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ALBERT R. MANN
LIBRARY
NEw York STATE COLLEGES
OF
AGRICULTURE AND HoME ECONOMICS
AT
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Cornell University Library
SF 65.J19 1886
‘ii iil
vie
Cornell University
Library
The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu3 1924003050006
DOMESTIC ANIMALS.
PUBLICATIONS OF GEO. E. & F. W. WOODWARD,
387 PARK ROW, N.Y.
Woodward’s Country Homes.
A practical work, with 122 Designs and Plans of Country
Houses of moderate cost, with illustrated deseription of the man-
ner of consiructing Balloon frames. Extra binding. $1.50.
Woodward’s Graperies and Horticul-
tural Butidings.
A practical work on the Design and Construction of all classes
of Buildings for Growing Plants and Ripening Fruit under Glass,
60 illustrations, $1.50.
The House.
A New Manvat of Rural Architecture; or, How to Build
Dwellings, Barns, Stables and Out-Buildings of all kinds.
With a Chapter on Churches and School-Honses. Cloth. $1.50,
The Garden.
A New Manvat of Practical Horticulture; or, How to Culti-
vate Vegetables, Fruits and Flowers, With a Chapter on Orna-
mental Trees and Shrubs. Cloth. $1.00.
The Farm.
A New Maxvat of Practical Agriculture; or, How to Cul-
tivate all the Field Crops. With an Essay on Farm Manage-
ment, ete. Cloth: $1.00.
The Barn-Yard.
A New Masvav of Cattle, Horse, and Sheep Husbandry; or,
How to Breed and Rear the Various species of Domestic
Animals, Cloth. $1.00.
Lither of the above sent post-paid on receipt of price.
ESTABLISHED 1846.
RHE RORTICULTURISE.
Two Dollars and fifty Cents per Annum,
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE
For every one who has a grapevine, a city yard, an acre lot, a
garden, 4 vineyard, an orchard, a country seat, a farm, who has
a house to build, outbuildings to erect, or a home to embellish
and beautify.
GEO. E. & F. W. WOODWARD, Publishers, No. 37 Park Row, N. Y.
232.8 BARN-Y ABD:
A MANUAL
0:
Cattle, Borse ant Sheep Husbandry;
OR, HOW TO BREED AND REAR
THE VARIOUS SPECIES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS:
EMBRACING
DIRECTIONS FOR THE BREEDING, REARING, AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF
HORSES, MULES, CATTLE, SUEEP, SWINE AND POULTRY; THE GENERAL
LAWS, PARENTAGE, AND HERIDITARY DESCENT, APPLIED TO ANI-
MALS, AND HOW BREEDS MAY BE IMPROVED; LOW TO INSURE
TNE HEALTH OF ANIMALS; AND HOW TO TREAT THEM
FOR DISEASES WITHOUT TIE USE OF DRUGS;
WITH A
Chapter on BeeeHeeping,
By D. H. JACQUES,
AvutTnor or “THe Home,” “Tue Garpen,” “Tue Farm,” “How To Wurrs,”
2 ’ 9
“How to Do Businsss,” ETO.
Our power ovor the lowor animals, if rightly dounds to thelr eli and h
no less than to our convenience and profit.—Tuz Autyor.
REVISHD HDITION.
7
New Dork:
GEO. E. & F. W. WOODWARD,
No. 87 Park Row, Orrice or “Tur HortiovLTvrist.” ,
nSBS:
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by
D. H. JACQUES,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southora District of New York.
ell UNIVER S
oe The
President White ;
be Library
0 etven ©
NEW YORK:
EDWARD O. JENKINS, PRINTER,
20 NORTH WILLIAM ST.
PREFACE.
We commenced this little manual with the intention of making
the most useful compilation possible, within the space allowed us,
from the great number of larger works on the subjects treated to
which we had access. In the progress of our work, however, we
found occasion to depart, in some degree, from our original plan,
and introduce more new matter and re-write and condense more
that is, in substance, derived from others, than we at first in-
tended ; but our claims on the scoré of originality will not be
large. If the matter and arrangement of our book shall prove
acceptable to the public, and serve the purposes intended, we
shall be satisfied. The humble merit of having presented, in an
attractive and available form a mass of useful information, prac-
tical hints, and valuable suggestions, on a number of important
topics, is all that we purpose to insist upon. This the great pub-
lic, for whose good we have labored, will, we are sure, readily
accord to us.
We have given credit in the body of the work, whenever prac-
ticable, to the authors from whom we have derived aid in the
various departments of our labor ; but we here gladly make an
additional record of our indebtedness to the works of Youatt,.
Martin, Stuart, Randall, Wingfield, Dixon, Bement, Browne,
Quimby, etc. The Country Gentleman, the American Agriculturist,
the Southern Cultivator, and other agricultural papers, have been
examined with satisfaction to ourselves and with profit to our
readers.
vi PREFACE.
We have endeavored to make our little work thorough and re-
liable, so far as it goes, and to give the largest possible amount
of useful information that can be condensed into so small a num-
ber of pages. We have occupied a large field, we are aware, and
can not hope to have been so full on all points as many readers
will desire. We have not aimed, of course, to render the larger
works on the special topics to which our chapters are devoted un-
necessary. We hope rather to create a demand for them; but
there are thousands whom this little manual will furnish with all
the information they desire on the subjects on which it treats,
and on whom the details with which the larger and more expen-
sive works are filled would be thrown away. To such, in an es-
pecial manner, we commend it, hoping that it will not wholly fail
to meet their expectations.
CONTENTS.
L—THE HORSE.
A Historical Sketch—Range of the Horse in Reference to Climate—Effects of
Climate and Food—Varieties or Breeds—The Race-Horse- Origin and
Characteristics—Half-bred Horses—The Arabian Horse— Wonderful Gene-
alogies—Description—The Arabian “Tartar’—The Morgan—Opinions in
Reference to the Morgans—Sherman Morgan—The Canadian Horse—The
Norman—“ Louis Philippe’—The ‘Cleveland Bay—The Conestoga—Tho
Clydesdale Horse—The Virginian—Wild Horses—American Trotting Horses
—Points of a Horse Ilustrated—Color, and what it Indicates—Common
Terms Denoting the Parts of a Horse—Stables—Stables as they are—Situation
of Stables—Size—Windows—Floors—Draining—Racks and Mangers—Ven-
tilation of Stables—Warmth, etc.—The best Food for Horses—Work and Di-
gestion—Bulk of Food—Quantity—Water—-General Management of the
Horse—Air—Litter— —Grooming—Exercise—Vices and Habits—Restiveness
—Backing and Balking--Biting—Kicking—Running Away—Rearing—Over-
reaching—Rolling —Shying—Slipping the Halter—Tripping—Hints to Buy-
ers—Warranty—Form of a Receipt Embodying a Warranty - Wha: a War-
ranty Includes—What constitutes Unsoundness ...........2....--06- Page 9
IL.--THE ASS AND THE MULE.
Why the Ass has been Neglected and Abused—Eastern Appreciation—The
Ass compared with the Horse—The Ass in Guinea and Persia—The Mule—
Adaptation as a Beast of Burden—Trade in Kentucky—Use on a Farm—
How to have large and handsome Mules....... shins hela Nrecenalaiii coeeees 45
TI.—CATTLE.
Historical Sketch—Breeds—The Devons—New England Cattle—The Hereford
Breed—The Sussex Breed—The Ayrshire Cattle—The Welsh Breeds—Irish
Cattle—The Long Horns—The Durham or Short-Horned Breed—Alderney
or Jersey Cattle—The Galloway Breed or Hornless Cattle—Other Polled
Cattle—The Cream-Pot Breed—Points of Cattle—General Manag t of
Cattle—The Cow-House Feeding--Rearing Calves—Milking—How to Esti-
mate the Weight of Livestock........-..-- sss eeeeee cere eens gale eraiaretersis'ste 49
IV.—SHEEP.
Characteristics of the Sheep—Mutton—Breeds in the United States—The Na-
tive Breed - The Spanish Mcrino—American Merinos—Saxon Merinos—The
New Leicester Breed—The South-Downs—Mr. Taylor's Facts and Figares
—The Cotswold Breed—New Oxfordshire Sheep—The Cheviot Breed—The
“.
viii ConTENTS.
Lincoln Breed -On the Choice of a Breed—The Improved English Varieties
as Mutton Sheep—The Merinos as Wool-Producers—General Management
—Barns and Sheds—Feeding Racks— Feeding — Salt —Water — Shade—
Lambs—Castration—Docking—Washing—Shearing— Value of Sheep to the
Farmer—An Anecdote. ..........-2...- aiataxanasye. We Ueihanne Siptar caves Giese . 3
V.—SWINE.
Natural History of Swine—The Wild Boar—Opinions Respecting the Hog—
The Hog among the Grecks and Romans—Swine Breeding in Gaul ana
Spain—Abhorrence toward Swine’s Flesh among the Jews, Egyptians, Mo-
hammedans, and Others—Cuvier’s Opinion—Unwholesomeness of Swine’s
Flesh in Warm Climates—Breeds of Swine—The “Land Pike”—The Chi-
nese Hog—The Berkshire Breed—The Suffolk Breed—The Essex Breed--
The Chester Hog—Points of the Hog —Feeding—The Piggery........... 95
VI.—IMPROVEMENT OF BREEDS
Selection of the Sire and Dam—How the Cream Pot Breed was Produced—
In-and-In Breeding—Youatt’s Opinion—Crossing—Origin of La Chamois
Sheep—The best Breeds most Profitable—How to Improve One’s Stock—
How Improvements may be bred Out as well as In ..................0 108
VIL—DISEASES AND THEIR CURE.
About throwing Physic to the Dogs—Wild Animals seldom Sick—The Reason
why—Causes of Disease among Domestic Animals—How they may be kept
in Perfect Health—Treatment of their Diseases—The Water-Cure for Ani-
MAI ce: sean vieariers a eatasat oh slaleas edatoevetes ii aWarovalprato¥arelelaros Noe) Ov nie acnioisieraretaleteietgralt 114
VIH.—POULTRY.
The Domestic Fowl—Wild Origin Unknown—General Characteristics of the
Domestic Fowl—The Spanish Fowl—The Dorking—The Polish Fowl-The
Hamburg Fowl—The Dominique Fowl—The Leghorn Fowl—The Shang-
hais and Cochin Chinas—The Bantam—The Game Fowl—Mongrels—Choice
of Breed—Accommodations —Incubation—Rearing Chickens—Five Rules—
The Guinea Fowl—The Domestic Turkey—The Principal Requisites in
Turkey Rearing—General Directions—The Domestic Goose -How to Rear
Geese—Shearing instead of Plucking--The Domestic Duck—Best Varicties
—How to Rear Ducks—Fattening—Preparing Poultry for Market ...... 118
IX.—BEE-KEEPING.
Wonders of the Bee-Hive—The three kinds of Bees—The Queen and her Du-
ties—Curious Facts—How the Cells are Made—Bee-Bread—Ventilation by
the Bees on Scientific Principles—The Apiary—Bee-Hives—How to Make
them—Sectional Hives—Mr. Luda’s Hive—Swarming—Robbing the Hive—
Wintering—Feeding—Killing the Drones. ........... 0.20 cece cee e eras 148
APPENDIX.
Horse*Vamingis a, 2 wiccem seems ue ceeteianeeseieeienwars Streaiaeieie os Se tees 161
DOMESTIC ANIMALS.
:
THE HORSE.
A horse! a horse! My kingdom for a horse !+Shakepeare.
I.—HISTORY.
