63 THE FARMERS DEPARTMENT.

FROM THE VILLAGE RECORD-

No one of correct taste. can read the lines which fol- low, without feeling that a charming picture of rustic happiness and humble life, is skecthed in a manner which Goldsmith or Burns would have been forward to praise. and proud to imitate.

I once knew a ploughman. Bob Fletcher his name. Who was old and was ugly. and so was his dame ;

Yet they lived quite contented. and free from all strife, Bob Fletcher the ploughman. and Judy. his wife.

As the mom streak'd the east. and the night fied away. They would rise up to labor, refresh’d for the day; The song of the lark, as it rose on the gale,

Found Bob at the plough, and his wife at the pail.

A neat little cottage in front of a grove.

Where in youth they first gave their young hearts up to love,

Was the solace of age. and to them doubly dear.

As it called up the past with a smile or a tear.

Each tree had its thought. and the vow could impart. That mingled, in youth, the warm wish of the heart ! The thorn was still there. and the blossoms it here,

And the mug from its top seem'd the same as before.

When the curtain of night over nature was spread, And Bob had return’d from his plough to his shed. Like the dove on her nest. he reposed from all care. If his wife and his youngsters. contented. were there.

i have passed by his door when the evening was grey,

And the hill and the landscape were fading away.

And have heard from the cottage with grateful sur- prise.

The voice of thanksgiving, like incense. arise.

And I thought on the proud. who would look' down with scorn.

On the neat little cottage. the grove. and the thorn.

And felt that the riches and follies of life

Were dress. to contentment like Bob and his wife.

THE IARMBR’S sense.

The Farmer’s Horse is an animal of all- work, to be ridden occasionall to market or for pleasure, but to be principa ly employed for draught. He should be higher than the road horse : about fifteen hands and two inches may be taken as the best standard. A horse with a shoulder thicker, lower, and less slanting than would be chosen in a hackney, will better suit the collar ; and collar work will be chiefly re- quiredof him. A stout compact horse should be selected, yet not: a heavy cloddy one. Some blood will be desirable, but the half-bred horse willgenerally bestsuit the farmer’s purpose. He should have weight enough to throw into the collar, and sufficient activity to get over the ground.

Farmers are now beginning to be aware of the superiority of the moderate-sized, strong, active horse over the bulkier. butslower animal of formerdays. It is not only in harvest, and when a frosty morning must be seized to cart manure, that this is perceived, but in the every-day work ofthe farm. the saving oftime, and the saving of provendcr too, will be very considerable in the course of the year.

It has often been sztid. that a horse used much for draught is neither pleasant nor safe for the saddle. The little farmer does not want a showy. complete hackney. He will be con- tent if he is tolerably well carried; and (if he has taken a little care in the choice of his

THE BRITISH AMERICAN

horse ; has selected one with sound feet, shoul- ders not too thick, and legs not too much under him; and, if no kee s him in good condition. and does not scan aloust over-weight him,) the five days carting or harrow-work, will not to any material degree, unfit him for the sad- dle; especially, if the rider bears in mind what we have termed the golden rule of horseman- ship, always a little to feel the mouth of the animal he ts upon.

A farmer. and more particularly, a small farmer. will prefer a mare to a gelding, both for riding and driving. She will not cost him so much at first; and he will get a great deal more work out of her. There can be no doubt that, taking bulk for bulk a mare is stronger and more lasting than a gelding; and. in addition to this, the farmer has her to breed from. This and the profit which is attached to it is well known in the breeding countries. Wherever there are good horses, with convenience for rearing the colts, the farmer may start as a breeder with a good chance of success.

If he has a few useful cart mares, and crosses them with a well-knit, half-bred horse. he will certainly have oolts useful for every purpose of agriculture, and some of them sufficiently light for the van, post-chaise, or coach. If he has a superior mare, one of the old Cleveland breed, and puts hertoa bony three-fourths-bred horse. or, if he can find one stout and compact enough, a seven-eights, or a thereugh-bred one, he will havea fair chance to rear a colt that will amply repay him as a hunter or a carriage- horse.

The mare needs not to be idle while she is breeding. She may be worked moderately al- most to the period ofher foaling, and with bene- fit rather than otherwise : nor is there occasion that much ofher time should be lost even while she is suckling. If she is put to horse in June, the foaling time will fall, and the loss of la- bor will occur, in the most leisure time in the year.

