No part of a racing establishment requires stricter attention than the
brood mares. They should be kept, during the winter, in a paddock well
supplied with water; also with a roomy hovel, with two wide entrances,
to prevent accidents. There should also be rollers up each side of the
door-way, as foals are apt to have their hips knocked down in striking
them, or by getting squeezed against them by the mares in passing in or
out. Not more than two mares should be kept in one paddock.
In winter, brood mares should be fed with the best hay; and, if in low
condition, should have cold bran mashes twice a day. When in foal, the
greatest care should be taken that their food be of the sweetest nature;
the olfactory organs of a mare, during the period of her gestation,
being extremely sensitive, and mouldy hay or straw has frequently caused
premature birth. Indeed, extraordinary as it may appear, abortion has
been caused by a groom merely striking a mare on the nose with his hand,
which proves that, during the time they are in foal, they cannot be kept
too quiet, or free from danger or excitement of any sort. The smell of
carrion, or of animals fresh slaughtered, should be carefully avoided;
for it is very provoking to lose a fine foal, after the heavy expense
incurred, by these apparently trifling circumstances, so easily guarded
against.
Attention should be paid to the state of the bowels of a newly dropped
foal. If a passage be not observed, the gut should be carefully emptied
by the hand. About a month previous to foaling, mares should be fed, at
least twice a day, with cold bran mashes, as also plentifully supplied
with any forward succulent food—such as lucerne, tares, clover, &c., but
the two first are best. It is desirable to have the mares foal as early
as possible, and when the mare is barren, she may be covered as early in
February as she will take the horse, and if stinted she will foal early
in January—thereby gaining a considerable advantage over those foaled
later in the year. For instance, a colt dropped in January is fifteen
months old, when in racing chronology he only reckons for twelve. It
must, however, be observed, that it is impossible to have mares to foal
every year in the month of January, unless the mare were to take the
horse every year in February, as her time of gestation is eleven months
and some days. Consequently, if she were to be covered in January, she
would foal (out of the year) in December, as was the case with the
December filly.
When mares are near their time of foaling, they should be carefully
watched, for they will always approach water at this time; and as they
generally (though not invariably) foal standing up, the produce may thus
be lost. Some mares should be watched from another cause, as they will
kill their foals as soon as they are dropped. When a mare has foaled,
she should have a pail full of warm gruel, and should live generously
until there is grass for her. The colt should also be fed with oats
(bruised) twice or three times a day, which it will begin to eat at
three days old.
The covering season commences on the first of February. Mares should be
tried by the teazer every ninth day until the end of the season, which
terminates in July.
Those mares which have foaled will be in season on the third day after;
but it is not advisable to put them to the horse until the ninth, when
they will probably be stinted. A mare, with a foal at her foot, is quite
as likely to stand to the horse, if not more so, than one which has
never bred, or proved barren the previous season; as it is called
“missed the horse,” though she might have bred the year before.
Various have been the measures resorted to, to stint mares to the horse,
which have proved barren for several years, or perhaps never bred at
all—such as bleeding, immersing in cold water, and putting them in
motion after the horse has retired; but no great faith is to be placed
in any of them. It said that opium has been administered with effect;
but in the cases of Victoria and Echo, every possible means tried,
proved abortive.
Perhaps it would be better that stallions which cover at a high price,
should only be suffered to serve a certain number of mares, as in that
case it would not be necessary to pamper them to that degree generally
practised, to enable them to exceed their natural powers. I have no
hesitation in saying, that, in the long run, their produce would be
greater, and I reason thus:—A mare which has missed three or four
seasons together, is put to an ass, and generally stands to him. Now
whatever may be the supposed increased physical powers of this animal,
the effect, in this instance, is principally to be attributed to the
cool state of his blood.
It is usually the practice to keep stallions very full of flesh,
perpetually crammed with corn, by which their blood must be in a
constant state of fever, and many of them have died in consequence of
this treatment. Eggs are also frequently given them in the covering
season. Some years since, a person in Shropshire, who purchased a horse
out of the north, called “Young Roscius,” at a considerable price, not
taking the precaution of cracking the egg before he gave it to him, it
got across his gullet and killed him. If, instead of having recourse to
a common farrier, who attempted to force it down with the butt-end of a
whip, he had sent for a veterinary surgeon, it might have been dissected
out with the greatest ease and safety, and his horse’s life preserved.
