BREEDING HORSES AND MULES.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1685, 24 April 1883, Page 4

BREEDING HORSES AND MULES.

A CORRESPONDENT, A.C., BCllds the fellowing, which is by Charles L. Dickerman and the lion. Charles L. Flint :— ln breeding horses for fnrni use, quickness of working, power to pull loads, and ability to endure constant daily labour, arc the prime qualifications to be aimed — Speed, draught, and endurance. "We say speed, for a horse that can harrow or rake two acres while another is doing one, or that can go to the mill or market in one hour w hen it takes anob'icr two, is worth to his owner, other things being equal, twice as much as the other. In the choico of a stallion, then, for breeding good horses, the more blood compatible with the size required the better, " pure - blooded," high • bred horses having greater quickness, strength, bottom, health, and vigour of constitution, as well as greater courage. The blood should be on the side of stallion ; breed up, not down. Never put a marc to a stallion of inferior blood. The stallion should bo free from vices of temper and disposition, as he will surely transmit these to his progeny, lie w ill also transmit diseases and malformations, therefore these should be avoided. The general description for a stallion for purposes of the farmer is :— Sixteen hands high, fore legs above the knee, and limd legs above the hock, long and muscular ; below these joints short and bony ; joints round, well set, short backed, well ribbed up, short in saddle place, and long below it ; high withers, broad loins, broad chest, straight rump, high muscular crest, a lean well set head, broad nostrils, small ears, and small clear eye. [This remark regarding the eye I object to. A large, prominent, clear eye forme. — A.C.] A dark bay is the best colour, an iron grey next, then black, and other daik shades. The mane and tail should always be darker than the hair of the body. The prevailing method of using stallions cannot be too stiongly condemned. The unscrupulous owners of stallions tax them to a degice ruinous < to them and their progeny. No stallion should be used regularly as a breeder until he is four years old. When three, he may be put to a half-ilo/ccn mares, and liis qualities may be tested, but too much must not be expected of his stock at this age. If it is passable, keep him for a stallion ; with moderate usage his colts will be good until he is 12 or 10. But the present monstrous practice of allow - ing stallions to serve from (50 to SO marcs in a single season of three mouths, rapidly deteriorates the stock. Twenty mares, or at most two a week, for the season, is all that any stallion can be taxed, without serious loss in the quality of his colts. And instead of being confined all the tima in the stable and eating heating food, and only seeing the marc when led out, they should be allow ed to run together for a day or two in the pasture. Superiority of the foal will abundantly repay such a method. You will raise horses with much less disposition to be vicious. Our biecd of horses will continue to degenerate as long as the picsent exhaustive piactice is continued. 'Che only practical lemedy that we can see is for farmers to club together and purchase a stallion, or raise one among themselves, keeping him for their own breeding. This couise has* been largely practiced in some communities, and a marked and most profitable improvement in the stock has been the result. In the choice of the marc, si/c, symmetiy, and feOUiidnc&s arc to be legarded as essential. (Beauty from the dam, tcmpei and disposition from the sire.) She should ha\c a roomy frame, a little more than aveiagc length from hip to shoulder, sloping hips, wide chest, deep giith, strong quaitcis, and particularly \\ ulc deep ]>el\ is ; permitting the passage of the foal into the world uninjiucd. She should be guntlr, fiuc fiom all vicious habits, and fiom all constitutional diseases or deformities, Mich as diseases of the lungs, eyes, or spavins, bad feet, or any bony enlargements, as she will most suicly tuiiMiut these ill shapes, even if she her.self is excellent. Never breed from a bulky, baulking, sa\«igo, vicious marc, iiiiles.s you wish to perpetuate the breed. It is tiuo, theie is one out of ten ovcicome by the sire, but the ri.sk is too gicat to bo advisable. Before putting her to the stallion, by careful usage and feeding, got her into the most perfect state of health, not overloaded w ith fat, but m a fnst-idtc condition. Her state at the tune of coition will have a lasting cflcct upon the foa'. Gestation should commence undu the most favourable en cutnstance-*. Tl\c\e feUould be mutual ,ulaptta.iou between the .sire and the dam, in both foim, si/c and all other important oluirac-teii.stic-5. The mate should be a little larger than the horse, unless the marc be too low, when she may be hied to a lioise a tiille taller, but Jiot of the leggy kind. A lou f mare to a leggy hoisc to produce height is a, mistake. Any gicat difference in size will usually pioduce distortion. If cithei i.s defective in any point be .sine the other is peifcct in that point. (To /»' con tin u tti.)

Nr.w method of making tooth 'powilei. — Grind your tcctli. A Kaiik Bird.— A canvahback duck hah been shot on the Ma, Ooiipar- Angus. The fowl is of a species peculiar to America breedirg fiom the jOth i>aiallcl of north latitude to the most noithern limits of the fur country. They arc said to he exticmcly shy, jiud that of all the duck tribe none cm compare with them in the exquisite JUvourof their uVsh. Ru.HUors Riots jv Londov.— The proceedings of the Salvation Annj in London have led to an opposition organization called the Skeleton Ai my, and tioublc appeals, likely to ari.se through the two " armies'' coining into conllict. The Jfo))iui(/ t'o\(, of Kebiuaty oth, contains the follow mi; suggestive p.ua yraph ;—"; — " Disgraceful as were the scenes enactsd in the neighborhood of the Eagle Tavern, the Salvation Army headquarters, on Sunday last, it was apprehended fiom the open threats of the leaders of the Skeleton Army that the noting would be even of a more serious description yesterday. Intelligence of all the various sections of the Skeleton Army throughout the metropolis having received in&ti notions to assemble in the City road eaily in the day reached the police during the week, and special precautions were taken to deal with the disturbances, a force of between 600 and 700 constables being told oft for special duty, a large body being held in reserve within the gates of the liolborn Infirmary which facu.s the (licudii. Thuitie. At a very eaily hour in the moming it was apparent that the apprehensions entertained by the nPighboiing hoiibcljoldeis, &C, had not been groundless, for a.s early as seven in the morning detachments of the Skeleton Army wore parading the .streets headed by a biass band. So great had the eiowd become by ten o'clock, the usual hour for the first march out of the Salvation Army, that ie was deemed expedient by those in charge of it not to venture out, but to content themselves witli holding set vices Inside the theatre. At mid-day a vast crowd assembled outside the theatre, which was to a ucitain extent kept on the move by the huge force of police on duty, but at three o'clock, when the neighboring public-houses closed their doors, the crowd had swelled to such dimensions as to be unmanageable, fully 20,000 persons having congiegated. Then commenced such a scene as is fortunately very rarely seen in the streets of London, free fights of a most serious description occuring eveiy few minutes between the police and the mob. Every person who could be recognised as belonging to the Salvation Army was hustled aud knocked about by the roughs to such an extent that some of them took refuge in the few shops which were open, the roughs threatening to murder them if they came out. The intermittent struggles continued all the afternoon and evening, 'endiug in the police making flomeaixcits,"