There are two rocks on which the farmer often strikes, he pays little attention to the kind of mare, and less to the roper nourish. ment ofthe foal. It may be laid down as a maxim in breeding. however general ma be the prejudice against it. that the value c the foal depends a great deal more on the dam than on the sire. The Arabs are con. vinced of this, for no price will buy from them a likely mare of the highest blood ; and they trace back the pedigree of their horses, not through the sire, but the dam. The Greek sporting men held the same opinion, long be- fore the Arab horse was known. ‘ What chance of winning have I.” inquired a youth whose horse ' was about to start on the Olympic course. ‘ Ask the dam of your horse’ was the reply, founded on experience'.

The farmer, however. too frequently thinks that any mare will do to breed from; and, if he can find a great prancing stallion, with a high sounding mane. and loaded with fat. he reckons on havings valuable colt; and should he fail he attributes the fault to the horse, and not to his own want ofjudgment. Far more de-

* Bishop Hall, who wrote in the time of Elizabeth, intimates that such was the opinion of horsemen at that period. He asks in one of his satires (Lib. iv.)

‘ dost thou prize Thy brute beasts' worth by their dams‘ qualities? Say'st thou this colt shall prove a swift pac'd steed Onely because a Jennet did him breed ? Or say'st thou this same horse shall win the prize,

Because his dam was swiftest Tranchefice ?’

Sit.

pends on the mare than is dreamt of in philosophy. _

lfhe has an undersized, or a blemished, unsound mare, let him continue to use her . his farm: she probably did not cost him um and she will beat any gelding; but let lnm . ‘ think ofbreeding frotn her. A roomy m with some blood m her, and with most of , good points, will alone answer his purpose, may ear about her the marks ofhonest m (the fewer of these, however the better,) b she must not have any disease. There scarcely a malady to which the horse is an ject that is not hereditary. Contracted fee curb, spavin, roaring, thick wind, blindne notoriously decend from the sire or dam . the foal. Mr. Roberts in that useful public tion “ Veterinarian, says, ‘ Last summer! w asked my opinion of a horse. I approved his formation with the exception of the hock where there happened to be two curbs. [it then told that his sister was in the same stable she had also two curbs, Knowing the sire , be free from these defects, 1 inquired aboutt dam; she also had two confirmed curbs. Sh was at this time running with a foal of be two years old, by another horse, and he a had two curbs ’

The foal should be well taken care of to the first two years. It is bad policy to stin or half starve the growing colt.

The colt, whether intended for a hunter . carriage-horse. may be earlier handled, b should not be broken-in until three years old and then the very best breaking-in for the ca riage horse is to make him earn a little of it living. Let him be put to a harrow or lig plough. Going over the rough ground w teach him to lift his feet well. and give b" that high and shewy action, excusable in carriage horse, but excusable in no oth 1n the succeeding winter he will be perfect ready for the town or country market.

LONDON SHARPERS.

A correspondent of the MetrOpolitan tells good story ofthem. He had been robbed ofh‘ watch and safety chain without being aware I the depredation, and, he proceeds :

“ l was mentioning my adventure at diune and wondering how I could have been robb 7 so easily on the part of the thief and so uncon sciously on the part of myself, when one v those practical wags whom one occasional] meets in Society, and who happened to bet the party, declared with a look of lamb-likt innocence, that he saw nothing at all strang in it; “ for,” said he, “ the London pick-pee kets are so expert, that put your money where you will, they’ll have it.”

This I, suspecting nothing. ventured rather to doubt, whereupon this gentleman—for so l‘ must call him—said that he would bet twenty- pounds that. put tny money where l pleased, l‘ London thief should get it away from me be. tween Charing Cross and the Royal Exabauge. This seemed to me, having conceived a little project of mine own for its frustration. a contri- , vastce next to impossible ; so when he saidlw '1 would bet the twenty sovereigns, I said. Don. and he said. Done: who was done eventually you shall bear. .

The only condition imposed upon me was to tell my friend whereabout my person I meant to carry my property ; to this of course I con. sented, and then came out the depth of my L contrivance and the ingenuity of my precau- " tions. “ A guinea,” said 1 to the gentleman. “is the property! mean to preserve, and in order to do so, I mean to carry it in my mouth .”