, 1893-08-19

is still a good amount Of produce for expolta-
tlon. The Agricultural Socieiy's PIougling
Match came off at Benefits st. Thomas
pa,ishJ on the 26th ultimo, when the exhibits
were
6 Spanish Mules. , teams. Colts. ,
4 Spanish Miles. 3 Sows 2
6 American Mules. 3 Bears. ?
/ American Mules. > Cows.
10 Working Cattle. + Bulls. o
4 Unworked Oxen. > " Bull calves 2
Heifer Calves 3 Ewes 20 Ram. 4
He goats 2 She goat |
These exhibits ale said to bave been excel
lent in kind, but wholly inadequate in number.
Fifteen samples Of sugar were exhibited, and
Benefits scored great success III this depart
ment. The Editor Of the PlonterS' Journal.
referring to the pIoushing and forking
writes ;-
In the Plough field. s %ploughs appe'sel,
a plough to a PRIZE each one was SURE OF u
reward, 50 long as the work done was up to
the mark curious coincidence that there
should be 8 Ploughs and s 2rizes but 5" II
was pre-iudging and pre-arTangement
seeming to influence all the svents Of the day
The soil was stiff and waxy, and the ploughs,
drawn by six yoke OF oxen we're driven
heavily. The field had not been recently
lined, but the crooked rows did good service
by |ellciting more than ordinary skill, which,
under the circumstances, was necessary to
keep the burrows straight. Some OF the
ploughmsn were quite equal to the OCCASION,
and the skill and Judgment shown by them,
in the face of unexpected difficulty, redeemed
the day, and made us, amidst our many
disappointment feel that we were still
living in an agricultural island where the art
Of p~loughing was not quite extinct. 1t was q
spectacle TO please the planters eye, and to
gladden. his heart. We wish also it had
power to waken him up to a sense Of the
exceeding value Of these object lessons, and
Of the necessity for these competitive exhibit
tons Of skill. in order to maintain a standard
Of excetlence.
Forkers and cane hole diggers were less
numerous than usual, yet enough to carry of
all the prizes.
The same journal, referring to the cruelty
that is p~ractissd upon animals ia Barbados,
saws we'll -'.Barbados has b5en called the
grave of horsehesh, and it cannot be denied
that the mortality amongst working animals
is much greater than ordinary sickness or
accident can .account for. Brutal tire ltment,
downright and absolute cruelty practlsed on
these patient, a'l-sufferlng creatures, when
actually engaged in IabDrious effort, is the
main cause Of this high deathrate, especially
amongst oxen and mules engaged III rough
WOik On pltHC olio
TI-ftting harness, so that great weights
have to be drawn over macadamised roads,
up steep hills, or across muddy fields under .
every mechanical disadvantage, blows, not
only with lash. but with hsGsy tohip-Sttck
os we'll, over bony prominenoes, tender and
vital parts, the butt end being often used as
a goad Just for the sake Of diversion, the OK
being blindfolded to prevent shrinking of
the poor frame from the cruel, unnecessary
these are amongst the causes of
those sudden ailments which so rapidly con-
vert useful animals into manure. or by strain,
and mechanical injury, make them useless
burdens.
When we see teams of mules, drawing
heavily laden wagons on the public roads,
subjected, not only to i'll treatment on the
part Of their drivers, bat evidently uncared
for by the more intelligent, humane planter,
who ought to supervise them, coupled with
heavy bars of wood, often so long as to
compel the poor thiAgs to bend their necks
outwards or, worse still, coupled