Stallions, at the end of the season, should be physicked and turned out
into a paddock, with very little corn; but the first day they are turned
out, great precaution is necessary. They should be walked out on that
day from five o’clock in the morning until evening; for if turned into
the paddock fresh from their stable, they would gallop about for hours;
and some have been known to do so until they have dropped down dead.
Early in November, they should be brought into the stable again,
physicked, moderately fed at first; well cleaned, and exercised every
day for two or three hours; and this plan should be continued until the
commencement of the next covering season. The air and exercise, say an
hour or two a day, at this time, would invigorate their bodies, and
conduce to their general health. Grooms may object to this system; but
it has reason on its side, which they have not always on
theirs.—_Sporting Repository._
BROOK, _s._ A running water; a rivulet.
BROOM, _s._ A shrub; a besom, so called from the matter of which it
is made.
BROTH, _s._ Liquor in which flesh is boiled.
BROWN, _a._ The name of a colour.
_For a rich fiery Brown._—Put down some _young fustic_, about six chips,
boil your stuff in three or four quarts of water; this takes a long time
to give out the dye. If your fur be very white, and free from black
hairs, you may draw two shades of fine bright yellows from it; you
should put the more fur on that account. Then put down five or six more
chips and boil it on till you bring it to a very deep orange; lift out
your fur, and if you have half a pound of it you must put down an ounce
of black grain, or half an ounce to a quarter of a pound; boil it and
put in your stuff, and boil on till you have a blood orange.—Lift out
your stuff, put in three teaspoonfuls of brasil wood in powder, stir it
up and put down your stuff, boil till it comes to a light fiery brown.
If you see what brasil you have added does not bring it to that shade,
add more, and when you are near it take out your stuff, and have
prepared in another vessel half a tablespoonful of archill, by boiling
it in water, put half a noggin of this liquor into your pot and boil
your stuff in it, and then try your shade, as I think you must be near
it. Put in a little stale urine, and if not dark enough put in a little
salt of tartar, throw in your stuff and I think you have it. If you want
it darker, repeat the same quantity of salt of tartar. If you wish you
may have two shades from this very process, or by drawing the fur may
get many fine shades of claret by using double the quantity of black
grain and more archill. Be nice with the archill, as if you darken too
much with it, you can never discharge it.
_Brown Varnish._—Rectified spirits of wine one quart, seed lac six
ounces, dissolve the lac in the spirits two days and it is done, you
must keep it the chief of the first day near the fire. This is the best
of all varnishes, it must not be laid on any thing that is
oiled.—_Ancient Recipes._
BROWSE, _v._ To eat branches or shrubs.
BRUISE, _v._ To crush or mangle with a heavy blow.
BRUISE, _s._ A hurt with something blunt and heavy.
BRUSH, _s._ An instrument for rubbing. The tail of a fox. “To get
the brush,” in sporting parlance, means to be foremost rider at
the death.
BRUSH, _v._ To sweep or rub with a brush; to strike with quickness;
to fly over; to skim lightly.
BRUSHER, _s._ He that uses a brush. A horse liable to _speedy cut,
&c._
BRUSHWOOD, _v._ Rough, shrubby thickets.
BUBO, _s._ The groin, from the bending of the thigh to the scrotum;
all tumours in that part are called buboes.
BUCK, _s._ The male of the fallow deer; the male of rabbits, and
other animals.
BUCK, _v._ To copulate as bucks and does.
BUCKBEAN, _s._ A plant, a sort of trefoil, intensely bitter; its
properties are tonic, diuretic, and purgative.
BUCKLE, _s._ A link of metal, with a tongue or catch, made to fasten
one thing to another. BUCKLE, _v._ To fasten with a buckle.
BUCKRAM, _s._ A sort of strong linen cloth, stiffened with gum.
BUD, _s._ The first shoot of a flower; a germ.
BUD, _v._ To put forth young shoots or germs.
BUFF, _s._ Leather prepared from the skin of the buffalo, used for
waist-belts, pouches, &c.; a colour.
_To dye light shades of Buff, and other colours._—To assist in mixing,
the drakes are said to be dyed by ivy and laurel alone; I do not vouch
for their being fast and yet they may.