HE horse is probably anative of the warm coun-
tries of the East, where he is found wild in a
considerable state of perfection. Its use, both
Eas abeast of burden and for the purposes uf war,
early attracted the attention of mankind. Thus
when Ji Toseph proceeded with his father’s body from Egypt into
Canaan, “there accompanied him both chariots and horsemen”
(Gen. xix.) ; and the Canaanites are said to have gone out to fight
against Israel “with many horses and chariots” (Joshua ii. 4).
This was more than sixteen hundred years before Christ.
The horse was early employed on the course. In the year
1450 B. o. the Olympic games were established in Greece, at
which horses were used in chariot and other races.
No horses were found either on the continent or on the
islands of the New Worid; but the immense droves now ex-
isting in parts of both North and South America, all of which
have descended from the two or three mares and stallions left
by the early Spanish voyagers, prove very clearly that the
climate and soil of these countries is well adapted to their
propagation.
Professor Low says: “The horse is seen to be affected in his
*
10 Domestic ANIMALS.
character and form by the agencies of food and elimate, and it
may be by other causes unknown to us. He sustains the tem-
perature of the most burning regions; but there is a degree of
cold at which he can not exist, and as he approaches this limit
his temperament and external conformation are affected. In
Iceland, at the Arctic Circle, he has becume a dwarf; in Lapland,
at latitude 65°, he has given place to the reindeer ; and in Kamt-
schatka, at 62°, he has given place to the dog. The nature
and abundance of his food, too, greatly affect his character and
form. A country of heaths and inuutritious herbs will not
produce a horse so large and strong as one of plentiful herbage;
the horse of the mountains will be smaller than that of the
plains; the horse of the sandy desert than that of the watered
valley.””*
II.—BREEDS.
The genus Hyuus, according to modern naturalists, consiste
of six different animals—the horse (4. caballus); the ass (2.
asinus); the quagga (EZ. guagga) ; the dziggithai (2. hemionus) ;
the mountain zebra (#. zebra); and the zebra of the plains
(E. burchelli).
Of the horse there are many varieties or breeds. Ineffect-
ual attempts have been made to decide which variety now
existing constitutes the original breed ; some contending for the
Barb and others for the wild horses of Tartary. It is of the
latter that Byron thus speaks in ‘‘ Mazeppa:”
With flowing tail and flying mane,
With nostrils never streaked with pain,
Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein,
And feet that iron never shod,
And flanks unscarred by spur or rod,
A thousand horse—the wild, the free—
Likes waves that follow o’er the sea,
Came thundering on.
The principal breeds of horses now bred in the United States
are the Race-Horse, the Arabian, the Morgan, the Canadian,
* Tilustrations of the Breeds of Animals,
THe Hogsez. 11
the Norman, the Oleveland Bay, the Conestoga, the Virginia
Horse, the Clydesdale, and the Wild or Prairie Horse.
1. The Race-Horse.—‘ There is much dispute,” Mr. Youatt
says, “with regard to the origin of the Thorough-bred Horse.
By some he is traced through both sire and dam to Eastern pa-
rentage; others believe him to be the native horse, improved
and perfected by judicious crossings with the Barb, the Turk,
or the Arabian. The Steed Book, which is an authority with
every English breeder, traces all the old racers to some Eastern
origin; or it traces them until the pedigree is lost in the
uncertainty of an early period of breeding.
“Whatever may be the truth as to the origin of the race-
horse, the strictest attention has for the last fifty years been
paid to pedigree. In the descent of almost every modern racer
not the slightest flaw can be discovered.”
The racer is generally distinguished, according to the same
authority, by his beautiful Arabian head; his fine and finely-
set neck; his oblique, lengthened shoulders; his well-bent
hinder legs; his ample muscular quarters ; his flat legs, rather
short from the knee downward, although not always so deep
as they should be; and his long and elastic pastern.
The use of thorough-bred and half-bred horses for domes-
tic purposes is becoming common in England. The half-bred
horse is not only much handsomer than the common horse, but
his speed and power of endurance are infinitely greater.
“The acknowledged superiority of Northern carriage and
draught stock,” the editor of the New York Spirit of the Times
says, “tis owing almost entirely to the fact that thorough-bred
horses have found their way North and East from Long Island
and New Jersey, where great numbers are annually disposed of
that are unsuited to the course.”
For the farm, the pure thorough-bred horse would be nearly
useless. Helacks weight and substance to give value and power
for draught. For road work the same objections will apply,
although not to the same extent, perhaps. The best English
road horse is a cross of the thorough-bred and the Cleveland. _
12 Domezstio ANIMALS.
2. The Arabian Horse.—The genealogy of the Arabian
horse, according to Arab account, is known for two thousand
years, Many of them have written and attested pedigrees ex-
tending more than four hundred years, and, with true Eastern
exaggeration, traced by oral tradition from the stud of Solo-
mon. A more careful account is kept of these genealogies than
of those of the most ancient family of the proudest Arab chief,
and very singular precautions are taken to prevent the possi-
bility of fraud, so far as the written pedigree extends.
The head of the Arabian horse is inimitable. The broadness
and squareness of the forehead, the shortness and fineness of the
“muzzle, the prominence and brilliancy of the eye, the smallness
of the ears, and the beautiful course of the veins, are its char-
acteristics. In the formation of the shoulders next to the head,
the Arabian is superior to any other breed. The withers are
high and the shoulder-blades inclined backward, and so nicely
adjusted that in descending a hill the point or edge of the ham
never ruffles the skin. The fineness of the legs and the oblique
position of the pasterns may seem to lessen his strength; but
the leg, although small, is flat and wiry, and its bones uncom-
monly dense.*
Richardson says: “‘Often may the traveler in the desert, on
entering within the folds of a tent, behold the interesting spec-
tacle of a magnificent courser extended upon the ground, and
some half dozen little dark-skinned, naked urchins scrambling
across her body, or reclining in sleep, some upon her neck,
some on her body, and others pillowed upon her heels; nor do
the children ever experience injury from their gentle playmate.
She recognizes the family of her friend, her patron, and toward
them all the natural sweetness of her disposition leans, even to
overflowing.”
The Arabian horse Tartar, whose portrait we give on the next
page, is thus described in the New England Farmer: “This
beautiful horse was bred by Asa Pingree, of Topsfield, Mass.
* Youatt.
14 Domestic ANIMALS.
He now stands fifteen and one fourth hands high; weighs
nine hundred pounds; is of dark-gray color, with dark mane
and tail. He was sired by the imported, full-blood Arabian
horse ‘Imaum,’ and is seven years old this spring. This
engraving, copied from life, gives the figure of ‘Tartar,’ but can
not represent the agile action, flashing eye, and cat-like nimble-
ness of all his movements. It shows the beautiful Arabian
head and finely-set-on neck; his ample muscular quarters;
his flat legs, rather short from the knee downward; and his
long and elastic pastern. All his motions are light and exceed-
ingly graceful, and his temper so docile that a child may
handle him.”
8. The Morgan Horse.—This celebrated American breed is
probably a cross between the English race-horse and the com-
mon New England mare. It is perhaps, all things considered,
the very finest breed for general usefulness now existing in the
United States. Mr. 8. W. Jewett, a celebrated stock breeder,
in an article in the Cultivator, says:
“I believe the Morgan blood to be the best ever infused into
the Northern horse. The Morgans are well known and esteem-
ed for activity, hardiness, gentleness, and docility ; well adapted
for all work; good in every spot except for races on the turf.
They are lively and spirited, lofty and elegant in their action,
carrying themselves gracefully in the harness. They have
clean bone, sinewy legs, compactness, short, strong backs,
powerful lungs, strength, and endurance. They are known by
their short, clean heads, width across the face at the eyes,
eyes lively and prominent; they have open and wide under
jaws, large windpipe, deep brisket, heavy and round body,
broad in the back, short limbs in proportion to size (of body);
they have broad quarters, a lively, quick action, indomitable
spirit, move true and easy in a good, round trot, and are fast
on the walk; color dark bay, chestnut, brown, or black, with
dark, flowing, wavy mane and tail. They make the best of
roadsters, and live to a great age.”
All do not agree, however, with this estimate of the Morgans.
Tue Horse. 15
A distinguished judge of horses in Vermont, quoted by Randall
in his Introduction to Youatt on the Horse, says:
“They [the Morgans] are good for an hour’s drive—for short
stages. They are good to run around town with. They are
good in the light pleasure-wagon—prompt, lively (not spirited),
and ‘trappy.’ There is no question among those who have
had fair opportunities of comparing the Morgans with horses
of purer blood and descended from different stocks, in regard to
the relative position of the Morgan. He is, as he exists at the
present day, inferior in size, speed, and bottom—in fact, in all
those qualities necessary to the performance of ‘great deeds’
SULRMAN MORGAN.
on the road or the farm, to the descendants of Messenger, Du-
roc, imported Magnum Bonum, and many other horses of de-
served celebrity.”
Sherman Morgan, whose portrait we are permitted to copy
from Linsley’s “‘Morgan Horse,” was foaled in 1835, the prop-
erty of Moses Cook, of Campton, N. H. Sired by Sherman, g
sire, Justin Morgan. The pedigree of the darf not fully estab-
lished, but conceded to have been a very fine animal, and said to
16 Domestic ANIMALS.
be from the Justin Morgan. Sherman Morgan is fifteen hands
high, weighs about 1,050 lIbs., is dark chestnut, and very much
resembles his sire Sherman, but heavier, stockier, and not ag
much action. A fine horse, and is now kept in the stable at
Lancaster, N. H., where the Sherman died. He is owned by
A. J. Congdon.
4. The Canadian Horse.—This horse abounds in the Cana-
dian Provinces and in the Northern States of the Union, and is
too well known to require a particular description. Itis mainly
of Norman-French descent. It is a hardy, long-lived animal,
is easily kept, and very useful on a farm, although generally too
small for heavy work. A cross between stallions of this breed
and our common mares produces a superior horse, and such
crosses are finding favor among farmers.
5. The Norman Horse.—The French or Norman horse, from
which the Canadian is descended, is destined to take a more
prominent place than has hitherto been assigned to it among
our working horses. We introduce an engraving of one of this
breed, called Louis Philippe, which was bred by Edward
Harris, of Moorestown N. J., by whom the breed was imported
from France.
The Norman horse is from the Spanish, of Arabian ancestry,
and crossed upon the draught horses of Normandy. Mr,
Harris had admired the speed, toughness, and endurance of the
French stage-coach horses, and resolved to import this valuable
stock, and deserves the thanks of the American public for his
perseverance and sacrifices in this enterprise. The Norman
horses are enduring and energetic beyond description, and keep
their condition on hard fare and brutal treatment, when most
other breeds would quail and die. This variety of horse is
employed in France to draw the ponderous stage-coaches, called
‘“‘diligences,” and travelers express astonishment at the extra-
ordinary performances of these animals. Each of these huge
vehicles is designed for eighteen passengers, and when thus
loaded are equal to five tons weight. Five horses are attached
to the clumsy and cunibrous carriage, with rude harness, and
_ wee poe Sa
. Tur Femxon ox Norman Hoxsz Louis Pasurprn
18 Domestic ANIMALS.
their regular rate of speed with this enormous load is seven
miles an horr, and this pace is maintained over rough and
hilly regions. On some routes the roads are lighter, when the
speed is increased to eight, nine, and sometimes to ten miles an
hour.
