Facts for farmers; also for the family circle. A compost of rich materials for all land-owners, about domestic animals and domestic economy; farm buildings; gardens, orchards, and vineyards; and all farm crops, tools, fences, fertilization, draining, and irrigation. Illustrated with steel engravings

Front matter

O

•V

.■\*" *\;*1^'.

Preface

THE AUTHOR TO HIS READERS.

"Facts for Farmers?*' "What facts?" "What new theories have we here in a ponderous volume ? Is it filled with dry dissertations about what farmers should or should not do?" "What does this author know about farming?"

The author answers — ^the last question first. Nothing. Who does? He does not advance new theories. He only collects old ones. He has made a ponderous volume, not of dry dissertations, but of short, crisp facts. The book is full of little things ; gleanings from many fields ; from all the agricultural papers ; from conversations of farmers ; from talks at farmers' clubs ; from books a little ; from personal experience much ; — from the memory of a long life devoted to the practice and study of agriculture, this volume is born. It is the fruit of years of labor in a great and good field. It certainly contains much that will be useful to all classes who till the earth, or live in farmers' houses. It should be in every rural home, as a work of reference. It is arranged in the most convenient form for this purpose. Each chapter comprises one general subject. Each section embraces a separate branch. Each numbered paraOTaph is complete in itself, and conveys an item of information. Each subject is completely indexed. As a whole, though containing much, it is not an encylopedia of agriculture. It does not pretend to teach all that a farmer should knoAV. That must be learned by daily perusal of agi'icultural papers and books.

Though not perfect, farmers will find this book a useful one. If not invaluable, I hope it is one that they can not afford to do without. In its compilation, the author has enjoyed many facilities and much experience : he has also labored under many difficulties, while daily engaged as an agricultural editor of a great daily and weekly paper. You will find here stored up for future use man}' of the valuable little items that you have read approvingly in the Tribune, and many from other sources, useful to every farmer's family, and worthy of preservation.

Usefulness instead of elegance has been aimed at. I have given more facts than theories. I have often given the opinions of several upon the same subject, and, as some of these vary, I leave the reader to adjust differences.

In trying to avoid diffuseness, I have left much for inference, and purposely treated subjects in such a manner as to induce readers to make further research. A word of explanation. At the end of the volume you will find a list of agricultural papers, which the author had read for years previous to the commencement of this compilation. Also a list of individuals, some of whoni' are eminent authority in agricultural knowledge. From all these he has drawn matter, sometimes with, and sometimes without, credit to individuals, when facts have been condensed from their articles. Conciseness has been a study ; else, how could twelve hundred subjects be crowded into a thousand pages'^ Those whose articles I have used, must not complain that I have pruned too closel}'', or failed to give credit in all cases where credit is due. I freely acknowledge my obligations to all.

This book is one that may be opened at any page, profitably, to occupy five minutes' leisure. It is printed in such large, clear type that it can be easily read. The author and publisher hope that it will be. Then it is illustrated as no agricultural book published in America ever has been. Look at the many large, handsome,

PREFACE.

steel engravings I These alone are worth the cost of the whole volume.

Farmers ! you are earnestly invited to read, if nothing more, the titles and contents of chapters, and their subdivisions of. sections. If you do that, and find nothing that promises instruction, lay the volume aside. If so far it is promising, turn over its pages, glancing at the black-lettei- titles of paragraphs. Of one thing be assured ; lengthy as the volume appears, it is not made so by extreme dilution ; the last chapter is better than any that precedes it. Throughout, no subject is lengthily treated ; no subject is treated that does not contain something useful to some one ; something that you can not always remember, but which you should always have ' at hand, convenient for frequent consultation.

To those who know the name of the author — -and the number is large — I hope this book will be a welcome bequest. I hope it will be the means through which that name may live in love and honor with your children and children's children around many an American hearthstone.

Of the author's portrait, a word. It is the publisher, and not the author, who inserts it. It represents him correctly, as he is at the age of nearly sixty.

In conclusion, I earnestly hope these Facts will be an acceptable offering to a very large number of those whose prosperity I would promote, for I am one of the Brotherhood of American Farmers. To them it is commended, with the love and respect of their old friend,

SOLON ROBINSON.

New York, May 1, 1863.

PLATE I.

(The Frontispiece.)

