Domestic Animals / History and description of the horse, mule, cattle, sheep, swine, poultry and farm dogs; with directions for their management, breeding, crossing, rearing, feeding, and preparation for a profitable market; also their diseases and remedies. Together with full directions for the management of the dairy.

by Richard Lamb Allen

The Terrier.

This, in addition to the foregoing, is the only dog necessary to the farm. He is needed principally for his great sagacity and indefatigable perseverance in exterminating rats and other vermin, that frequently congregate in swarms around the farmer's premises, producing such an aggregate of annoyance and devastation. Other dogs may occasionally be good ratters, but the terrier takes to them from instinct, as the New

foundland does to the water, or the sheep-dog to his flock. He has great ingenuity and activity in ferreting out and capturing his prey, and whenever a fair opportunity is afforded, he seldom fails of success. The famous English terrier, Billy, on two occasions, killed 100 rats in a ring at each time, in an average of less than six and a half minutes.

The terrier is usually below the medium size, but sometimes fully comes up to or even exceeds it. He is smooth-haired or rough according to the breed, of which there are several, each claiming to be equally pure. Besides his capacity for the destruction of small game, his innate love for the sport renders him a valuable assistant in keeping off vagrant cattle from the premises; and his quick ear, habitual watchfulness, and prompt courage, fully qualify him, to the extent of his size, for an excellent watch-dog.

The fancy of country residents may incline them to keep a variety of other dogs than are herein enumerated, some of which, with good training, can be made partial assistants to their masters. But it is unnecessary to specify the various breeds that may possibly be of some use on the farm, as the slight crossing they will be likely to have, equally with their opportunities and the attention bestowed upon them, will serve materially to develop or obscure their peculiar instincts. The Spaniel family and its crosses will be found to combine the greatest intelligence, fidelity, and aptitude to learn; the hound has the keenest scent and greatest endurance in the pursuit of game; while the bull-dog has the most courage, sullen ferocity, and strength. Each may occasionally be wanted for a strain of blood for some particular objects; and this is especially necessary from the bull-dog in the management of refractory cattle, or to give the terrier greater stoutness and courage.

The absurd custom of keeping from one to a dozen dogs, untrained for any valuable purpose, or supernumeraries even if capable of rendering occasional service, ought to be abandoned by every rational man. Besides the great annual cost, the danger of communicating rabies or madness is sufficient to justify a legal restraint on their numbers. The sad havoc they commit on the flocks, demands the extermination by law of every dog that is guilty, whether

Mongrel, puppy, whelp, or hound,
Or cur of low degree.

And even if it includes the fides Achates, or parlor companions,

Tray, Blanche, and Sweetheart,

the work of extirpation should proceed, to the extent of curtailing this branch of farm-stock to its wholesome and legitimate proportions.

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CHAPTER IX.
POULTRY.

Choice varieties of fowls add a pleasant feature to the farm premises. They engage the attention and sympathy of the juvenile farmers, and the time bestowed in the poultry yard keeps them from mischief: it is an agreeable and salutary relief from toil and study, and elicits the taste, the judgment, and the kindlier feelings of humanity, which are to be matured in the future accomplished breeder. When properly managed, poultry are a source of considerable profit, yielding more for the food they consume, than any other stock, although their value is not often considered. The agricultural statistics of the United States, for 1839, give us over $12,000,000 in poultry, and it probably exceeds $15,000,000 at the present time. It is estimated by McQueen, that the poultry of England exceeds $40,000,000, and yet McCulloch says she imports 60,000,000 eggs annually from France, (McQueen states it at near 70,000,000;) and from other parts of the continent, 25,000,000; besides 80,000,000 imported from Ireland. Poultry, then, ceases to be an unimportant object of agricultural attention, and assumes its appropriate place among the other staples of the farmer.