6. Cleveland Bay.—According to Mr. Youatt, the true Cleve-
land Bay is nearly extinct in E>gland. They were formerly
employed as a heavy, slow coach-horse. Mr. Youatt says:
“The origin of the better kind of coach-horse is the Cleveland
Bay, confined principally to Yorkshire and Durham, with
verhaps Lincolnshire on one side and Northumberland on the
other, but difficult to meet with pure in either county. The
Cleveland mare is crossed by a three-fourths or through-bred
horse of sufficient substance and height, and the produce is the
coach-horse most in repute, with his arched crest and high
action. From the thorough-bred of sufficient height, but not of.
so much substance, we obtain the four-in-hand and superior
curricle-horse.
Cleveland Bays were imported into western New York a
few years since, where they have spread considerably. They
have often been exhibited at our State (airs. They are mon-
strously large, and for their size are symmetrical horses, and
possess very respectable action. Whether they would endure
on the road at any but a moderate pace, we are not informed,
and have some doubts. Whether they spring from the genu-
ine and unmixed Cleveland stock, now so scarce in England,
we have no means of knowing. The half-bloods, the produce
of across with our common mares, are liked by many of our
farmers. They are said to make strong, serviceable farm
beasts—though rather prone to sullenness of temper.*
7. The Conestoga Horse—This horse, which is found chiefly
in Pennsylvania and the adjacent States, is more remarkable
for endurance than symmetry. In height it sometimes reaches
seventeen hands; the legs being long and fhe body light.
* Randall.
Tue Horss. 19
The Conestoga breed makes good carriage aud heavy draft
horses,
8. The Clydesdale Horse.—The Clydesdale horse is descended
from a cross between the Flemish horse and the Lanarkshire
(Scotland) mares. The mare is derived from the district on the
Clyde where the breed is chiefly found. Horses of this breed
are deservedly esteemed for the cart and for the plow on
heavy soil. They are strong, hardy, steady, true pullers, of
sound constitution, and from fourteen to sixteen hands high.
They are broad, thick, heavy, compact, well made for durabil-
THE OLYDESDALE HORSE,
ity, health, and power. They have sturdy legs, strong shoul-
ders, back, and hips, .a well-arched neck, and a light face and
head.
9. The Virginia Horse.—This breed predominates in the
State from which it takes its name, and abounds to a greater
or less extent in all the Southern, Western, and Middle States.
It derives its origin from English blood-horses imported at
various times, and has been most diligently and purely kept
in the South. The celebrated Shark, the best horse of-his day,
20 Domestic ANIMALS.
was sire of the best Virginian horses, while Tally-ho, son of
Highflyer, peopled the Jerseys.*
10. The Wild or Prairie Horse.—In the Southwestern
States wild horses abound, which are doubtless sprung from
the same Spanish stock as the wild horses of the pampas and
other parts of the southern continent, all of which are of the
celebrated Andalusian breed, derived from the Moorish Barb.
The prairie horses are often captured, and when domesticated
are found to be capable of great endurance. They dre not,
however, recommended by the symmetry or elegance of ap-
pearance for which their type is so greatly distinguished,
being generally rather small and scrubby.t
11. The American Trotting-Horse—“ We can not refrain,”
H. 8. Randall says, in the Introduction to Youatt on the Horse,
already referred to, ‘from calling attention to our trotting-
horses, though in reality they do not, at least as a whole, con-
stitute a breed, or even a distinct variety or family. There zs
a family of superior trotters, including several of the best our
country has ever produced, the descendants of Abdallah and
Messenger, and running back through their sire Mambrino to
the thorough-bred horse, old Messenger. But many of our
best trotters have no known pedigrees, and some of them,
without doubt, are entirely destitute of the blood of the race-
horse. Lady Suffolk is by Engineer, but the blood of Engineer
is unknown (she is a gray mare, fifteen hands and two inches
high). Dutchman has no known pedigree. Other celebrated
trotters stand in the same category—though we are inclined to
think that a decided majority of the best, especially at long
distances, have a greater or less infusion of the blood of the
race-horse.
“The United States has undoubtedly produced more superior
trotters than any other country in the world, and in no other
country has the speed of the best American trotters been
equaled.”
* Farmers’ Register. + Farmers’ Encyclopedia.
THe Hors. 21
III.—POINTS OF HORSES.
Every one who has anything to do with the horse should
know something of the “poirts” by “means of which a good
animal is distinguished from a bad one. It is necessary to
understand this, no matter for what particular service the horse
may be required; and the qualities indicated by these points
are universal in all breeds.
To illustrate this subject and teach the uninstructed how to
correctly judge the horse, we introduce the accompanying let-
tered outlines.
It is evident that to be a good judge of a horse, one must
have in his memory a model by which to try all that may be
presented to his criticism and judgment.
Fig. 5 represents such a model. It is a thoroagh-bred
horse, in which the artist has endeavored to avoid every fault.
Fig. 6 is designed to represent a horse in which every good
point is suppressed. It may not be common to see a horse
totally destitute of every good point; but injudicious breeding
has so’ obliterated the good ones, that the cut fig. 6 is not a
caricature, though we confess that its original is little less than
a caricature on the true ideal of a horse. Such a head is com-
mon, so is such a shoulder, such a back, quarters, and legs;
and if they are not very often all combined in one animal, they
are, unfortunately, often found distributed among the common
breeds in such abundance as to mar the beauty and the service
of three quarters of all the horses in ordinary use. The letters
are alike on both figures, and will enable the reader to draw a
comparison between the respective points of each. We copy
the description of the cuts from the Farmer’s Companion:
“The most important part of all is probably the direction of
the shoulder, from Ato B, Next to this, the length from the
hip to the hock, C to D. The point which next to these prob-
ably most contributes to speed and easy going, is the shortness
of the canon bone between the knee and the pastern joint, E
to F, a point without which no leg is good. A horse which
has all these three points good will necessarily and infallibly
22 Domestic ANIMALS.
stand over « great deal of ground, W to X, that is, the distance
between his fore and hind feet will be great; while one which
is deficient in all of them, or, indeed, in the two first, will as
Fig. 5.
A x
assuredly stand like a goat with all its feet gathered under him,
and will never be either a fast horse or safe under saddle, A
Fig. 6.
ant . A
ENR
horse, not in motion, may be more speedily judged of by this
feature than by any other. One consequence of a fine receding
shoulder is to give length in the humerus, or upper arm, from
Tue Horsz. 23
B to P, without which a great stride can hardly be attained,
but which will seldom if ever be found wanting if the shoulder-
blade be well placed. A prominent and fleshy chest is admired
by some, probably because they think it indicative of powerful
lungs and room for their use. We object to it as adding to
what it is so desirable to avoid—the weight to be lifted forward
in the act of progression—while all the space the lungs require
is to be obtained by depth instead of breadth, as from A to H,
in which point, if a horse be deficient, he will seldom be fit
for fast work. The other points which we have marked for
comparison are G to E, or the width of the leg immediately
below the knee, which in a well-formed leg will be equal all the
way down; in a bad one it will be narrowish immediately below
the knee, or what is called ‘tied in.’ The shape of the neck
is more important than might at first thought be supposed, as
affecting both the wind and the handiness of the mouth; no
horse with a faulty negk and a head ill-attached to it, as at Q
to K in fig. 6, ever possesses a good or manageable mouth.
The points of the face are not without significance, a feebly
developed countenance generally showing weakness of courage.
if not of constitution, We therefore like to see a large and
bony protuberance above the eye, as at L in fig. 5, giving the
appearance of a sinking immediately below, followed by a
slightly Roman or protruding inclination toward the nose.
These when present are generally signs of ‘blood,’ which is in
some proportion or other a quality without which no breed of
horses will ever improve or long entitle itself to rank as other
than a race of drudges, fit only for sand or manure carts.”
Bearing these points in mind, you may, by observing and
comparing the different animals which fall under your eyes,
soon qualify yourself to give an intelligent opinion of a horse.
One can not become perfect in this branch of knowledge in a
week orinayear. Certainly no careful student of this little
book will allow himself to be imposed upon in the purchase of
an animal having many of the bad points represented in fig. 6.
The perfect horse (fig. 5) you will not expect to meet every day,
24 Domestic ANIMALS.
A badly formed horse is not profitable for any purpose;
because, if so formed, they are either clumsy, inactive, dull
in mind, or tender and easily broken down. It costs just ag
much to breed, raise, and keep a poor horse as a good one, and
the poor one is low in value and unsalable; besides, he is un-
able to do good service in any sphere, or to endure.
We copy from Lavater six heads of horses, which indicate
Fig. 7. different temperaments and a great
diversity of character and disposition.
The accompanying remarks are from
the American Phrenological Jour-
Se nal :
“Fig. 7 has a slow, heavy temper-
ament; is without spirit, awkward in
motion, lazy, stupid in intellect, diffi-
§ = cult to teach, bears the whip and
needs it, though it is soon forgotten. He is too lazy to hold up
his ears or under lip, and is a
regular hog-necked, heavy-footed
animal.
“Fig. 8 has more intelligence
and spirit, a more active temper-
ament, and is disposed to anger, (¢
will not bear the whip, and shows &
his anger, when teased or irritated,
in a bold, direct onset with the
teeth.
“Fig. 9 is a very active temperament; is a quick, keen,
Fig. 9. active, intelligent animal, but is sly,
Z cunning, mischievous, and trickish;
will be hard to catch in the field, in-
clined to slip the bridle, will be a great
shirk in double harness, and will re-
quire a sharp eye and steady hand to
drive him, and will want something
besides a frolicsome boy for a master.”
Tar Horsr. or
“Fig. 10 is obstinate, headstrong, easily irritated, deceitful,
and savage; will be hard to drive, Fig. 10.
unhandy, unyielding, sour-temper- é :
ed, bad to bick, inclined to balk,
disposed to fight and crowd his
mate, and bite and kick his driver.”
“Fig. 11 has a noble, proud dis-
position, and a lofty, stately car-
viage, but he is timid, restive, and
easily irritated and thrown off his
mental balance. Such horses should
be used by steady, calm men, and on roads and in business
which have little variety, change, or means of excitement.
Fig. 11. Fig. 12.
“Fig. 12 is a calm, self-possessed animal, with a noble, eleva-
ted disposition, trustworthy, courageous, good-tempered, well
adapted to family use, but not remarkable for sharpness of
Fig. 18. mind or activity of body.
p} “ Figs. 18 and 14 showa
great contrast in shape of
head, expression of coun-
tenance, temperament, dis-
position, and intelligence.
The first is a most noble
animal.
, “Fig. 18 is broad be-
) tween the eyes, full, round-
) ed, and prominent in the
2
26 Domestic ANIMALS.
forehead, indicating benevolence and intellect ; broad between
the ears, showing courage; broad between the eyes, evincing
quickness of perception, memory, and capacity to learn. He
can be taught almost anything, can be trusted, and loves and
trusts man; is not timid, will go anywhere, and stand without
Fig. 14, fastening ; never kicks, bites,
or runs away.
“Fig. 14 shows a marked
contrast with fig. 13 in almost
every respect; his narrow and
contracted forehead shows a
lack of intelligence, kindness,
and tractability; is timid and
\ shy in harness, vicious, un-
¥ friendly, disposed to kick,
bite, balk, or run away, and
is fit only for a mill or horse-boat. For all general uses he
should be avoided, and by no means should such an organiza-
tion be employed for breeding purposes.”
IV.—COLOR.
