In this way, after a little
practice, chaff is cut with great ease and quickness. A broken sickle
does as well as a whole one, and a knife may be used, but the curve of
its edge is ill adapted for the work.
Cattle will eat many sorts of herbage, as reeds and gorse, if cut small;
but will not touch them, if uncut.
Occasional Food for Cattle.--They will also eat seaweed and leaves
especially birch and poplar leaves, and even thrive upon them.
[Illustration of man cutting chaff as described on p 64].
Pulling Cattle out of Holes.--The bight of a cord, or of some substitute
for one, may be thrown over a horse's head, and he can be dragged out by
a team of cattle with but very little danger to his neck. A crupper under
his tail, or a thong as a breeching may be used. In Canada and the United
States, a noose of rope is often run round the horse's neck, and hauled
tight--thus temporarily choking the animal and making him still; he is
then pulled as quickly as possible out of the hole, and no time is lost
in slackening the rope.
HARNESS.
Saddles for riding.--Good saddles for riding, and, I may add, especially
for packing, are of nearly as great importance as the goodness of the
animal who carries them. English saddlers never, I believe, can be
induced to stuff a saddle sufficiently; because they have no opportunity
of seeing the miserable, scraggy condition of a travelled horse's back,
to which it is destined to fit.
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