This is the genial face of a farmer, engaged in a work of love for his calling. It is placed here in opposition to the wishes of the author. He has been persuaded to allow his face to be seen»»by those , who purchase this collection of things useful to a very numerous class through the solicitation of the publisher, who knows that it will be a satisfaction to them to see how their old friend looks at the age of sixty. An old friend he will seem to those who read his earnest appeals for agricultural improvement twenty or thirty years ago. As a writer and lecturer upon agriculture, and extensive traveler to observe its condition in the United States, few men are better known than the original of this portrait. Therefore this likeness will be, the publisher believes, highly appreciated as well by those who look upon a familiar face as those who see it here for the first time.

The author was born a farmer, and will probably end his days where ho now lives (a few miles out of the busy hum of the city), in the peaceful quiet of his "home in the country," where this volume of facts for farmers has been prepared as a last legacy of his good-will to the brotherhood.

Like other farmers' sons of New England, he learned to follow the plow there, thougli in early life he bec'ame a Western pioneer, and while a prairie farmer, became widely known as a writer advocating agricultural improvement, and more widely, in 1841, as the originator of the National Agricultural Society, and earnest advocate of State and County societies. His connection with the New York Tribune since 1850 will make this picture interesting to all its readers. It is for these reasons that the pubhsher has incurred the expense of its production.

CONTENT S.

PAOE

13 19

56 60 81

97 123

203 248

Chapter I. Domestic Animals

■ Section I.— INTEODUCTION TO FACTS ABOUT STOCK

Sec. II. SWINE

This section embraces facts about the best breeds, aud best mode of feeding, gross and net weight, etc.

Sbc. m. — COWS : What is a good cow, and how to choose one ; food necessary ; health ;

. Sec. IV.— beeves : Record of the largest known, and their weights

Sec. v.— statistics OF THE NEW YORK CAITLE MARKET, and Improvements in

Sec. VI.— FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM STOCK ; Selecting calves ; shelter ;

training ; kindness ; \alue of kinds of feed ; use of salt ; watering ; diseases of cattle. . . .

Sec. VII. — SHEEP HUSBANDRY ; Breeds of sheep ; care and management ; weight of hay

Sec. VIII— HORSES AND MULES : History of the horse ; varieties ; how to use ; proper size ; color ; diseases ; treatment of colts ; how to shoe horses ; breeding horses and

Sec. IX. — POULTRY ; Full description of all kinds of poultry, and proper treatment

•

Chapter II. Small Animals And Insects

Sec. X. — BEES : Tlieir history, use, and value, management, and reasons for keeping

Sec. XI. — BIRDS : Reasons for preserving ; their food ; and laws for protecting

Sec. XII.— ENTOlIOLOGIC.iL : What are insects, and what kinds infest and injure various

crops, and how to detect friends from foes, and various remedies

Sec. XIII.— wild AND TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM : Dogs, cats, rats, mice, moles,

Chapter III

THB BUILDINGS, TARDS, WEft-S, CISTEEN8, AQUEDUCTS, AND STKUCTURES NECESSARY TC CARRY ON THE BUSINESS OF THE FARM, BRIEFLY DESCRIBED.

Sec. XIV.— FARM-HOUSES : They should be convenient, roomy, light, ventilated ; their inrviii CONTENTS.

PAGE

Sec. XV.— cellars, CHIMNEYS, AND ICE-HOUSES : How to build them, and their

Sec. XVI— THE BARN AND ITS APPURTENANCES : Location, size, and use of barns ;

stables, how to build ; stable yards and cheap sheds 299

Sec. XVII.— WATER FOR THE FARMERY: Cisterns, size, cost, and how to build ; aqueducts and wells, how to construct ; liydraulic rams 308

Sec. XVIII.— stacking AND STORING GRAIN ; CORN CRIBS, PIGGERIES, AND

PIG FEEDING ; SMOKE-HOUSE, AND CURING BACON ; FRUIT-DRYING HOUSE. 318

Sec. XIX.-ECONOMICAL FARM BUILDINGS : Balloon frames, concrete walls, and other cheap styles of building ; how to make balloon frames, and their cost 325

Sec. XX.— ROOFS AND ROOFING : Paints and whitewash for farm buildings ; nails ; mor-

1 tar ; farm gates ; sawed shingles, their value, and how to preserve shingles 332

Sec. XXI.— LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS : Protection of farm buildings from fire ; windmills and their use 342