W. C, Spooner, author of several veterinarian works, has the
following remarks on color as a sign of other qualities in the
horse:
“We have found both good and bad horses of every color,
and the only rule we can admit as correct is, that certain colors
denote deficient breeding, and therefore such animal is not
likely to be so good as he looks, but is probably deficient in
bottom or the powers of endurance. These colors are black,
which prevails so much with cart-horses, and sorrel, dun, pie-
bald, etc.; the possessors of which come from the North, and
possess no Eastern blood. Black horses, unless evidently high
bred, are very often soft and sluggish, with breeding insuf-
ficient for their work; the pedigree of the majority of then
may be dated from the plow-tail, whatever admixtures there
may have been since. White hair denotes a thin skin, which
Tur Horses. 27
is objectionable when it prevails on the legs of horses, as such
Common TeuMs DENOTING THE Parts oF a Hoxsx.
animals are more disposed to swelled legs and cracked heels
than others, Bay horses with black
legs are greatly esteemed, yet we
have known many determined slugs
of this hue. Their constitution is,
however, almost invariably good.
Chestnut is the prevailing color
with our race-horses, and conse-
quently chestnut horses are gener-
ally pretty well bred, and possess
the good and bad qualities which
obtain most among thorough-breds,
The Suffolk cart-horse is also dis-
tinguished by his light chestnnt col-
Srorron of 4 Hozsz’s Foor.
8 Domestic ANIMALS.
so
or; and it is no small recommendation to find that this breed
has, for several years past, carried away the principal prizes at
the annual shows of the Royal Agricultural Society of England.
Gray is a very good color, and generally denotes a considerable
admixture of Eastern blood.”
V._STABLES,
We condense from Stewart’s admirable “Stable Book” the
larger portion of the following useful hints and suggestions in
reference to stables and their management.
1. Stables as they Are.—Stable architects have not much to
boast of. When left to themselves they seem to think of little
beyond shelter and confinement. If the weather be kept out
and the horse be kept in, the stable is sufficient. If light and
air be demanded, the doorway will admit them, and other
apertures are superfluous,
The majority of stables have been built with little regard to
the comfort and health of the horse. Most of them are too
small, too dark, too close, or too open; and some are mere
dungeons, destitute of every convenience.
2. Situation of Stables.—When any choice exists, a situation
should be chosen which admits of draining, shelter from the
coldest winds, and facility of access. Damp places are especially
to be avoided. It is in damp stables that we expect to find
horses with bad eyes, coughs, greasy heels, swelled legs, mange,
and a long, dry, staring coat, which no grooming can cure.
Take every precaution, then, against dampness in your stables.
3. Size of Stables—They are seldom too large in proportion
to the number of stalls; but are often made to hold too many
horses. Horses require pure air as well as human beings; and
the process of breathing has the same effect in their case as in
‘ours—changing it to that poisonous substance, carbonic acid
gas. With twenty or thirty horses in a single apartment no
ordinary ventilation is sufficient to keep the air pure. Large
stables, too, are liable to frequent and great alterations of tem-
perature. When several horses are out, those which remain
Tux Horse. 29
are often rendered uncomfortably cold, and when the stable is
full the whole are fevered or excited by excess of heat. Effi-
cient ventilation—a very important object—is also much more
difficult in a large than in a small stable.
In width the stable may vary from sixteen to eighteen feet ;
and in length it must have six feet for each stall. Large cart-
horses require a little more room both in length and breadth of
stable. The number of stalls should not exceed sixteen, and it
would be better if there were only eight.
Double-rowed stables, or those in which the stalls occupy
both sides, require least space, and for horses kept at full work
are sufficiently suitable, but for carriage horses single-rowed
stables are better. If the double-rowed are used, the gangway
should be wide, to prevent the horses from kicking at each
other, as they are apt to do, when they grow playful from half
idleness.
4. Windows,—Windows are too much neglected in stables, and
where they exist at all are generally too few, too small, and ill
placed. Some think horses do not require light—that they
thrive best in the dark; but many a horse has become blind
for the want of light in his stable. When side windows can
not be introduced, a portion of the hay loft must be sacrificed
and light introduced from the roof. Side windows should be
so arranged that the light will not fall directly upon the eyes
of the horse. Nis
5. Floors.—Stable floors may be of stone, brick, plank, or
earth. One of the best kinds of stable floor, where the soil is
dry, is made of a composition of lime, ashes, and clay, mixed
up in equal parts into a mortar and spread from twelve to fif-
teen inches deep over the surface of the ground forming the
bottom of the stable, It will dry in ten days and makes a very
smooth, fine flooring, particularly safe, easy, and agreeable for
horses to stand upon, and free from all the objections to stone,
brick, and wood.*
* A, B. Allen.
30 Domestic ANIMALS.
6. Draining.—A gutter or other contrivance fer carrying off
the urine should always be made in a stable, otherwise it will
be foul and damp. It should be conveyed into a tank and care-
fully saved as manure.
7. Racks and Mangers.—These should be so placed that the
horse can eat from them with ease. The face of the rack next
the horse should be perpendicular, or as nearly so as possible,
Sometimes the face is so sloping and the rack so high that the
horse has to turn his head almost upside down to get at his food.
The mangers or troughs from which the horse eats his grain
are now sometimes made of cast iron, which we deem a great
improvement over wood. The manger should be concave and
not flat at the bottom. Mangers are generally placed too low.
The bottom should be from three feet and a half to four feet
from the ground, according to the height of the horse.
8. Ventilation of Stables—Impure air, as we have already
remarked, is hurtfulto the horse as well as to the human being
inducing disease and shortening life. To avoid it in our own
case, we (sometimes!) ventilate our houses. If we would have
our horses healthy we must do the same for the stable. Aper-
tures, one fur each stall, should be provided for carrying off the
impure air. These should be so near the top of the building as
practicable. It should be eight or ten inches square. Smaller
apertures near the floor or not far from the horse’s nostrils will
serve to admit fresh air.*
9. Warmth, etc.—If you wish to have your horses thrive
and continue healthy, you can not pay too much attention to
their comfort. Their stables should be warm in winter and
cool in summer. To secure these conditions, they should be
properly constructed. [For plans, see ‘‘The House.”] To keep
stables sufficiently warm, no artificial means are required. It
is enough that the outside air, except so much as is required
for ventilation, be excluded during the coldest weather. Warm
blankets should of course be used at the same time.
® See Chap‘er on Barns and Stables, in “ The House ”
Tur Horsz. 81
VI—FEEDING.
1. The Best Food for Horses.—Considerable care and system
are necessary in feeding horses, so as to keep them in the best
health and the highest working order.
“The best food for ordinary working-horses in America,”
A. B. Allen says, “‘is as much good hay or grass as they will
eat, corn-stalks or blades, or for the want of these, straw, and
a mixture of from sixteen to twenty-four quarts per day, of
about half and half of oats and the better quality of wheat bran.
When the horse is seven years old past, two to four quarts of
corn or hominy or meal ground from the corn and cob is
preferable to the pure grain. Two to four quarts of wheat,
barley, rye, buckwheat, peas, or beans, either whole or ground,
may be substituted for the corn. A pint of oil meal or a gill of
flax-seed mixed with the other food is very good for a relish, es-
pecially in keeping up a healthy system andthe bowels open, and
in giving the hair a fine glossy appearance. Potatoes and
other roots, unless cooked, do not seem to be of much benefit
in this climate, especially in winter—they lie cold upon the
stomach and subject the horse to scouring; besides, they are
too watery for a hard-working animal. Corn is fed too much
at the South and West. It makes horses fat, but can not give
them that hard, muscular flesh which oats do; hence their
softness and want of endurance in general work and on the
road, in comparison with Northern and Eastern horses, reared
and fed on oats and more nutritious grasses.”
2. Work and DigestionSlow work aids digestion, empties
the bowels, and sharpens the appetite. Hence it happens that
on Sunday night and Monday morning there are more cases of
colic and founder than during any other part of the week.
Horses that never want-an appetite ought not to have an un-
limited allowance of hay on Sunday; they have time to
eat a great deal more than they need, and the torpid state of
the stomach and bowels, produced by a day of idleness, renders
an additional quantity very dangerous. Farm and cart horses
are fed immediately before commencing their labor, and the
32 Domestic ANIMALS.
appetite with which they return shows that the stomach is not
full.
During fast work digestion is suspended. In the general
commotion excited by violent exertion, the stomach can hardly
be in a favorable condition for performing its duty. The blood
circulates too rapidly to permit the formation of gastric juice
or its combination with the food; and the blood and the nerv-
ous influence are so exclusively concentrated and expended
upon the muscular system, that none can be spared for carry-
ing on the digestive process.
8. Bulk Essential Condensed food is necessary for fast-
working horses. Their food must be in less compass than that
of the farm or cart horse. But to this condensation there are
some limits, Grain affords all, and more than all, the nutri-
ment a horse is capable of consuming, even under the most
extraordinary exertion. His stomach and bowels can hold
more than they are able to digest. Something more than nu-
triment is wanted. The bowels must suffer a moderate degree
of distension; more than a wholesome allowance of grain can
produce.
When hay is very dear and grain cheap, it is customary in
many stables to give less than the usual allowance of hay, and
more grain. The alteration is sometimes carried too far, and
is often made too suddenly. The horses may have as much
grain as they will eat, yet it does not suffice without fodder.
Having no hay, they will leave the grain to eat the litter.
When the ordinary fodder, then, is very dear, its place must
be supplied by some other which will produce a wholesome
distension, though it may not yield so much nutriment. Straw
or roots, either or both, may be used in such cases. The ex-
cessively tucked-up flank, and the horse’s repeated efforts to
eat his litter, show when his food is not of sufficient bulk, and
this indication must not be disregarded.
4, Quantity of Mood.—The quantity of food may be insufii-
cient, or it may be in excess, The consumption is influenced
by the work, the weather, the horse’s condition, age, temper,
Tur Horsz. 33
form, and health; these circumstances, especially the work,
mnust regulate the allowance.
When the horse has to work as much and as often as he is
able, his allowance of food should be unlimited.
When the work is such as to destroy the legs more than it
exhausts the system, the food must be given with some restric-
tion, unless the horse be a poor eater.
When the work is moderate, or less than moderate, a good
feeder will eat too much.
When the weather is cold, horses that are much exposed to
it require more food than when the weather is warm.
When the horse is in good working condition, he needs less
food than while he is only getting into condition.
Young growing horses require a little more food than those
of mature age; but, as they are not fit for full work, the dif-
ference is not great.
Old horses, those that have begun to decline in vigor, require
more food than the young or the matured.
Hot-tempered, irritable horses seldom feed well; but those
that have good appetites require more food to keep them in
condition, than others of quiet and calm disposition.
Small-bellied, narrow-chested horses require more food than
those of deep and round carcass; but few of them eat enough
to maintain them in condition for full work.
Lame, greasy-heeled, and harness-galled horses require an
extra allowance of food to keep them in working condition.
Sickness, fevers, inflammations, all diseases which influence
health so much as to throw the horse off work, demand, with
few exceptions, a spare diet, which, in general, consists of
bran-mashes, grass, carrots, and hay.*
5. Watering—tThis is a part of stable management little
regarded by the farmer. He lets his horses loose morning and
night, and they go to the nearest pond or brook and drink their
fill, and no harm results, for they obtain that kind of water
* Stewart's Stable Book.
Q*
34 Domestic ANIMALS.
which nature designed them to have, in a manner prepared
for them by some unknown influence of the atmosphere, as
well as by the deposition of many saline admixtures.
