The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-05-03 00:00:00

DOCKING HORSES.

1

Some say that docking is cruel, others that it is
not; but both sides agree that the practice is all but
universal, says the Field. No one, probably, will deny
that docking must be accompanied by a certain
amount of pain—at any rate, at the moment eb five
minutes after the operation the horse shows no sign
of having experienced any inconvenience. He will
eat his corn as usual, and will lie down. Still, people
who dock horses have some better reason for defend-
ing the practice than the assertion that the pain is but
little; it is unquestionably safe in the case of horses
intended for carriage work. One critic asserted that,
with a good coachman on the box, a horse would nem'
get his tail over the reins. If we all drove omnibuses
this might be true, but since Victorias, T-carts,
mail phaetons, Battlesden ears) and foitt-wheeled
basket carriages are in fashion, it seems to us that%
with them no amount of coachmanship would enable
the reins to be kept clear of a long tail. Even in the
country, getting the rein under the tail is a predica-
ment that has caused accidents enough; but in Lon-
don, as in any town, it is ten times worse. In a matter
of this kind we should naturally look to the opinion of
experts, were it not that a long series of law cases
have shown what strange things experts now and then
depose to. On the question of docking, a veterinary
sureeon of eminence recently stated thatit was easier \
to drive a horse with a long than with a short dock,
though unluckily no reasons for the opinion are given.
Another critic on the question of docking writes .
that, in one instance, the operation of docking '
produced tetanus. Possibly ; but this proves
nothing. Last year several persons died from the
sting of wasps, yet no one on that account
would argue that the natural result of a sting is to
cause death. So far, then, as harness horses are con- '
cerned, we are inclined to think that docking is a
necessity. In the case of hunters, the question may
admit of a little more argument. Docking is no doubt
convenient, because a hunter with a flowing tail would
give the groom a considerable amount of extra work
in muddy weather, and if there were no docking,
another and still more painful operation, especially in
the case of underbred horses, would be encouraged,
viz., pulling out the hairs from the end of the dock.
It may be used as an argument against docking, that
racehorses are not docked. That, however, is simply
the result of fashion, and not from any conviction
that docking is either unnecessary or cruel. Up to
about fifty years ago, racehorses were universally
docked, and, if the pictures of the period are to be
trusted, the docks were very short.

HOW SHE PURCHASED A POST STAMP.-ShO went
to a post-office, asked for a penny postage stamp, and
)ffered a sovereign in payment. The busy clei.k
couldn't give the change. She asked "where she
would be likely to get it?" He said "Probably next
door." She thought it strange that he could not
oblige her; he said "he couldn't help it." Then she
flounced out, came back, and offered a half-sovereign.
"Could they not give you something smaller ? " he
inquired. "I did not like to ask him," was the
answer. "Then why do you bother me ? " said the
irate man. "Oh, that is another matter; remember,
I buy a penny stamp from you."
MINING WEALTH or AmnalcA.—The inexhaustible
riches of the United States from gold and silver mining
may be partially estimated by the fact that the aggre-
gate production of gold up to June 30, 1883, has
been 1,632,364,670 dols. That of silver has been
598,083,217 dols., making a grand total of
2,230,447,887 dols., or £446,089,577. Reduced to
the equivalent weights, the total gold output has been
78,965,572 troy ounces, or 27074 avoirdupois net
tons, while the silver weight represents 462,590,469
troy ounces, or 15,860 tons. Putting the statistics
into another form, the gold produced in the country
up to the present time, if brought together, would be
sufficient to load 271 ordinary freight cars ; the silver,
supposed to be collected as fine bullion, would require
1586 cars for its transportation. The gold would tax
the carrying capacity of a large ocean steamship,
while the silver would form cargoes for a considerable
feet