_For Buffs._—Get some rich common fustic chips, put down three or four
of them in three or four quarts of water with your stuff, and when it
comes to a pale yellow, put in some pale madder, by a teaspoonful at a
time, and you have, by boiling a sufficient length of time, a light
buff. Boil on and put in more madder, and you will have a deeper; if
your yellow is too faint put in more fustic, half an hour before your
next addition of madder. By using young fustic chips and madder in the
same way, you will get nice rich colours, something between a rich
cinnamon and a light brick red.—_Old Recipe._
BULL, _s._ The male of black cattle; a blunder.
BULLBAITING, _s._ The sport of baiting bulls with dogs.
BULL-DOG (_Canis Molossus_), _s._ A dog of particular form,
remarkable for his courage.
[Illustration]
The bull-dog is low in stature, deep-chested, and strongly made about
the shoulders and thighs, the muscles of both of which are extremely
developed. His head is broad, his nose short, and the under jaw projects
beyond the upper, which gives him a fierce and disagreeable aspect. His
eyes are distant and prominent, and have a peculiar suspicious-like
leer, which, with the distension of his nostrils, gives him also a
contemptuous look; and from his teeth being always seen, he has the
constant appearance of grinning, while he is perfectly placid. He is the
most ferocious and unrelenting of the canine tribe, and may be
considered courageous beyond every other creature in the world, for he
will attack any animal, whatever be his magnitude.
The internal changes which determine the external characters of this
dog, consist in a great development of the frontal sinuses, a
development which elevates the bones of the forehead above the nose, and
draws the cerebral cavity in the same direction.
But the most important quality, and that, perhaps, which causes all the
others, although we cannot perceive the connexion, is the diminution of
the brain. The cerebral capacity of the bull-dog is sensibly smaller
than in any other race; and it is doubtless to the decrease of the
encephalon that we must attribute its inferiority to all others in every
thing relating to intelligence. The bull-dog is scarcely capable of any
education, and is fitted for nothing but combat and ferocity.
This animal takes his name from his having been employed, in former
times, in assaulting the bull, and he is used for the same purpose at
the present day, in those districts where this brutal amusement is still
practised.
Nothing can exceed the fury with which the bull-dog falls upon all other
animals, and the invincible obstinacy with which he maintains his hold.
In attacking the bull, he always assails him in front, and generally
fastens upon his lip, tongue, or eye, where he holds and hangs on, in
spite of the most desperate efforts of the other to free himself from
his antagonist, which affords ample proof of the amazing strength and
power of this animal.
Whenever a bull-dog attacks any of the extremities of the body, it is
invariably considered a mark of his degeneracy from the original purity
of blood. Puppies will assail a bull, and thereby give a decided proof
of their breed, when only six months old; and, if permitted, will rather
suffer themselves to be destroyed than relinquish the contest.
Although this trial is sometimes made with the whelps of a particular
litter, to demonstrate the purity of their descent, and to prove that
there has been no improper cross by which the future fame of their
posterity may be affected, yet they are seldom entered in a regular ring
until from fifteen to eighteen months old. But their ligaments cannot be
considered as at their full strength until they are at least two years
old. Indeed, amateurs say, that they are not at their prime until they
have attained four or five years of age.
The bull-dog is admitted by naturalists to be one of the original and
peculiar races of Britain, and may be ranked, in point of originality,
with the shepherd’s dog and Irish greyhound. In various districts of
England this breed is still preserved in its native purity, by that
class of people who delight in bullbaiting and fighting of dogs; both of
which amusements, alike inhuman, are now happily on the
decline.—_Brown._
BULL-HEAD, _s._ The name of a fish.
The bull-head seldom exceeds the length of three inches and a half; the
head is large, broad, flat, and thin at its circumference, being well
adapted for insinuating itself under stones; on the middle part of the
covers of the gills is a small crooked spine turning inwards; the eyes
are very small, the irides yellow; the body grows slender towards the
tail, and is very smooth; the colour is as disagreeable as its form,
being dusky, mixed with a dirty yellow; the belly whitish. They are
found all the summer in holes, among mud and gravel, and among weeds and
flat stones in clear water, where they may be seen sunning themselves in
a hot day; put the hook, with a small red worm, before them, and they
will instantly take it. Notwithstanding the disgust which the form of
the bull-head creates, the largest, when the heads are cut off, are very
delicious eating; they are also good baits for other fish. Some anglers
think them, when their gill-fins are cut away, preferable to the
minnow.—_Daniel._