The difference between hard and soft water is known to
every one. There is nothing in which the different effect of
hard and soft water is so evident as in the stomach and di-
gestive organs of the horse. Hard water drawn fresh from the
well will assuredly make the coat of a horse unaccustomed to
it stare, and it will not unfrequently gripe and otherwise injure
him. He is injured, however, not so much by the hardness of
the well-water as by its coldness—particularly by its coldness
in summer, and when it is in many degrees below the tempera-
ture of the atmosphere. The water in the brook and the
pond being warmed by long exposure to the air, as well as
having become soft, the horse drinks freely of it without danger.
If the horse were watered three times a day, and especially
in summer, he would often be saved from the sad torture of
thirst, and from many a disease. Whoever has observed the
eagerness with. which the over-worked horse, hot and tired,
plunges his muzzle into the pail, and the difficulty of stop-
ping him until he has drained the last drop, may form some
idea of what he had previously suffered, and will not won-
der at the violent spasms, and inflammation, and sudden
death that often result. There is a prejudice in the minds of
many persons against the horse being fully supplied with water.
They think that it injures his wind, and disables him for quick
and hard work. If he is galloped, as he too often is, immedi-
ately after drinking, his wind may be irreparably injured; but
if he were oftener suffered to satiate his thirst at the intervals
of rest he would be happier and better. Itis a fact unsuspect-
ed by those who have not carefully observed the horse, that
if he has frequent access to water he will not drink so much
in the course of the day as another will do, who, to cool his
parched mouth, swallows as fast as he can and knows not
when to stop.
On a journey a horse should be liberally supplied with
Tur Horst. 85
water. When he js a little cooled, two or three quarts may be
given to him, and after that his feed. Before he has finished
his corn, two or three quarts more may be offered. He will
take no harm if this is repeated three or four times during along
and hot day.*
VIIL—GENERAL MANAGEMENT.
1. Air.—We have spoken of the necessity of ventilation,
Hear what that great authority, Youatt, says:
“If the stable is close, the air will not only be hot but foul.
The breathing of every animal contaminates it; and when in
the course of the night, with every aperture stopped, it passes
again and again through the lungs, the blood can not undergo
its proper and healthy change; digestion will not be so per-
fectly performed, and all the functions of life are injured. Let
the owner of a valuable horse think of his passing twenty or
twenty-two out of the twenty-four hours in this debilitating
atmosphere! Nature does wonders in enabling every animal
to accommodate itself to the situation in which it is placed,
and the horse that lives in the stable-oven suffers less from it
than would scarcely be conceived possible: but he does not,
and can not, possess the power and the hardihood which he
would acquire under other circumstances.
“The air of the improperly close and heated stable is still
further contaminated by the urine and dung, which rapidly
ferment there, and give out stimulating and unwholesome
vapors. When a person first enters an ill-managed stable, and
especially early in the morning, he is annoyed not only by the
heat of the confined air, but by a pungent smell, resembling
hartshorn; and can he be surprised at the inflammation of the
eyes, and the chronic cough, and the rlisease of the lungs, by
which the animal, who has been all night shut up in this vitiad
ted atmosphere, is often attacked; or if glanders and farcy
should occasionally break out in such stables? It has been
ascertained by chemical experiment that the urine of the horse
* Youatt.
36 Domestic ANIMALS.
contains in it an exceedingly large quantity of hartshorn; and
not only so, but that, influenced by the heat of a crowded
stable, and possibly by other decompositions that are going for-
wird at the same time, this ammoniacal vapor begins to be
rapidly given out almost immediately after the urine is voided.”
2. Litter—The facts just stated in reference to the plenti-
ful escape of ammoniacal gas from the urine, show the necessity
of frequently removing the litter which is soon saturated with
it. It rapidly putrefies, emitting noisome odors and contami-
nating the air. Everything hastening decomposition should be
carefully removed where life and health are to be preserved.
Litter that has been much wetted and has begun to decay
should be swept out every morning.
No heap of fermenting dung should be suffered to remain
during the day in the corner or any part of the stable.
8. Grooming.—Of this little need be said to the farmer in
reference to his working horses, since custom, and apparently
without ill effect, has allotted to them so little of the comb
and brush. ‘The animal that is worked all day and turned
out at night,” Youatt says, “‘ requires little more to be done to
him than to have the dirt brushed off his limbs. Regular
grooming, by rendering his skin more sensible to the alteration
of temperature and the inclemency of the weather, would be
prejudicial. The horse that is altogether turned out, needs no
grooming. The dandruff or scurf, which accumulates at the
roots of the hair, is a provision of nature to defend him from
the wind and the cold.
“Té is to the stabled horse, highly fed and little or irreg-
ularly worked, that grooming is of so much consequence,
Good rubbing with the brush or the curry-comb opens the
pores of the skin, circulates the blood to the extremities of
the body, produces free and healthy perspiration, and stands in
the recom of exercise. No horse will carry a fine coat without
either unnatural heat or dressing. They both effect the same
purpose; they both increase the inscnsible perspiration; but
the first does it at the expense of health and strength, while
Tur Horse. 37
the second, at the same time that it produces a glow on the
skin and a determination of blood to it, rouses all the energies
of the frame. It would be well for the proprietor of the horse
if he were to insist—and to see that his orders are really obeyed
—that the fine coat in which he and his groom so much delight
is produced by honest rubbing, and not by a heated stable and
thick clothing, and, most of all, not by stimulating or injurious
spices. The horse should be regularly dressed every day, in
addition to the grooming that is necessary after work.
“When the weather will permit the horse to be taken out,
he should never be groomed in the stable, unless he is an
animal of peculiar value, or placed for a time under peculiar
circumstances. Without dwelling on the want of cleanliness,
when the scurf and dust that are brushed from the horse lodge
in his manger and mingle with his food, experience teaches,
that if the cold is not too great, the animal is braced and invig-
orated to a degree that can not be attained in the stable, from
being dressed in the open air. There is no necessity, however,
for half the punishment which many a groom inflicts upon the
horse in the act of dressing; and particularly on one whose
skin is thin and sensible. The curry-comb should at all times
be lightly applied. With many horses, its use may be almost
dispensed with; and even the brush needs not to be so hard,
nor the points of the bristles so irregular, as they often are.
A soft brush, with a little more weight of the hand, will be
equally effectual and a great deal more pleasant to the horse,
A hair-cloth, while it will seldom irritate and tease, will be
almost sufficient with horses that have a thin skin, and that
have not been neglected. After all, it is no slight task to dress
a horse as it ought to be done. It occupies no little time, and
demands considerable patience as well as dexterity. It will be
readily ascertained whether a horse has been well dressed, by
rubbing him with one of the fingers. A greasy stain will detect
the idleness of the groom. When, however, the horse is chang-
ing his coat, both the curry-comb and the brush should be
used as lightly as possible.
38 Domestic ANIMALS.
“Whoever would be convinced of the benefit of friction to
the horse’s skin and to the horse generally, needs only to ob-
serve the effects produced by well hand-rubbing the legs of a
tired horse. While every enlargement subsides, and the pain-
ful stiffness disappears, and the legs attain their natural warmth
and become fine, the animal is evidently and rapidly reviving;
he attacks his food with appetite, and then quietly lies down
to rest.”
4, Ezxercise.—Of this the farm horse generally has enough.
His work is tolerably regular, not exhausting, and he generally
maintains his health and has his life prolonged to an extent
rare among horses of “leisure.” But a gentleman’s or a trades-
man’s horse suffers a great deal more from idleness than he
does from work. A stable-fed horse should have two hours’
exercise every day, if he is to be kept free from disease. Noth-
ing of extraordinary, or even of ordinary, labor can be effected
on the road or in the field without sufficient and regular exercise,
It is this alone which can give energy to the system or devel-
ope the powers of any animal. The animal that, with the
usual stable feeding, stands idle for three or four days, as is the
case in many establishments, must suffer. He is predisposed to
fever, or to grease, or, most of all, to diseases of the foot; and
if, after three or four days of inactivity he is ridden far and
fast he is almost sure to have inflammation of the lungs or of
the feet.
VIII —VICES AND BAD HABITS.
The vices and bad habits of the horse, like those of his mas-
ter, are oftener than otherwise the consequence of a faulty ed-
ucation. We are convinced that innately vicious horses are
comparatively few. Wecondense from Youatt the following
hints on this subject.
1. Restivencss—At the head of all the vices of the horse is
restiveness, the most annoying and the most dangerous of all,
It is the produce of bad temper and worse education; and,
like all other habits founded on nature and stamped by edn-
cation, it is inveterate. Whether it appears in the form of
Tue Horse. 39
kicking or rearing, plunging or bolting, or in any way that
threatens danger to the rider or the horse, it rarely admits of
cure. = ==
Soutu-Down Suze.
80 Domestio ANIMALS.
any other stock? Is it not more profitable? “But the Downs
are a superior sheep for crossing with common ewes to pro-
duce butcher’s lambs, superior to any long wools.
“A few years ago a Mr. Beers went to Canada and procured
a large lot of the Canada Leicester, and many of our farmers
were induced by their large size (with their wool on) to buy
them. I expected to be driven out of the market with my
South-Downs; but at the first county fair (South-Downs hav-
ing to show against long wool) I made a clean sweep of it, and
there has never been one of them shown since. A certain
farmer procured one of Mr. Beers’ bucks, and also a South-
Down; he divided his flock of ewes as nearly as possible be-
tween the two bucks; the result was, the half-blood Down
lambs were all fat, and sold before any of the half-blood Leices-
ters were fit for market. This farmer finds the South-Downs
so profitable that he keeps no other than a South-Down buck.”
6. The Cotswold Breed.— The Cotswold,” Spooner says,
‘is a large breed of sheep, with a long and abundant fleece, and
the ewes are very prolific and good nurses. They have been
extensively crossed with the Leicester sheep, by which their
size and fleece have been somewhat diminished, but their car-
casses considerably improved, and their maturity rendered
earlier. The wool is strong, mellow, and of good color, al-
though rather coarse, from six to eight inches in length, and
from seven to eight pounds per fleece. The quality of the mut-
ton is considered superior to the Leicester.”
We believe the Cotswolds have not been extensively bred in
the United States, although there have been several importa-
tions. An improved variety of the Cotswolds, under the name
of the New Oxfordshire sheep, have lately attracted consider-
able attention, and have frequently been successful candidates
for prizes offered for the best long-wooled sheep at agricultural
shows.
"%. The Cheviot Breed.—The Cheviot sheep are a peculiar
breed, which are kept on the extensive range of the Cheviot
Hills. They are described as having “ the face and legs gen-
: ea eka
i SHEEP. 81
erally white; the eye lively and prominent; the countenance
open and pleasing; the ear large, and with a long space from
the ear to the eye; the body long; and_hence they are called
‘long sheep,’ in distinction from the black-faced breed. They
are full behind the shoulder, have a long, straight back, are
round in the rib, and well-proportioned in the quarters ; the
legs clean and small-boned, and the pelt thin, but thickly cov-
ered with fine, short wool; they possess very considerable fat-
tening qualities, and can endure much hardship, both from
starvation and cold.’”*
We have no acquaintance with this breed. There are prob-
ably but few of them in this country. Mr. Randall speaks very
disparagingly of those which had fallen under his observation,
but which may have not been fair specimens of their breed.
8. The Lincoln Breed.—OCulley described the old breed of
Lincolnshire sheep, half a century ago, as having “no horns,
white faces, long, thin, and weak carcasses; the ewes weighing
from 14 to 20 lbs. per quarter, the-three-year old wethers from
20 to 80 lbs.; thick, rough, white leg, large bones, thick pelts,
and long wool, from 10 to 18 inches, and weighing from 8 to
‘14 lbs. per fleece, and covering a slow-feeding, coarse-grained
carcass of mutton.” Oulley, however, ran into the opposite
extreme; if the Lincolnshire farmers bred only for the wool,
he regarded only the mutton. A cross between the two pro-
duced a very profitable and much improved animal.