Chapter IV. Domestic Economy

Sec. XXII.— the FOOD QUESTION : Quantity, quality, variety, adaptation, adulteration, changes produced by cooking, water for cooking, and effect on health 3.51

Sec. XXIII —THE BREAD QUESTION : Varieties ; quality ; how to make bread and yeast,

Sec XXIV.— SUBSTITUTES FOR BREAD, in green corn, dried corn, pop-corn, hominy, and cracked wheat, and how to cook them 389

Sec. XXV.-EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES: Economy of lights ; use of tea, coffee, and sugar ; preserving fruits, pork, hams, and beef ; remedies and disinfectants ; beds and bedding and carpets, etc 396

Sec XXVI.-D0ME3TIC WINES, CIDER, AND PRESERVES : Rules of wine-making from various fruits, and cider and vinegar making 419

Sec. XXVII.— HYGIENIC : Preparation of food for the sick ; remedies for poisons, bites,

Sec XXVHI— THE DAIRY : Butter and cheese making ; how much milk for a pound of

Chapter V. The Garden And Its Fruits

Sec. XXIX.— PLEASURE AND PROFIT OF GARDENING : Origin and history of vegetables 461

Sec XXX.— garden: CULINARY VEGETABLES: Protection from insects; value of various things for food ; chiccory culture ; what should be gro^n in the garden ; number of

Sec XXXI.— THE FLOWER GARDEN : Varieties and cultivation of flowers ; suitable soil and preparation ; lists of choice flowers ; flowers grown as a crop 500

CONTENTS. ix

PiOB

Sec. XXXII. — LAWNS : How to make and how to keep them ; trees and plants suitable for

Sec. XXXIII.— HOT-BEDS : Cold frames plant protectors ; liow to make and use hot-beds. 521

Sec. XXXIV.— small FRUITS OF THE GARDEN : Currants, varieties and cultivation ;

strawberries, variety and growth ; raspberries ; blackberries ; quinces 530

Chapter VI. The Oeciiakd

Sec. XXXV.— propagation, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION OF TREES : Tmie to tran.splant ; preparation ; protection ; kibcls for trees 555

Sec. XXXVL— the ART OF PRUNING, GRAFTING, AND BUDDING : How and when

Sec. XXXVIL— APPLE AND PEACH TREES: Tlieir general management; select list of apples, and descriptions ; pcivch- trees, how to grow ; how to treat an old orchard 579

Sec. XXXVin.— CHERRIES : Best varieties ; soil, situation, and cultivation ; history, use,

Sec. XXXIX. — PEARS : Soil, situation, cultivation, and varieties; select list of sorts; when to gather and how to ripen ; is the cultivation profitable GOI

Sec XL.— plums, NECTARINES, APRICOTS, MULBERRIES, AND OTHER FRUIT ;

How to transplant fruit ; choice selection of plums G12

Sec. XLI.— MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS ABOUT FRUIT CULTURE : Cranberries as a crop ; how to grow them ; best varieties ; cider-making 021

CHAPTER YH.

THE VINEYARD.

Sec XLH.— HOW TO PLANT AND CULTIVATE VINES : What sorts to plant ; historr of varieties ; profits of culture ; grape-growing in California 600

Sec. XLIII.- CULTURE OK GRAPES FOR WINE: Rules for wine -making ; wine from various kinds of grapes ; rules of a French wine-maker ; rules of American wine-makers 657

CHAPTER Vni.

C E R E A L I A .

Sec. XLIV.— wheat, RYE, OATS, BARLEY, MILLET, BUCKWHEAT: Preparation of soil and fertilization ; quantity of seed ; harvesting, stacking, and storing ; thrashing and cleaning ; profits of wheat culture ; oats, how and when to sow ; cultivation of barlev ;

buckwheat ; millet 667

Sec. XLV.— INDIAN CORN : Its history ; product ; profit as a crop ; when to plant, and

1 liow to cultivate ; great yieldrper acre, North and South ; how to Btorc com, and how to measure in bulk ; seed com, and varieties ; broom corn 709

Contents

CHAPTER IX.

THE GRASSES, T II E I E CULTIVATION AND USE.

PAGB

Index To Illustrations

Plate I. — Likeness of the Author Fkontispiece.

