The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-12-21
PRESS.
PORTLAND.
Monday Morning, December 81, 1863.
Harvesting Horses.

Monday Morning, December 81, 1859
Harvesting Horses.
The amia5le Cowper said: "He would not
enter on his list of friends the man who
would needlessly set his foot upon a worm."
And the poet reasoned well. In all large
cities, and even in our own, cruelty to horses
may be witnessed every day in one form or
another. Sometimes they are loaded too
heavily and often the harnesses do not prop
erly hit them, and yet they are whipped, kick
ed and pounded by their cruel drivers because
they have not sufficient strength to haul the
load, or are harnessed so miseraby that they
cannot command their muscular power.
We believe great improvement may be
made in horse collars and horses be there
Dy renewed OF much OF the burden that now
now presses so heavily upon their necks. A
ooutherner under the signature, "Fessenden"
has addressed four letters to Mr.. Henry
bergh which are published in the "Turf, Field
and Farm" His views are somewhat novel.
but we believe they are based upon the prin-
eiples OF sound philosophy. Speaking of the
Instances when just punishment has been
mefed out to cruel drivers through the agep-
cy OF The Society for the Prevention of Cruel
W 10 ANIMALS, he says: 'This, though small
IN field OF so many wrongs, is in the right
direction and must eyentuate WELL The
source of the Amazon would not float a
nautilus. The few cases of cruelty made
punishable by law, are, think, mere baga
telle compared with the systematic bad treat.
ment practiced on the noble brute daily, and
from year to year, through his whole work
life." He thinks those who believe they are
tender and love their horses, often infiict
more monstrous wrongs upon them than
those who sometimes knock them down
And yet they do not even dream of their cru
city and no magistrate fines them and no hu
manitarlan complains of them. And why?
because they do not knock their aniirals
down once in a while, but load them down
with heavy collars just as every body else
does and just as the members of the Society
do daily of which Mr.. Bergh is President
This is a prolonged cruelty and constantly
wears upon the noble creatures. If such
men really understood the case they would
revolt at their own crueltyl
Mr.. Bergh's society unite with the Farm
er's Club in offering on hundred dollars for
the best invention to supercede the yoke at
present in use for Harvesting oxen. This
Southerner expresses his surprise that no re-
ward is offered for a suitable collar and names
for horses although the neck harness of the
horse for heavy work is a thousand fold more
irrational and cruel than one can conceive
the OK yoke to be. A we'll made OK yoke will
never gall, bat horse collars seem specially
made to worry, torment, annoy, fatigue and
gall work horses. He says:
Ordinarily, these collars are made upon the
theory tnat feather or sponge pillow would
make the best collar in the world. Conse-
quently, Tor economy sake, hair and straw are
used. These collars are faced with heavy
woolen cloth. ticking or some such material.
WHAT'S the effect OF this? Why, as soon as
the horse becomes heated and perspires, the
cloth absorbs the moisture, and saturates the
entire substance of the collar
But ehe cryiog evil, the cruel indifference,
is found in the fact that these soft textile fac.
lngs absorb the sweat OF rain and hold it as
sort OF hot poultice on the irritated part of
the shoulder for hours and days together, till
the skin OF the horse is parboiled and render
ed tender. Then the hair is easily rubbed off
by the rough collar facing. The skin is peel
ed, and next appears an ugly sore. called a
gall, but is a real scald, hot perspiration held
IN large quantities in the absorbing collar
has done the work.
Now when the shoulders of the horse are
raw, the owner, perhaps, is too poor to turn
him out to grass and let the sore heal up,
and SO he goes and buys a pad, sometimes
called sweat cioth," and puts that under
the collar. Or, as the Southerner says, per-
haps he ties pice of coarse carpetng or rug,
or sheepskin with the wool on, under the
collar above or below the scald, and thus sup
plies temporary relief Now all this mass OF
needless material possesses a heating power
great enough to raise the temperature of the
blood as it passes to the head, many degrees
above that in other parts of the body.
In the winter, and in cold, rainy seasons,
these massive collars will collect and hold
large quantities of water, and at night it will
freeze up solid. These are dangerous things
to put on the necks of horses in the morning.
Colds, coughs, pneumonia and other fatal
forms of disease come from their use. This
| writer asks:
Now, suppose laboIing man, paving a
street, shoyeling sand, or piling lumber, were
| to go to work from day to day, in the hot sun
| OF summer, With the big necktie, wooden
scarf, close buttoned vest and flannel shirt in
| which he bufieted the bowling storms of win
ter, how long could he work before sunstroke
| would end his tolls? Enormous collars do the
same thing for horses, and this must result
disastrously to them, for the same reason
that muflled neck damages man in like
condition.
| 1t is fact that European soldiers are nev-
er allowed to march in wooden socks. And
why? Because woollen excites perspiratiou /;
then it holds the wet surfaces about the foot
and softens the skin; then it easily rubs off
and the foot-sore seldier steps aside and lets
his comrades pass. Precisely such effects
the sweat-absorbing horse-collars produce.
"What is essential" he says sis a smooth,
unalterable, non-absorbing surface, and that
must be kept entirely Clean" 1t is unques-
tionably true that these huge collars choke
| the beast in summer and chill the lungs in
winter. To sum up he says that hard
| "oouOh SuiiaSC Poiioucu anu htpl Ciedn - TIE
safest, coolest, best and healthiest collar ever
used. They are also very light not weighing
one third as much as other collars, and unite
harness and collar all in one. By these light,
and well fitted woollen collars no rough sur
faces are worked up, no sweat absorbed to
steam and cook scald. Fresh air passes
round the collar, evaporating the moisture
and keeping the skin dry.
Is it not true that necks of oxen are sell
dom CALLED and made sore by wearing the
white oak or walnut bow and elm yoke,
while the necks of horse are often sore, the
skin worn off and the "wthers wrung,' by
large, heavy, soft-padded collars! The reason
for such demonstration has already been told.
A new kind of collar has been made which
answers all purposes. The distinguishing
popularity of this collar is, that its working