Some Good Hitching Posts.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 226, 29 October 1887, Page 2

Some Good Hitching Posts.

The " hitching-posfc " is a peculiarly American institution, although it is also called into requisition a good deal in the colonies* The convenience of the hitching-post in iront of road-side pubs is often only too well appreciated by the farmer going or comingfrom market. There they stand, with ah • ' I'll-hold-your-horse " > airtibout thorn that is irresistible'-to the thirsty" wayfarer ; and no doubt the! hitching-post in euch a position is frequently responsible for the breaking of good resolutions aud of firm promises given to /poor Alary when leaving home in the morning. We would do nothing to enable people to add to the allurements of the public-house hitching-post, but the hitching-post as a feature- of the homestead lias great conveniences, and not seldom, if there is a pleasant marriageable girl on the promises, its services are brought into play in the interests of innocent and tender passions, which wo are not afraid of encouraging on the pare of readers of The Farmer. We therefore hope that when some sturdy young colonist pays a visit to his neighbour's farm to press his suit with the girl of his heart, and finds ready for him a nice convenient hitching-post to which he may securely fasten his nag, while the time flips by in too rapid flight in the blissful sunshine of her smiles, he will think of us kindly, and pay up his subscription promptly, for the hitching-posfc will probably be one of the kind described below. There is, by tbe bye, an appropriateness in the term " hitching-posb " when considered in connection with the American slang phrase, " getten' hitched," meaning getting married. In the case of many a prosperous and happy rnaryiape who knows how much the bride may not owe to the foresight of her father in having erected a nice, safe hitching-post inside the gate of the homestead ? A young Californian witli the poetical name of Cyril Marr p ends the sketches we have reproduced below to an agricultural journal. No doubt he had often been bothered by tho want of these social conveniences at the houses of his neighbours blessed with bright-eyed daughters ; or ifc may have been — vulgar thought I — when he rode over to make a deal for a cow or a hose he had taken a fancy to, or perhaps to borrow a hundred dollars of a friend — no matter ; we will pass on to the description of the hitching-post wihtout another hitch In figure 1 an inch and » half hole is bored or mortised in the post about live or six inches from the top, the doubled end of iope or sfciap being passed through the hole,, over the top of the post and drawn tightly.. figure 2 is merely a stout post, well planted, in the ground, and in the top of which are securely diiven a staple and a hook. The iope or strap is doubled, passed under the staple and over the hook and your horse is

bccuvely hitched. Both the hook and Naples hould be only large enough to receive an ordinary rope or strap. With either post an ordinary hitching strap can be used in the usual way if desired. Figure 3 shows an old style arrangement for hitching horses, consisting merely of a staple, with or without a ring, snugly driven into a large tree. Figure 4 is the old hitching rail, with chains attached, and prevents* the horse from going all round the post he is hitched to. Any or all ef these are handy, as well as readily made, and every iarmer should have one or more in convenient places, near both houseand barn.