Plate II. — Frontispiece of Chap. I. , illustratrating the subject of Domestic Animals Page 13

Plate III. — Frontispiece of Sec. III. This Plate is intended to answer the question, " What

is a good Cow ?" It also exhibits different breeds of Cattle 31

.Plate IV. — Different Breeds of Cattle — Durham, Devon, Hereford, Ayrshire, Dutch, and Al-

demey Bulls and Cows 44

J Plate V. — The Milk Slirror, showing how to select a good Cow, and form of Teeth at different Ages 48

Plate VI. — Breeds of Sheep and Swine 81 and 19

PL.tTE VII. — Frontispiece of Sec. VIII. — Portraits of celebrated Horses, and Illustrations of

different Breeds 1)7

, Plates VIII. and IX. — Illustrations of the Teeth of Horses at all Ages, showing how to

judge the Age from One to Eighteen Years IOC

) Plate X. — Frontispiece to Poultry, Sec. IX 1 23

Plate XI. — Turkeys, Ducks, Geese, Swans, and Pea Fowls 140

Plate XII. Tlie Bec-Keeper at his Work 157

J Plate XIII. — The Farmery of Farmer Snug and Farmer Slack — Frontispiece of Chap. III. . 27-5

Plate XIV — Frontispiece of the Garden and its Fruits, Chap. V 401

Plate XV. — Frontispiece to the Flower Garden, Sec XXXI 500

Pl.\te XVI. — Frontispiece to the Orchard, Chap VI. — A Dessert lit for a Farmer — A Rural

Scene and rich collection of Fruit 555

.Pl.vte XVII. — Frontispiece to Chap. VIII. — Cerealia, representing Insects injurious to Wheat ;

also Grapevine Pests GC7

Plate XVIII. — Frontispiece to Sec. XLV. — Illustrations of Insects which arc injurious to

Farmers, and others which are beneficial 709

Plate XIX. — Frontispiece to Chap. IX. — The Grasses 748

Plate XX. — Frontispiece to Chap. XIV. — The Cotton Plant and Cotton Field - Gathering

the Crop 928

1 Plate XXI. — Insects injurious to Cotton and Corn 942

Plate XXII. — Frontispiece of Sec. LIX. — Tobacco in all stages of Growth and Curing for

Market 953

PLATE 11.

Every American farmer will look upon this picture with pride. It is a fitting illustration of a chapter upon Domestic Animals. It contains representatives of a well-stocked farm, assembled in the farm-yard on the south side of one of the farmery buildings in one of the sunny days of spring, which are so weU calculated to make such a collection of well-fed animals feel, as these look, full of gladness. There is no danger that such hogs as these will destroy young lambs and j^oultry. Here we see the sheep and lambs, goats and kids — goats that yield valuable fleeces, which are described in this chapter — the work-horses and brood-mare and colt — the mules and their progenitor, who is in an attitude of war witli a well-fed lieifer that is absorbed in admiration of the peacocks on the roof of the poultry-house. How surlily the bull looks upon the whitefaced cow, which is deeply interested in contemplating the two hens that the cock has just called to enjoy a few grains of corn ! By the earnest looking of one cow and two horses, we judge that they see their good friend and master approaching. Geese, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, and pigeons, and a boat on the water, enUven the scene, which, altogether, is one of tranquil beauty. It is a scene to contemplate and admire. It teaches a lesson. It will stimulate many a young man to a determination to become the owner of such a one, or something equally worthy of the artist who desires to represent American farm life. It will stimulate all, we hope, who look upon this pictorial index of this chapter to read it carefully.

W^ ll

^^^KlM

FACTS FOR FARMERS.

SECTION. I-INTRODUCTION TO FACTS ABOUT STOCK. HE very foundation of all farm improvement is the

domestic animals which consume the coarse products

of the farm, such as are not fit for human food, or

grown iu greater abundance than is needed for

that purpose, which, being so fed, are converted

into milk, butter, cheese, beef, pork, mutton, wool,

leather, and the many other valuable animal products.

But above all are animals valuable to the farmer, because

they convert the coarse products of the farm into manure,

without M'hich the owner can not produce food for his own

sustenance.

Viewing, then, as I do, successful farming as based upon stock, it seems to me very fitting that I should make the treatise of it the leading chapter of the volume. And as swine are more universally kept by all classes of Americans, and tlie flesh more universally used every week in the year, it will be very proper to make this branch of farm-stock the leading subject.

