The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1891-10-08
FARM NOTES.
lEd.teL by ! Ohm c. Edgar, Duval, to whom all
communications should be addressed
THE DOG ON THE FARM.

cattle, horses, sheep, hogs and chick
ems and the superiority of the pure
bred animal over the scrub, but there
is another animal that requires quite
as much attention and seldom gets
any. I refer to the dog. 1t is de-
batable question whether the horse or
the dog comes next in order of intelli-
gence to man. His intelligence is adj
mitted by all, but his usefulness is
altogether matter of training. Like
a clever young man, if his early edu-
cation and training has been neglect
ed or perverted, he becomes not only
useless, but dangerous. The old
proverb, "Train up child in the way
it should CO." is equally applicable to
the canine race.
If this injunction were better appre-
ciated and acted upon we would
have less work for our juries and
less worthless ours and worried
sheep than we now deplore. Any
observant traveller through the coun-
try must have noticed the ubiquity
of the mongrel cur and scarcity OF
dogs approaching anything like the
standard of any extinct breed. A dog
is a dog, to most people, and little
heed is paid to his ancestry. He is
usually got as a plaything for the
children, and kept to raise a noise at
the approach of a stranger; and ne
generally fultills both offices to the
satisfaction of his master. But a good,
intelligent or well-trained dog, can
do that, and much more; and as in
the case of other animals it costs no
more to raise good dog than scrub.
1t has been said that the character
of the dog invariably indicates the
character of his master. A dog pos
sessed of intelligence initiates many
of his masters traits of character.
The careless, indolent, clustering or
quarrelsome human, is very likely to
own worthless, lazy, cowardly or
dangerous dog.
The good qualities of certain breeds
of dogs are not a matter OF breed
so much as of training. Some dogs
have more intelligence than others
and more readily acquire good or bad
habits. Take for instance the Scotch
collie or shepherds dog. Trained, he
is perhaps the most intelligent and
useful of the canine species; unframed,
he is one of the most mischievou9
brutes in creation. The collie dog is
par excellence, the farmers dog
Properly trained, the collie will per-
form any duty within the bounds OF
reason. His intelligence is almost hui
man, and his faithfulness and courage
never fail. He is the all purpose dog
on the farm; but vastly superior to
any other combination" animal. He
is q time and labor saving animal. He
can be trusted to herd sheep or cattle
and drive them to and from their pas
ture, saving human and horse labor
He is a faithful friend and trusty
watchdog and ready to sacrifice his
life for his master or those to whom he
may become attached.
But as L have before remarked, the
good qualities can only be developed
by proper training; and the incapable
man had better let the collie and
every other big Drained dog alone, and
stick to his prototype, the mongrel
cur.
THE CORN WEEvIL.
A correspondent who dates from
Stafford, Dallas county, Alabama,
writes as follows: "Salt brine will
kill or drive out weevils. L wet the
barn floor and sides of the house and
sprinkle every load or two well with
the brine. Put on all it will bear,
not to spoil the corn. L never slip
shuck corn as the stock will eat up
everything treated in this way. One
sack of salt will do for two or three
hundred bushels of corn. would be
glad if you would experiment on this
and give it to the public if you like.
1t is dead shot.n
"HAYsEED.n
There can be little doubt, says the
News Companion, that distaste for
the farmers life is cultivated among
country boys by the caricatures of the
farmer which are published in comic
and "humerousn books, and by the
fear of being classed among the people
whom these caricaturists are pleased
to call "hayseeds."
Boys are accustomed to see these
"funny pictures" in which d sort of
farmer who is extremely unusual, and
may be said not to exist at all, is set
forth as the type Or example of
farmers in general. And as boys are
sometimes unreasoning, they are apt
to say to themselves: 81 will not be
ridiculed in that way when l grow up;
1 will get out of the 'hayseed bust
ness" In this way not only is an in
justice done by the caricatures, but a
positive injury.
The American people have broad
sense of humor, and no doubt delight
in caricature; but they do not delight
in Injustice or misunderstanding when
they are able to recognize it as such.
For this reason it may be hoped
that the caricaturing of the
farmer, which has certainly been
greatly overdone, may soon cease from
;, the distaste for it which is pretty sur,
to arise.
The farmer himself can afford tC
take "hayseed" ridicule good natured
ly. At recent farmers demonstra
ton in the West, men rode in pro
} ceSsion, dressed in coWhidt