From Goubaux and Barrier. (By permission of Messrs. Lippincott)
(From “The Horse: Its Treatment in Health and Disease.”)
]
It is rather remarkable that of the many cricketers who played against
the Australians only two bowled more than 100 overs against them, and
these two, Mr. W. Brearley and Wilfred Rhodes, bowled 214 and 208 overs
respectively. The bowler who bowled the highest number of overs next to
these two is Haigh, with 99·4 overs, so that he was only short of 100
overs by two balls.
Mr. Brearley, with 37 wickets, got nearly twice as many Australian
wickets as any one else, and Jack Hearne gets the best average with 7
wickets for 67 runs.
Mr. J. N. Crawford, the Repton and Surrey cricketer, supplies an
interesting page in cricket history. Up to the end of July he was
Captain of the Repton XI., and scored for his school 766 runs for an
average of 85·11, and took 51 wickets at an average cost of 12·96. After
this he was able in the few remaining weeks of the season to play enough
first-class cricket to amass 543 runs, with an average of 33·93, and to
take 47 wickets, his bowling average of 18·46 placing him eighth in the
list of English bowlers. We cannot call to mind a parallel case of a
school-boy doing such an exceptional amount of good work, both in school
cricket and county cricket, in the same season. It would appear that the
only thing to have prevented Mr. Crawford from representing the
Gentlemen against the Players was that Repton School had a prior claim
upon his services. This winter Mr. Crawford is enjoying great success in
South Africa, both with bat and ball, and his return to this country
will probably be jealously awaited by the keenest members of the Surrey
Club. The date of Mr. Crawford’s birth is given as December 1st, 1886,
so he has time in his favour, anyway.
The study of _Wisden_ in the winter months is a fascinating pastime, but
we have run on long enough, and must leave our readers to their own
cogitations and musings over the book itself.
The second volume[7] of Professor Wortley Axe’s comprehensive work is
now before us, and we may say at once that its contents maintain in
every respect the high promise of its forerunner. Section III., dealing
with the “Varieties of the Horse,” begun in the first volume, is
completed, the majority of our breeds of ponies, the heavy horses and
the foreign breeds most frequently imported being reviewed. The author
regards the good representative Welsh pony as “one of the best and most
serviceable animals” among his kind. It is unfortunately true that the
Dartmoor, Exmoor and New Forest breeds, more especially the second, have
been made the subject of so many experiments in crossing that the
original type is become obscured, if not entirely lost. Sir Walter
Gilbey has set out the history, or as much of it as can be discovered by
assiduous and careful research, of our native breeds of ponies in one of
his well-known books; and Professor Wortley Axe’s observations form a
very able summary of all that has been written of the several breeds.
The historical sketch of the Shire horse is also excellent; as regards
the debated question of “feather” on the legs of the breed, the author
urges that the desirability or the reverse of hair in quantity is a
matter which should be left to practical men who are not likely to allow
sentimental considerations to weigh with them. The author is not able to
throw any fresh light on the origin of the Clydesdale; it would be
surprising if he had, in view of the researches which have been
undertaken with the object of elucidating the matter; what is known he
epitomises with his usual conciseness and point. The Suffolk breed is
hardly more satisfactory as an historical subject; it was certainly
well-established in the earlier decade of the eighteenth century, and,
without the possibility of doubt, was so at a much more remote date. The
author is a warm admirer of the Suffolk, whose good qualities furnish
him with the theme for one of his best chapters.
The Arab naturally leads the way among the foreign breeds noticed. The
author adopts a judicial attitude concerning the merits of the breed; he
appears to share the opinion of those who think the Arab susceptible of
improvement, while he recognises the intrinsic qualities which render an
Arab so valuable for crossing with our own light horses.
The greater portion of the volume is occupied by the veterinary
chapters: those matters of which the reader must acquire knowledge as a
condition of understanding the descriptions of symptoms, &c., which
follow. We have, always in simple and lucid language to be understanded
of the layman, most valuable and helpful chapters on the diseases to
which the mouth, throat, stomach and intestines of the horse are liable.
The descriptions are supplemented by excellent drawings, which cannot
fail to be of service to the reader.
The illustrations, in colour or from photographs, are exceedingly good.
From the first part of “The Horse: Its Treatment in Health and Disease,”
the following is quoted:—