The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1908-01-30
Timely Farm Topics.
Charlotte Observer

The horse is one Of mans best
friends; faithful, sensitive, ond intel
Iigent or nearly so as ordinary man
kind-he tolls over mountain peaks,
hauls great loads upon the streets
all over the world the faithful horse
is found bearing mans burdens,
speeding him through space, saving
him time, and helping him on to
greater usefulness and happiness, and
yet how little attention is paid to
them on the average farm. They
are taken out of the stables in the
morning "broken' to the plow and
away they go until dinner time; they
are brought in at noon wet with sweat
and turned into the stable to eat a
hasty meal, taken out agian and
plowed till night without a thought
of drying them off or providing for
their comfort. When the writer was
q boy on the farm, one Of the things
that he was informed was that of the
greatest Importance in caring for
horse was to see that every evening
the horses feet were cared for after
a hard days work in the field and in
consequence the horses feet were
freed from all dirt and washed and
rubbed dry. 1t was remarkable to
note how the horses improved under
this kind of treatment and eagerly
they responded to such treatment.
1t should be borne in mind that
very large portion Of horses ailments
come from lack of care of the feet.
Another thought-a great many
neglect to feed their stock salt. 9th
ers feed it once in a while whenever
it happens to be convenient for them
to think Of it; still others make it a
rule to salt their stock on Sundays.
As matter Of fact, all Of these prac-
tees are bad and the first, to not feed
salt at all is an exceedingly poor
practice Stock should have daily
access to salt, their system requires
it and when they have free access to
salt at times, there is 10 danger of
their eating 50 much at any one time
as to physic them which is often the
case when salt has been withheld for
some time. Men treat your horses
better, next to your wife, they are
your best friends.
| read quite an interesting article
in the Progressive Farmer Of Raj
eigh, by Mr.. a. L. French, a good
hustling farmer Of this State not a
play farmer, but worker, under
the caption-''F'ix up, John, and look
your best" In this article Mr..
French advises the farmers to dress
better when they go to town as it
becomes the dignity of go per cent.
of the population Of the States of
the Southwest" That is very good
and as it should be. But there is
another thing to which / would like
to call your attention. Every spring
when fertilizer notes are given
some Of you make your mark, -"
being unable to write, this should
not be. Any man with gumption
enough to get out of the rain can
learn to write with pen or pencil
with few hours practice each night
during the winter. Don't be
ashamed to try it. Get the children's
slate and pencil, and if must be, let
them write the copy for you, and in
the same way you can learn to read.
The nights are long and two hours
before bed time these long nights
spent in this way will work wonders.
A farmer should be educated in his
calling and if he has any industry he
will be successful. There can be no
question that the lack of enterprise
in farming is one of the great draw
backs to the progress of agriculture,
bat the clog to improvement in
farming is the lack Of information of
the knowledge necessary to skillful
and we'll directed labor. Every spare
moment should be spent by the
farmer in reading and studying ag-
riculture.