I am not going to give learned dissertations upon stock-breeding, nor, in fact, long essays upon this or any other subject, but such little fugitive focts as come to hand, in short paragraphs, consecutively numbered for reference, with black-letter titles lo each subject, to attract attention, and so arrantred that facts may be gathered at a glance, and valuable information obtained during leisure moments which miglit otherwise be lost.

Many of the statements given are not only for the purpose of giving interesting information — such, for instance, as the weights of the largest animals ever slauglitered — but as an incentive to others to try lo produce tlie like. It is not to be expected that a man who never saw a bullock of over 12 cwt. should attempt to make one of 36 cwt. ; nor will he be likely to make the attempt before he learns the important fact, that the particular breed which he has kept all his life never attain that weight.

It is for the purpose of inciting improvement that I give some statistics of the New York livestock market, which I have been familiar with for many years. Farmers should know that there is a certain market for all the meat-giving animals they can produce, and what they realize, as well as what varieties sell best.

I have purposely adopted a desnltory method, because I think it will be more satisfactory to my readers, whom I do not expect to read the work in consecutive order, and because I find it more convenient to pick iip the fugitive facts and jot them down in a sort of mosaic-work, something as nature does its autumn tints, which are now glowing before my window in the full effulgence of an October sun.

And here, too, as I look abroad upon my neighbors' fields, and at their cattle gnawing the short pasture, and running after every chance apple dropping from the trees, and then stretciiing up their necks, looking for more, and browsing off the lower limbs of the trees, I am forcibly reminded that this is not a profitable method of keeping farm-stock. Day by day the milch cows fail to give the supply that good pasture will always give in this good butter-making month of October ; and day by day the flesh of all the animals is wasting, so that, by-and-by, when the cold and storms of November force their owner to bring them into winter quarters, they are not in such a condition that he may carry them economically through. There is a great error in farming, that the scene before me forcibly reminds me of — it is the error of keeping any kind of farm-stock upon short pasture, and most particularly in autumn, so that they come to winter quarters falling off in flesh, rather than gaining, which is the condition that all animals should be in when brought from the pasture to the stable or feeding lot.

Some of the farmers of the Eastern States of the kind just alluded to, who keep their stock upon the shortest possible pasture, and consequently generally have scrubby animals, and always meet with great difficulty in wintering those, would learn a useful lesson if they would A'isit the blue-grass pastures of Kentucky, and see in what luxuriant feed the sleek Durhams of that region are kept. They would there learn one of the secrets of value of that breed, and why they attain at three years old a size and weight of beef never equaled at six years old by the scrub breed common in Virginia and in the hilly regions of Ohio and Indiana, which are sometimes designated in the New York market as "pony cattle," or "old style," and averaging, when fat, about six hundred pounds in the beef. A similar scrub breed is known in Kentucky as "mountain cattle," and the same style is very common in North Carolina, Georgia, and other Southern States, where I have often seen full grown steers, and fat, killed for beef at four years old, that M'ould not average four hundred pounds of beef. These cattle were treated, too, all their lives, just like too many of the same class in all the New England and Middle States — like those now before me, eking out their existence upon the scanty herbage of autumn, in a closely-cropped summer pasture, and never fed with forage prepared for winter, until the owner is driven to it by an early winter storm.

Sec. 1.] CATTLE ON A MISSISSIPPI STEAMBOAT. 15

Such is not the i-ight way to keep stock ; but so long as men M^ill keep it thus, it is not of much advantage to try to improve the breed.

There is a great want of information, not only upon the subject of improvements in tlie kinds of stock, but in the modes of keeping it. It is not my intention, in this chapter upon domestic animals, to attempt to give all this information, but only a few brief hints, which may lead to reflection and improvement.

Above all things that will tend to improvement, are annual visits to great cattle-shows, where the varieties in the breeds of cattle may be studied, and judged as to which would be the most profitable, or whether either would be more so than the old-style breed at home.

It would be of great importance, too, to all farmers to travel more. How strange it would seem, at first sight, to a Yankee farmer, who had occupied a forty-acre farm all his life, to see a thousand hogs, and half as many bullocks, all turned into a grand-prairie corn-field, of a size large enough to cover his entire farm and that of twenty or thirty of his neighbors ! His first exclamation would probably be, " Oh, what a waste !" His subsequent opinion would be about like tliis: " Well, after all, I begin to believe that is not so bad a way of harvesting corn as I thought it was."