III.—CHOICE OF BREED.
“Tn selecting a breed for any given locality,” Mr. Randall
says, ‘‘we are, to take into consideration, first, the feed and cli-
mate, or the surrounding natural circumstances ; and second,
the market facilities and demands. We should then make
choice of that breed which, with the advantages posssessed,
and under all the circumstances, will yield the greatest net
value of marketable product.
* American Farmer’s Encyclopedia.
4*
82 DomeEstic ee pees
“Rich lowland herbage, in a climate which allows it to re-
main green during a large portion of the year, is favorable to
the production of large carcasses. If convenient to markets
where mutton finds a ready sale at good prices, then all the
conditions are realized which call for a mutton as contradis-
tinguished from a wool-producing sheep. Under such circum-
stances, the choice should undoubtedly, in my judgment, rest
between the improved English varieties—the South-Down, the
New Leicester, and the improved Cotswold or New Oxford-
shire. In deciding between these, minor and more specific
circumstances are to be taken into account.”
For wool-growing purposes he thinks the Merino “ possesses
a marked and decided superiority over the best breeds and
families of coarse-wooled sheep ;” and its inferiority as a mut-
ton sheep, he thinks is not so great as is generally supposed.
IV--GENERAL MANAGEMENT,
The following hints are all condensed from Randall’s excel-
lent work on Sheep Husbandry, to which the reader who may
desire further details is referred.
1. Barns, Sheds, ete.—“ Humanity and economy both dictate
that sheep be provided with shelters to lie under nights, and
to which they can resort at will. In our severe winter storms
it is sometimes necessary, or at least by far the best, to feed
under shelter for a day or two. It is not an uncommon cir-
cumstance, in New York and New England, for snow to fall to
the depth of twenty or thirty inches, within twenty-four or
forty-eight hours, and then to be succeeded by a strong and in-
tensely cold west or northwest wind of two or three days’ con-
tinuance,* which lifts the snow, blocking up the roads, and piling
hage drifts to the leeward of fences, barns, etc. A flock without
shelter will huddle closely together, turning their backs to the
storm, constantly stepping and thus treading down the snow
as it rises about them. Strong, close-coated sheep do not
* These terrible wind-storms are of much longer continuance in many parts
of New England,
SHEEP. 83
seem to suffer as much from the cold, for a period, as would
be expected; but it is, next to impossible to feed them enough
or half enough, under such circumstances, without an immense
waste of hay—entirely impossible, without racks. The hay is
whirled away in an instant by the wind; and even if racks are
used, the sheep leaving their huddle where they were kept
warm and even moist by the melting of the snow in their wool,
soon get chilled and are disposed to return to their huddle.
Imperfectly filled with food, the supply of animal heat is low-
ered, and at the end of the second or third day the feeble ones
have sunk down hopelessly, the yearlings and oldish ones have
received a shock which nothing but careful nursing will recover
them from, and even the strongest have suffered an injurious
loss in condition.
“The simplest and cheapest kind of shed is formed by poles
or rails, the upper ends resting on a strong horizontal pole sup-
ported by crotched posts set in the ground. It may be ren-
dered rain-proof by pea-haulm, straw, or pine boughs,
“Tn a region where lumber is very cheap, planks or boards
(of sufficient thickness not to spring downward, and thus open
the roof), battened with slabs, may take the place of the poles
and boughs; and they would make a tighter and more durable
roof. If the lower ends of the boards or poles are raised a
couple of feet from the ground, by placing a log under them
the shed will shelter more sheep.
“These movable sheds may be connected with hay-barns,
“hay-barracks,’ stacks, or they may surround an inclosed space
with a stack in the middle. In the latter case, however, the
yard should be square, instead of round, on account of the
divergence in the lower ends of the boards or poles, which the
round form would render necessary.” ‘
2. Feeding-Racks.—‘‘ When the ground is frozen, and espe-
cially when covered with snow, the sheep eats hay better on
the ground than anywhere else. When the land is soft, muddy,
or foul with manure, they will scarcely touch hay placed on it,
It should then be fed in racks,
34 Domestic ANIMALS.
“These are of various forms, 'Fig. 25 gives the common
box rack in the most general use in the North. It is ten feet
long, two and a half wide, the lower boards a foot wide, the
upper ones about ten inches, the two about nine inches apart,
Box Rack.
and the corner posts three by three, or three'and a half by two
and a half inches. The boards are spiked on these posts by
large flat-headed nails wrought for the purpose, and thé lower
edges of the upper boards and the upper edges of the lower
ones are rounded so they shall not wear the wool off from the
sheep’s necks. The lower boards and the opening for the
heads should be two or three inches narrower for lambs. If
made of light wood, as they should be, a man standing in the
inside and middle of one of these racks, can easily carry it
about—an important desideratum. Unless over-fed, sheep
waste very little hay in them.”
An improvement upon the common box rack has holes eight
inches wide, nine inches high, and about eighteen inches apart,
instead of the continuous opening represented in the foregoing
cut; but it is a little more expensive.
3. Feeding.—“In Germany great stress is laid on variety
m the winter fodder, and elaborate systems of feeding are
given. Variations of dry fodder are well enough, but hundreds
and thousands of Northern flocks receive nothing but ordinary
hay, consisting mainly of timothy (Phleum pratense), some red
and white clover (Trifolium pratense et repens), and frequently
a sprinkling of June or spear-grass (Poa pratensis), during the
entire winter. Others receive an occasional fodder of corn-
stalks and straw, and some farmers give a daily feed of grain
SHEEP. 85
through the winter. Where hay is the principal feed, it may
be well, where it is convenient, to give corn-stalks (or ‘blades’)
every fifth or sixth feed, or even once a day; or the daily feed,
not of hay, might alternate between blades, pea-straw, straw
of the cereal grains, etc. Should any other fodder besides hay
be the principal one, as, for example, corn-blades or pea-
haulm, each of the other fodders might be alternated in the
same way. It is mainly, in my judgment, a question of conve-
nience with the flock-master, provided a proper supply of pal-
atable nutriment within a proper compass is given. Hay,
clover, properly cured pea-haulm, and corn-blades are palatable
to the sheep, and each contain the necessary supply of nutri-
ment in the quantity which the sheep can readily take into its
stomach. Consequently, from either of these, the sheep can
derive its entire subsistence. Sheep should not run or be fed
in yards with any other stock.
“ The expediency of feeding grain to store sheep in the win-
ter depends upon circumstances. Remote from markets, it is
generally fed by the holders of large flocks. Oats are com-
monly preferred, and they are fed at the rate of a gill a head
per day. Some feed half the same amount of (yellow) corn.
Fewer sheep—particularly lambs, yearlings, and crones—get
thin and perish, where they receive a daily feed of grain; they
consume less hay, and their fleeces are increased in weight.
On the whole, therefore, it is considered good economy.
Where no grain is fed, three daily feeds of hay are given. It is
a common and very good practice to feed greenish cut oats in
the bundle, at noon, and give but two feeds of hay—one at
morning and one at night. A few feed greenish cut peas in the
same way. In warm, thawing weather, when sheep get to the
ground, and refuse dry hay, a little grain assists materially in
keeping up their strength and condition. This may furnish a
useful hint for many parts of the South. When the feed is
shortest in winter, in the South, there are many localities
where sheep would get enough grass to take off their appetite
for dry hay, but not guite enough to keep them in prime con-
86 Domestic ANIMALS.
dition, A moderate daily feed of oats or peas, placed in the
depository racks, would keep them strong, in good plight for
the lambing season, and increase their weight of wool.
“ Ruta-bagas, Irish potatoes, etc., make a good substitute for
grain, as an extra feed for grown sheep. I prefer the ruta-
baga to the potato in equivalents of nutriment. I do not con-
sider either of them, or any other root, as good for lambs and
yearlings as an equivalent in grain. Sheep may be taught to
eat nearly all the cultivated roots; this is done by withholding
salt from them, and then feeding the chopped root a few times
rubbed with just sufficient salt to induce them to eat the root
to obtain it, but not enough to satisfy their appetite for salt
before they have acquired a taste for the roots.
“Tf there is one rule which may be considered more impera-
tive than any other in sheep husbandry, it is that the utmost
regularity be preserved in feeding. First, there should be reg-
ularity as to the times of feeding. However abundantly pro-
vided for, when a flock are foddered sometimes at one hour
and sometimes at another—sometimes three times a day and
sometimes twice—some days grain and some days none—they
can not be made to thrive. They will do far better on inferior
keep, if fed with strict regularity. In a climate where they
require hay three times a day, the best times for feeding are
about sunrise in the morning, at noon, and an hour before dark
at night. Unlike cattle and horses, sheep do not eat well in
the dark, and therefore they should have time to consume their
food before night sets in. Noon is the common time for feed-
ing grain or roots, and is the best time if but two fodderings of
hay be given. If the sheep receive hay three times, it is not a
matter of much consequence with which feeding the grain is
given, only that the practice be uniform.
“Tt is also highly essential that there be regularity preserved
in the amount fed. The consumption of hay will, it is true,
depend much upon the weather. The keener the cold, the
more sheep will eat. In the South, much would als depend
upon the amount of grass obtained. In many places a light,
SuEEp. 87
daily foddering would suffice—in others, a light foddering
placed in the depository racks once in two days would answer
the purpose. In the steady cold weather of the North, the
shepherd readily learns to determine about how much hay will
be consumed before the next foddering time; and this is the
amount whick should, as near as may be, be regularly fed. In
feeding grain or roots there is no difficulty in preserving entire
regularity, and it is vastly more important than in feeding hay.
Of the latter a sheep will not over-eat and surfeit itself; of the
former it will, And if not fed grain to the point of surfeiting,
but still over-plenteously, it will expect a like amount at the
next feeding, and failing to receive it will pine for it and manifest
uneasiness. The effect of such irregularity on the stomach and
system of any animal is bad, and the sheep suffers more from
it than any other animal. I would much rather that my flock
receive no grain at all than that they should receive it without
regard to regularity inthe amount. The shepherd should be re-
quired to measure out the grain to sheep in all instances—instead
of guessing it out—and to measure it to each separate Hock.
“Tn the North the grass often gets very short by the 10th or
15th of November, and it has lost much of its nutritiousness
from repeated freezing and thawing. At this time, though no
snow has yet fallen, it is best to give the sheep a light, daily
foddering of bright hay, or a few oats in the bundle. Given
thus for the ten or twelve days which precede the covering of
the ground by snow, fodder pays for itself as well as at any
other time during the year.”
4, Salt,—‘ Salt, in my judgment, is indispensable to the health
of sheep, particularly in the summer ;- and I know not a flock-
master among the hundreds, nay, thousands with whom I am
acquainted, who differs with me in this opinion. It is common
to give it once a week while the sheep are at grass,
“Tt is still better to give them free access to salt at all times
by keeping it in a covered box, open on one side.”
5. Water. Water is not indispensable in the summer pas-
tures, the dews and the succulence of. the feed answering as a
88 Domerstio ANIMALS.
substitute. But my impression is decided that free access to
water is advantageous to sheep, particularly to those having
lambs; and I should consider it a matter of importance, on a
sheep farm, to arrange the pastures, if practicable, so as to
bring water into each of them.”
