He  has  lately  published  some 
interesting  figures  on  the  subject,  based  on  the  examination  of  the 
contents  of  the  stomachs  of  3259  carrion  crows  and  1500  rooks.  He 
calculated  that  the  grain  eaten  by  the  3259  carrion  crows  during  a  whole 
year  would  have  a  money  value  of  about  £900.  He  estimates  that  the 
same  number  of  birds  inflict  an  annual  damage  of  about  £1450  by  the 
destruction  of  young  hares,  partridges,  &c.  That  is  to  say,  each  crow 
inflicts  damage  to  the  amount  altogether  of  about  14s.  annually.  It  is 
more  difficult  to  calculate  the  servioe  rendered  to  the  farmer  by  the 
same  birds.  This  service  consists  in  the  destruction  of  mice  and 
pernicious  insects,  especially  cankerworms  and  wireworms.  Herr  Rorig 
estimates  that  in  the  process  of  development  the  wireworm  will  destroy 
ten  plants,  a  cankerworm  twenty,  and  that  a  field  mouse,  with  its 
progeny,  will  destroy  1000.  He  calculates  that  the  3259  crows  referred 
to  would  benefit  the  agriculturists  to  the  amount  of  about  £2500  per 
annum  by  devouring  injurious  insects,  &o.  According  to  these 
estimates,  the  value  of  the  benefit  effected  by  the  carrion  crow  exoeeda 
the  value  of  the  damage  it  causes  by  lid.  per  annum.  With  rooks 
(Saatkrahe)  the  difference  is  greater,  amounting  to  over  4s.  per  annum. 
Herr  Rorig  says  that  his  figures  must  not  be  taken  as  being  exact,  but 
as  being  approximately  true.  They  serve,  however,  to  show  that  crows 
in  general  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  deleterious  birds,  and  that  rooks 
are  extremely  useful.  He  estimates  that  Germany  possesses  between 
two  and  a  quarter  and  two  and  three-quarter  million  crows  of  all  kinds, 
and  that  these  birds  unwittingly  represent  to  agriculture  a  capital  of 
from  £400,000  to  £500,000. 