And tliis is not the only curious thing that he might see in relation to farm-stock in traveling tiirough the West. He would see the same bad management as at home, about bringing the stock into winter quarters, for they are too often allowed to run in a corn-field, after the grain has all been harvested, living upon the dry stalks until after the first snows of winter. He might also see some very amusing, as well as instructive things, in connection with cattle.

Shipping cattle on a Mississippi stcamhoaf, as I once witnessed, afforded infinite amusement; and I am disposed to give a j^hotograph of it, before I take up the more practical details of fiirra-stock.

Engagements for boats to stop and take cattle on board at various landings are frequently made before leaving port, and it often happens that the boat reaches these points in the night; and then a scene occurs which might employ a more graphic pen than mine to describe, or which would have been a fit subject for Hogarth to paint.

I will try to give my readers some idea of such a scene, although one so common on the Mississippi it rarely meets a passing notice ; yet it is full of interest.

Tlie steamer left St. Louis about sundown of a dark day, during the latter part of which tlie rain came down in torrents, corresponding to the size of the great river they were destined to fill. Of course mud was a component part of all tlie little tributary streams; but it did not discolor the great river — that is always muddy.

At ten o'clock we saw a light on the right bank, and run in for it. Though the rain had ceased, the night was dark — one which gave the pilot but little chance to see any but the most prominent landmarks.

"Whose place is tliis?" sung out the captain, wlien he had approached as near the light as he thought safe — for in time of "a fresh," the master of a boat always approaches shore with great care.

" Why, dis is my massa's place ; what boat dat ? If you is de Heni-y Clay, den dis nigger mighty glad, 'cause, gorra, cap'en, liab been watching all dis two free nights for de old Clay."

" Have you got your cattle there ?"

"All in de lot— gorra bress you, den you is de Henry Clay, sure — right here by de light."

" Is the water good in shore ?"

" Why, spec him is good for the steamboat, but not very good to drink."

" How deep is it near the bank ?"

" Oh, Lord, massa, dat mor'n dis nigger knows for sartin, 'cause him mighty deep."

"That will do. Forward there. Get your lines ready. Light themtorches — let's see where we are. Call all hands ; here is a hundred head of cattle to be got aboard."

In a few minutes the lights flashed a bright glare over the boat and shore, bringing to view a scene worth a long journey to behold. The torches are composed of "liglit wood," which is the concentrated pitch of old pine trees, of the long-leaf variety — the richest of all the family in tui-pentine. This wood is split in small pieces and put in an iron frame, with a staft' not unlike the common hod used to carry mortar, so it can be carried about or stuck in the ground, where by a little replenishing it will burn for hours, giving a light unequaled by any other portable contrivance I ever saw. In the present case, it disclosed more mud than anything else. The whole bank was alluvial clay loam. The face was steep, and sixty or eighty feet Jiigh. The boat, made fast to stakes driven into the soft earih, lay wuthin twenty feet of the shore, between which and the guards was a gangway made of long planks lashed together, about six or eight feet wide, without side-railing, or anything to prevent springing down in the center. The cattle were in a yard on the top of the bank, where, around the watchfire, huddled about a d(«en sleepy negroes, amongst Avhich the anxious face of niassa soon made its appearance, having been awakened at his house, two miles distant, by the tremendous noise which is made by one of these river steamers, by the puffs of her high-pressure engine.

" Halloo, Captain Smith, is that you ? I might have known it, though, for no other fool would come here in the night for such a job as this. What are you going to do — hold on till morning?"

"Hold the !"

"Well, I might just as well as hold you. I do believe, if the Clay's engine should break going up stream, the boat would not stop — there is steam enough in the captain to keep her going."

Evidently pleased M-ith this compliment, he jumped ashore, with that most encouraging of all words, " Come, boys," and floundered up the muddy

Seo. 1.] HANDLING A 'WILD STEER. 17

road, to greet his planter friend with one of those hearty shakes of the hand which alone is equal to a whole volume on the man's character.

" Well, captain, you see how it is. I am all ready ; the cattle are here, wet, wild, and muddy, and the bank awful. I couldn't help it. It would rain, and the river is on the fall. I doubt whether your men can stand on the slippery bank. My boys will take down some of the gentle ones, but Lord help you with two or three ; we had to bring them in with the dogs."