West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1879-07-19
AGRICULTURE.

TRAINING SADDLE HORsEs.- an
swer to the question on training saddle
horses, says the Country Gentleman, it is
not good rule TO use a first-class sad
die horse In harness, or vice versa, and
horsemen all know that to use trotter
to saddle, is To shorten his gait and get
him In the habit of cantering. AS soon
as a horse finds IL is easier to canter, or
run as IL Is commonly called, when 90
ing fast, he will invariably take the
latter gait. But with the ordinary bug
gy horse, or saddle horse If properly
trained, IL will not make any difference.
The writer has trained a great many
horses for saddle and harness purposes,
both In Europe and America, and knows
that the best saddle horses i'm the world
are never harnessed until their services
to saddle are over. In England. when
horse has hunted four or five seasons,
he is sold to some tradesman, and then
he Is good for four or five seasons for
dog-cart or gig. With regard to the
development of the muscles of horse
undergoing training for either trottIng
or running, his muscles will be fully
developed. The horse Of all work
should be first thoroughly trained TO
saddle and then to harness. as In my
experience he will always work to
those gaits; that is to say, when I'm sad
ole TO trot and canter, but never to pace
or single foot, when in harness he will
learn the two latter too soon. Some
people think a saddle horse ought to
pace, but this Is IA mistake, as the canter
Is by far the best for horse and rider
| speak from experience, as for the last
twenty years have been In the saddle
six days .eut of seven. In travelling a
long distance the horse which trots or
canters will take you over the road with
more ease than the pacing horse. A
good trainer can train horse to the
saddle gaits so that these will never con-
filct with each other, and on the proper
application OF the bride hand and the
legs, the horse will change his gait at
any moment.
OLD-FAsHIoNED FLowERs.-Man of
the flowers that were popular forty and
htty years ago are again coming into
fashion. For several years hollyhocks
have becp ignored, but the double speci-
mems grown in Germany, and intro
uuced into this country, are now sold
by most seedsmen. They are not so
easily raised from seeds as might be in
ferred by reading the catalogues, but
when once started, with proper cult
walton they amply repay all the troub-
lie they require. 1t is said that by
planting the seed early I'm the season.
flowers may be obtained the same sea
son. Tfis may induce hopes not always
to be realized. If started in hotbed
the changes are fair, but they mature
slowly. The new varieties of asters are
very beautiful, and are easily brought
to perfection with care. They shoIild
not be crowded. and mulching i'm July
is very advantageous. Some of the
varieties introduced within a few years
are very large and snowy.
HORSES ON THE RoAB.-If n horse is
required to travel long distance and
the Journey must lac accomplished with
out stopping to bait, it eXhausts the
horse less to Increase the pace up to his
best average gait, than to permit a
SLOW gait, consuming a much longer
time In going over the ground, and on
an empty stomach. In other words. if
two horses are driven fifty or sixty
miles, under similar conditions as 70
the weight they have to draw, and the
one is taken at the rate of six miles an
hour, which will keep him fasting from
eight to ten hours, while the other Is
Travelled fast enough to do il in six to
seven hours, the latter Will be less ex-
i"uSCVu Ihdh Jlle FORMER, though even
In this latter case the horse would be
all the better for feed in the middle
or the journey, the time devoted to
such batting being easily made by the
increased energy that would be suppli-
ed by the grain.
FERTILIZING IN THE HlLL.-A small
quantity of active fertilizer applied i'm
the hill at planting will be beneficial.
A handful of mixture of 100 pounds
of fine bone dust, one barrel of wood
ashes and barrel of poultry manure,
thrown near but not on the seed and
well mingled with the soil, will hasten
the young growth. The earlier the
start and the more vigorous the young
growth, the more rapidly the crop will
mature.
GRASS LANDs.-Rolling the meadows
with heavy roller will level the sur
face by reducing the hummOcks, sink
ing stones and sticks, or roots, and COM
pact the soil about the roots and so
strengthen the grass. A light dressing,
100 lbs. nitrate of soda per acre, for in
stance, will encourage the growth and
add largely to the yield.
s------~---
Use of the Bath.
For the last fau ar Gcfao,