6. Shade.— No one who has observed with what eagerness
sheep seek shade in hot weather, and how they pant and
apparently suffer when a hot sun is pouring down on their
nearly naked bodies, will doubt that, both as a matter of hu-
manity and utility, they should be provided, during the hot
summer months, with a better shelter than that afforded by a
common rail fence. Forest trees are the most natural and best
shades, and it is as contrary to utility as it is to good taste to
strip them entirely from the sheep-walks. A strip of stone
wall or close board fence on the south and west sides of the
pasture will form a passable substitute for trees; but in the
absence of a]] these, and of buildings of any kind, a shade can
be cheaply constructed of poles and brush, in the same manner
as the sheds of the same materials for winter shelter already
described.”
7. Lambs.— Lambs are usually dropped in the North from
the first to the fifteenth of May. In the South, they might
safely come earlier. It isnot expedient to have them.dropped
when the weather is cold and boisterous, as they require too
much care; but the sooner the better after the weather has
become mild, and the herbage has started sufficiently to give
the ewes that green food which is required to produce a plenti-
ful secretion of milk. It is customary in the North to have
fields of clover, or the earliest of grasses, reserved for the early
spring feed of the breeding ewes; and if these can be contigu-
ous to their shelters, it is a great convenience—for the ewes
should be confined in the latter, on cold and stormy nights,
during the lambing season,
“Tf warm and pleasant, and the nights are warmish, I prefer
to have the lambing take place in the pastures. I think sheep
are more disposed to own and take kindly to their lambs thus,
SHEEP. 89
than in the confusion of a small inclosure. Unless particularly
docile, sheep in a small inclosure crowd from one side to another
when any one enters, running over young lambs, and pressing
them severely, etc. Ewes get separated from their lambs, and
then run violently round from one to another, jostling and
knocking them about. Young and timid ewes get separated
from their lambs, and frequently will neglect them for an hour
or more before they will again approach them. If the weather
is severely cold, the lamb, if it has never sucked, stands a
chance to perish. Lambs, too, when just dropped, in a dirty
inclosure, in their first efforts to rise, tumble about, and the
membrane which adheres to them becomes smeared with dirt
and dung—and the ewe refuses to lick them dry, which much
increases the hazard of freezing.
“Lambs should. be weaned. at four months old. It is better
for them and much better for their dams. The lambs when
taken away should be put for several days in a field distant
from the ewes, that they may not hear each other’s bleatings.
The lambs when in hearing of their dams continue restless
much longer, and they make constant and frequently successful
efforts to crawl through the fences which separate them. One
or two tame old ewes are turned into the field with them, to
teach them to come at the call, find salt when thrown to them,
and eat grain, etc., out of troughs when winter approaches.
“The lambs when weaned should be put on the freshest and
tenderest feed. I have usually reserved for mine the grass and
clover sown, the preceding spring, on the grain fields which
were seeded down.
“The dams, on the contrary, should be put for a fortnight on
short, dry feed, to stop the flow of milk. They should be looked
to once or twice, and should the bags of any be found much
distended, the milk should be drawn and the bag washed for a
little time in cold water. But on short feed they rarely give
much trocble in this particular. When properly dried off they
should be put on good feed to recruit, and get in condition for
winter.”
90 Domestio ANIMALS.
8. Emasculation and Docking.— These should usually pre-
cede washing, as at that period the oldest lambs will be about
@ month old, and it is safer to perform the operations when
they are a couple of weeks younger. Dry, pleasant weather
should be selected. Castration is a simple and safe process.
Let a man hold the lamb with its back pressed firmly against
his breast and stomach, and all four legs gathered in front in
his hands. Cut off the bottom of the pouch, free the testicle
from the inclosing membrane, and then draw it steadily out, or
clip the cord with a knife, if it does not snap off at a proper
distance from the testicle. Some shepherds draw both testicles
at once with their teeth. It is common to drop a little salt into
the pouch. Where the weather is very warm, some touch the
end of the pouch (and that of the tail, after that is cut off)
with an ointment, consisting of tar, lard, and turpentine. In
ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, however, they will do just
as well, here, without any application.
“The tail should be cut off, say one and a half inches from the
body, with a chisel on the head of a block, the skin being slid
up toward the body with a finger and thumb, so that it will
afterward cover the end of the stump. ,Severed with a knife,
the end of the tail being grasped with one of the hands in the
ordinary way, a naked stump is left which takes some time to
heal.
“It may occur to some unused to keeping sheep, that it is
unnecessary to cut off the tail. If left on, it is apt to collect
filth, and if the sheep purges, it becomes an intolerable nui-
sance.
9. Washing.—‘ This is usually done here about the first of
June. The climate of the Southern States would admit of its
being done earlier. The rule should be to wait until the water
has acquired sufficient warmth for bathing, and until cold rains
and storms, and cold nights are no longer to be expected.
10. Shearing.— It is difficult, if not impossible, to give intel-
ligible practical instructions which would guide an entire nov-
ice in skillfully shearing a sheep. Practice is requisite, The
SHEEP. 91
following directions from the American Shepherd* are ccrrect,
and are as plain, perhaps, as they can be made:
“*The shearer may place the sheep on that part of the floor
assigned to him, resting on its rump, and himself in a posture
with one (his. right) knee on a cushion, and the back of the animal
resting against his left thigh. He grasps the shears about half-
way from the point to the bow, resting his thumb along the
blade, which affords him better command of the points. He
may then commence cutting the wool at the brisket, and pro-
ceeding downward, all upon the sides of the belly to the ex-
tremity of the ribs, the external sides of both thighs to the
edges of the flanks;.then back to the brisket, and thence up-
ward, shearing the wool from the breast, front, and both sides
of the neck—but not yet the back of it—and also the poll or
fore-part, and top of the head. Now.the “‘jacket is opened” of
the sheep, and its position and that of the shearer is changed, by
being turned flat upon its side, one knee of the shearer resting
on the cushion, and the other gently pressing the fore-quarter
of the animal, to prevent any struggling. He then resumes
cutting upon the flank and rump, and thence onward to the
head. Thus one side is complete. The sheep is then turned
on to the other side, in doing which great care is requisite to
prevent the fleece from being torn, and the shearer acts as upon
the other, which finishes. He must then take his sheep near
to the door through which it is to pass out, and neatly trim
the legs, and leave not a solitary lock anywhere as a harbor
for ticks. It is absolutely necessary for him to remove from
his stand to trim, otherwise the useless stuff from the legs be-
comes intermingled with the fleece wool. In the use of the
shears, let the blades be laid as flat to the skin as possible, not
lower the points too much, nor cut more than from one to two
inches at a clip, frequently not so much, depending on the part
and compactness of the wool.’
“ Cold storms sometimes destroy sheep, in this latitude, soon
* Pages 179, 180.
92 Domestic ANIMALS.
after shearing—particularly the delicate Saxons. Ihave known
forty or fifty perish out of a single flock, from one night’s
exposure. The remedy, or rather the preventive, is to house
them, or in default of the necessary fixtures to effect this, to
drive them into dense forests. I presume, however, this would
be a calamity of rare occurrence in the ‘sunny South,’ ’*
V.—VALUE OF SHEEP TO THE FARMER.
The following suggestive remarks are from the Country
Gentleman, and are worthy of every reader’s attention:
“Sheep are profitable to the farmer, not only from the pro-
duct of wool and mutton, but from the tendency which their
keeping has to improve and enrich his land for all agricultural
purposes. They do this:
“1. By the consumption of food refused by other animals in
summer; turning waste vegetation to use, and giving rough
and bushy pastures a smoother appearance, and in time erad-
icating wild plants so that good grasses and white clover may
take their place. In this respect sheep are of especial value to
pastures on soils too steep or stony for the plow. In winter,
the coarser parts of the hay, refused by horses and cows, are
readily eaten by sheep, while other stock will generally eat
most of that left by these animals.
“For these reasons, among others, no grazing farm should be
without at least a small flock of sheep, for it has been found
that as large a number of cattle and horses can be kept with
as without them, and without any injury to the farm for other
purposes. A small flock, we said—perhaps half a dozen to
each horse and cow would be the proper proportion. A va-
* Sheep Husbandry ; with an Account of the Different Breeds and General
Directions in regard to Summer and Winter Management, Breeding, and
Treatment of Diseases. With Portraits and other Engravings. By Henry 8.
Randall, New York: A. O. Moore. This work is bound with ‘* Youatt on
the Sheep,” under the general title of “The Shepherd’s Own Book,” and the
volume should be in the hands of every one who would make sheep-breeding
his principal business.
SHEEP. 93
riety of circumstances would influence this point; such as the
character~of the pasturage, and the proportion of the same
fitted and desirable for tillage.
“2. Sheep enrich Jand by the manufacture of considerable
quantities of excellent manure. A farmer of long experience
in sheep husbandry, thought there was no manure so fertilizing
as that of sheep, and (of which there is no doubt) that none
dropped by the animal upon the land suffered so little by waste
from exposure. A German agricultural writer has calculated
that the droppings from one thousand sheep during a single
night would manure an acre sufficiently for any crop. By using
a portable fence, and moving the same from time to time, a
farmer might manure a distant field with sheep at less expense
than that of carting and spreading barn manure.
“The value of sheep to the farmer is much enhanced by due
attention to their wants. Large flocks kept together are sel-
dom profitable, while small assorted flocks always pay well, if
fed as they should be. To get good fleeces of wool, and large,
healthy lambs from poor neglected sheep, is impossible. It is
also true that the expense of keeping is often least with the
flocks that are always kept in good condition. The eye and
thought of the owner are far more necessary than large and
irregular supplies of fodder. Division of the flock and shelter,
with straw and a little grain, will bring them through to spring
pastures in far better order than if kept together, with double
rations of hay, one half of which is wasted by the stronger
animals, while the weak of the flock pick up but a scanty liv-
ing, and oftentimes fail to get that through the whole winter.
“We commend this subject to the consideration of our corre-
spondents; it is one which needs greater attention on the part
of the farming public.”
VI.—AFFECTION OF THE EWE.
The Ettrick Shepherd tells the following story of the con-
tinued affection of the ewe for her dead Jamb:
“ One of the two years while I remained on the farm at Wil-
94 Domestic ANIMALS.
lenslee a severe blast of snow came on by night, aboat the lat-
ter end of April, which destroyed several scores of our lambs,
and as we had not enow of twins and odd lambs for the mothers
that had lost theirs, of course we selected the best ewes and
put lambs to them. As we were making the distribution, I
requested of my master to spare me a lamb for a ewe which he
knew, and which was standing over a dead lamb in the end vt
the hope, about four miles from the house. He would not let
me do it, but bid me let her stand over her lamb for a day or
two, and perhaps a twin would be forthcoming. I did so, and
faithfully she did stand to her charge. I visited her every morn-
ing and evening for the first eight days, and never found her
above two or three yards from the lamb; and often as I went
my rounds, she eyed me long ere I came near her, and kept
stamping with her foot, and whistling through her nose, to
frighten away the dog. He got a regular chase twice a day as I
passed by; but however excited and fierce a ewe may be, she
never offers any resistance to mankind, being perfectly and
meekly passive to them.
“The weather grew fine and warm, and the dead lamb soon
decayed; but still this affectionate and desolate creature kept
hanging over the poor remains with an attachment that seemed
to be nourished by hopelessness. It often drew tears from my
eyes to see her hanging with such fondness over a few bones,
mixed with a small portion of wool. For the first fortnight
she never quitted the spot; and for another week she visited
it every morning and evening, uttering a few kindly and heart-
piercing bleats; till at length every remnant of her offspring
vanished, mixing with the soil, or wafted away by the winds.”
SwINeE. 95
We
SWINE.
