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Vol. III.
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ON THE LIVE-STOCK

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they are frequently worked at the harrows in the ensuingspring, when about three years old. Next summer they aresometimes put to the plough for a month or two, and thenturned to grass; and after harvest, when rising four years old,they are usually worked at the plough, and fed in the samemanner as older horses. When the soil is a stiff clay, how-ever, horses cannot stand constant labour till they are a yearolder.

5. It is not a common practice to subject young horses ofthis kind to any regular course of training, though this issometimes done with much advantage. They are made fa-miliar with their keeper as soon as they are weaned, led aboutin a halter, rubbed down in the stable, and treated with gen-tleness ; and before being put to work they are placed underthe charge of a steady careful servant, who very soon learnsthem to drag a harrow alongside of an older horse, and af-terwards to take their share of the labour at the plough, andin all the other work on the farm.

SECT. II.

OF THE LABOUR PERFORMED BY HORSES, AND THEEXPENCE OF THEIR MAINTENANCE.

13 efore the introduction of cultivated grasses, and summerfallow, the labour performed by fann-horses in Scotland ,was irregular, inefficient, and comparatively unprofitable ;their food was scanty and of indifferent quality; and theirgeneral management without method or system. For two orthree months in spring their work was sufficiently constant,and even severe; but after the bear-seed was finished, theywere turned to bare outfield pastures, as is still the practice