Where oft the swine, from ambush warm and dry,
Bolt out and scamper headlong to their sty.—Bloomsuld.
I—NATURAL HISTORY.
HE ‘hog (Suide sus of Linneus), according to
Cuvier, belongs to ‘the class Mammalia, order
Pachydermata, genus Suide or sus.”
Professor Low remarks, that “the hog is sub-
ject to remarkable changes of form and charac-
ters, according to the situation in which he is placed. When
these characters assume a certain degree of permanence, a
breed or variety is formed; and there is no one of the domes-
tic animals which more easily receives the characters we de-
sire to impress upon it. This arises from its rapid powers of
increase, and the constancy with which the characters of the
parents are reproduced in the progeny.
There is no kind of livestock that can be so easily im-
proved by the breeder and so quickly rendered suited to the
purposes required; and the same characters of external form
indicate in the hog a disposition to arrive at early maturity of
muscle and fat as in the ox and the sheep. The body is long in
proportion to the limbs, or, in other words, the limbs are short
in proportion to the body ; the extremities are free from coarse-
ness; the chest is broad and the trunk round. Possessing
these characteristics, the hog never fails to arrive at early ma-
turity, and with a smaller consumption of food than when he
possesses a different conformation.”
The wild boar, which was undoubtedly the progenitor of all
the European varieties, and also of the Chinese breed, was for-
96 Domestic ANIMALS.
merly a native of the British Islands, and very common in the
forests until the time of the civil wars in England.
The wild hog is now spread over the temperate and warmer
parts of the old continent and its adjacent islands. His color
varies with age and climate, but is generally a dusky brown
with black spots and streaks. His skin is covered with coarse
hairs or bristles, intersected with soft wool, and with coarser
and longer bristles upon the neck and spine, which he erects
when in anger. He is a very bold and powerful creature, and
kecomes more fierce and indocile with age. From the form of
his teeth he is chiefly herbivorous in his habits, and delights in
roots, which his acute sense of smell and touch enables him to
discover beneath the surface. He also feeds upon animal sub-
stances, such as worms and larvee which he grubs up from the
ground, the eggs of birds, small reptiles, the young of animals,
and occasionally carrion; he even attacks venomous snakes with
impunity,
The female produces a litter but once a year, and in much
smaller numbers than when domesticated. She usually carries
her young for four months or sixteen weeks.
In a wild state the hog has been known to live more than
thirty years; but when domesticated he is usually slaughtered
for bacon before he is two years old, and boars killed for brawn
seldom reach to the age of five. When the wild hog is tamed,
it undergoes the following among other changes in its conforma-
tion. The ears become less movable, not being required to
collect distant sounds. The formidable tusks of the male
diminish, not being necessary for self-defense. The muscles of
the neck become less developed, from not being so much exer-
cised as in the natural state. The head becomes more inclined,
the back and loins are lengthened, the body rendered more
capacious, the limbs shorter and less muscular; and anatomy
proves that the stomach and intestinal canals have also become
proportionately extended along with the form of the body.
The habits and instincts of the animal change; it becomes diur-
nal in its habits, not choosing the night for its search of food;
SwiNe. 97
is more insatiate in its appetite, and the tendency to obesity
increases.
The male forsaking its solitary habits, becomes gregarious,
and the female produces her young more frequently, and in
larger numbers. With its diminished strength and power of
active motion, the animal also loses its desire for liberty. These
changes of form, appetites, and habits, being communicated
to its progeny, a new race of animals is produced, better
suited to their altered condition. The wild hog, after it has
been domesticated, does not appear to revert to its former state
and habits; at least the swine of South America, carried thith-
er by the Spaniards, which have escaped to the woods, retain
their gregarious habits, and have not become wild boars.*
IL—OPINIONS RESPECTING THE HOG.
From the various allusions to the hog in the writings of the
ancient Greeks and Romans, it is plain that its flesh was held
in high esteem among those nations. The Romans even made
the breeding, rearing, and fattening pigs a study, which they
designated as Porculatio.
Varro states that the Gauls produced the largest and finest
swine’s flesh that was brought into Italy; and according to
Strabo, in the reign of Augustus, they supplied Rome and
nearly all Italy with gammons, hog-puddings, and sausages.
This nation and the Spaniards appear to have kept immense
droves of swine, but scarcely any other kind of livestock... . .
In fact, the hog was held in very high esteem by all the early
nations of Europe; and some of the ancients have even paid it
divine honors,t
On the other hand, swine’s flesh has been held in utter abhor-
rence by the Jews since the time of Moses, in whose laws they
were forbidden to make use of it as food. The Egyptians also
and the followers of Mohammed have religiously abstained from
it. Paxton, in his “Illustrations of Scripture,” says :
* Aracrican Farmer’s Encyclopedia. + Youatt,
5
98 Domestic ANIMALS.
“The hog was justly classed by the Jews among the vilest
animals in the scale of animated nature; and it can not be
doubted that his keeper shared in the contempt and abhorrence
which he had excited. The prodigal son in the parable had
spent his all in riotous living, and was ready to perish
through want, before he submitted to the humiliating employ-
ment of feeding swine.”
“Swine,” Heroditus says, “are accounted such impure beasts
by the Egyptians, that if a man touches one even by accident,
he presently hastens to the river and, in all his clothes, plunges
into the water. For this reason swine-herds alone of the
Egyptians are not auowed to enter any of their temples; neither
will any one give his daughter in marriage to one of that pro-
fession, nor take a wife born of such parents, so that they are
necessitated to intermarry among themselves.”
The Brahminical tribes of India share with the Jews, Moham-
medans, and Egyptians this aversion to the hog. The modern
Copts, descendants of the ancient Egyptians, gear no swine, and
the Jews of the present day abstain from their flesh as of old.
It was Cuvier’s opinion that “in hot climates the flesh of
swine is not good;” and Mr. Sonnini remarks that “in Egypt,
Syria, and even the southern parts of Greece, this meat, though
very white and delicate, is so far from being firm, and is so
overcharged with fat, that it disagrees with the strongest
stomachs. It is therefore considered unwholesome, and this
will account for its proscription by the legislators and priests
of the East. Such abstinence was doubtless indispensable to
health under the burning suns of Arabia and Egypt.” How
is it under the burning suns of Carolina and Georgia?
III.—BREEDS.
The various breeds which have been reared by crosses be-
tween those procured from different countries are so numerous,
that to give anything like a detailed description of them would
fill alarge volume. We shall refer to only a few of the more
important of them. i
Swine. 99
1. The Land Pike—The old common breed of the country,
sometimes called ‘land-pikes,” may be described as “large,
vough, long-nosed, big-boned, thin-backed, slab-sided, long-leg-
Fig. 26.
Tue Lanp Pree Hoe.
ged, ravenous, ugly animals.” Speaking of this race, A. B, Allen
says: ‘No reasonable fence can stop them, but, ever restive
and uneasy, they rove about seeking for plunder. swilling
grunting, rooting, pawing; always in mischief and always de-
stroying. The more a man possesses of such stock the worse
he is off.” But this breed is rapidly disappearing. Crosses
between the land pike. and the Chinese or the Berkshire pro-
ducing a fine ‘animal, the original breed is being very generally
improved.
2. The Chinese Breed,—This breed was introduced into this
country from Ching: some forty years ago. The Chinese hog is
small in limb, round ‘in body, short in head, and very broad in
cheek. : When fattened, it looks quite out of proportion, the
head appearing to be buried in thé neck, so that only the tip of
the nose is visible. It has an exceedingly thin skin and fine
bristles.” ;
The pure-blooded Chinese hog has been bred to only a limited
extent in the United States, on account of the smallness of its
size (it seldom attaining more than two hundred and fifty
pounds), and its lack of hardiness in a cold climate. In thig
last respect, however, it is well adapted to the South. Crossed
100 Domestic ANIMALB.
with the native hog it forms an excellent breed, which we may
call the improved China breed. Hogs of this mixed breed are
various in color—black, white, spotted, and gray and white;
they are longer in body than the pure Chinese breed; small in
the head and legs; broad in the back; round in the body; the
hams well let down; skin thin; flesh delicate and finely flavor-
ed. They are easy keepers; small consumers; quiet in dis-
position ; not disposed to roam; and when in condition may be
kept so upon grass only.
'8. The Berkshire Breed.—This was one of the earliest im-
proved of the English breeds, and is deemed by many the most
excellent of all the varieties at present known. It is certainly
the most widely distributed and most generally approved. It
is a breed which is distinguished by being, in general, of a
tawny white, or rufous-brown color, spotted with black or
brown; head well placed, large ears, generally standing forward,
though sometimes hanging over the eyes; body thick, close,
and well made; legs short, small in the bone; coat rough and
curly, wearing the appearance of indicating both skin and flesh
of a coarse quality. Such, however, is not the case, for they
Fig. 27.
ee ae
Toe Berxsuiez Hoe.
have a disposition to fatten quickly: nothing can be finer than
the bacon, and the animals attain to a very great size.
Swine. 101
The Berkshires, from which most of the present American
stock has sprung, were imported in 1822, The breed has spread
very rapidly over the country,
Tue Surro_k Hoa.
4, The Suffolk Breed.—The improved Suffolk breed originated
in a cross between the original Suffolk hog and the Chinese.
It is a very valuable breed, but much smaller in size than the
Berkshire. The Suffolks are thick through the shoulders, very
handsomely proportioned in body, and possessing beautiful
hams. Their color is either white or light flesh color, when
of the pure breed, and they are indeed an ornament to the.
farm.
Tt is said that they are Jess inclined to cutaneous diseases
than numerous others, and do not, under any circumstances,
produce that strong, musky flavored pork we sometimes find in
market. They are not a gross, unwieldy animal, generally
ranging from two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds
'
102 Domestio ANIMALS.
weight at twelve months of age, which latter weight they sel-
dom exceed. They are clean feeders, and require much less
than any other breed known.
For large hogs, a cross between these and the Berkshire is
very desirable, and is preferred by Western breeders ; but for a
syaall breeder, or for family use, the pure Suffolks are prefer-
able.*
5. The Essee Breed.—The Essex hogs are mostly black and
white, the head and hinder parts being black and the back and
belly white. The most esteemed Essex breeds, Youatt says,
are entirely black, and are distinguished by having small teat-
like appendages of the skin depending from the under part of
the neck. They have smaller heads than the Berkshire hogs,
and long, thin, upright ears; short bristles; a fine skin; good
hind quarters, and a deep, round carcass. They are also small
boned, and their flesh is delicately flavored. They produce
large litters, but are reputed bad nurses. __
Fig. 29.270.”
Tue Essex Hoe.
6. The Chester Breed.—This breed originated in Chester
County, Pennsylvania, and is not so widely known as, according
* Country Gentleman.
SwINE. 103
to all accounts, it deserves to be. A correspondent of the Coun-
try Gentleman gives the following account of the Chester hog:
“The Chester hog is the result of continued careful breeding
and judicious crossing in this county during the last thirty-five
or forty years. The first impulse to this improvement, it is
said, was the importation of a pair of handsome hogs from
China, some forty years since, by a sea-captain then residing in
this vicinity. Of late years, however, many of our breeders
have been laboring to bring the Chester hog up to an acknow]-
edged standard of excellence—to define its points, and make it
as distinctive in character, and as easily recognized, as a Berk-
shire or Suffolk. Their efforts, we think, have been successful.
“The genuine Chester is a pure white, long body and square
built, with small, fine bone, and will produce a greater weight
of pork, for the amount of food consumed, than any other breed
yet tried among us.