The Library of Work and Play: Outdoor Work

RY

it is kept partly for dairy purposes. Every cow demands stabling, pasture, feed, and attention. She is supposed to give value received for all this. But how many cow owners know which c

ledgers and daybooks for your simple statement of facts. Bring every animal face to face with her record. On one side of the

ade Holste

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ou would have to pay

ling, e

so much a

ED

many qts.

cal

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rtage. To work this out is good arithmetic, better than covering acres of blackboard space with examples in "partial payments." Now Roberta may give a good quantity of milk but of poor quality. At first you might think that didn't matter; it bring

by Julian

a Conv

he chances are that every agricultural college in the United States is ready to instruct boys and girls by letter in this important part of dairying. Many of them send out printe

idlers. It isn't their fault but the farmer's. Can your father or you afford to keep money invested in any cow that returns him less than a dollar a year over and above th

ilk. This will give the total number of pounds produced. Learn how to test for butter fat. Your neighbourhood creamery tests the milk with a Babcock test and you can learn how. Persuade your father to sell all the cows which fall below a fair standard and buy good ones. Test the milk of the cows he thinks of buying. A poor cow often looks as well as a good one. The Illinois Experiment Station shows by tests

HOME

ed so that you can stand in the "warm spot" to warm your feet. It gets no better from that time on, even if you do milk in th

h palm and begin. Is there a little hay and dust in the pail? Never mind; it will strain out. When you get through, set the pail down while you drive the cows out to pasture. To be sure, they will raise a lot of cow-stable dust and the smell is pretty bad in there, but if you set it outside the

boy particularly hates. Compare each item with your own met

ry mil

he house. How shall he do it? A clean place to milk, a clean cow, a clean boy, and a sanit

a tin cover like a baking powder can cover. To keep the dirt out of the top of the pail the man bought a tin pan, just the size to fit tight into the top of the pail. Just above the bottom of the pan on one side he had a tinner cut eight or ten small holes, like a collander. Scald the pail, double the strainer cloth and lay it across the top of

ETIN

put some thought on the very business he is engaged in? Does he know what milk is? That children's lives depend upon the care he gives it? Does he know that dirt in ice and dust from streets may be deadly if they get into milk? If dust gets into that little puddle that ought not to

NG PET

wk, can be bought for very little. But every word added to Polly's vocabulary can be expressed in dimes added to her price. There are very

er has taught them to walk the tight rope, climb ladders, swi

that they are real. It takes genius to train fleas, for example, or geese, yet these anima

d that you really do mean it and are not fooling, he will suit the action to the word or signal. A little training every day will do the business. Rewards in the form of food or caresses appeal to the dog's understanding. Never forget to give the reward. You may s

rness, force it onto the dog, hitch him up regardless of his protests, and expect him to trot off like a pony. Ponies are trained to the feel of the harness from their youth up. Your dog will rebel, not angrily,

an even be trusted to go on errands alone, if, by going over

with the command word. Teach him his name first, then to come when called. After these commands are thoroughly learned, teach him to come "to heel," "

dog than from you. He will follow his leader at first, then later he can go o

by George

An Ax

is bringing you his play-ball, although really you are pulling it by an attached string. Insist on his giving up the ball every time. Do it again

t the same lessons patiently, a little each day. If you have an old retriever with yo

breed. A terrier is a "nat'ral ratter" and needs little training for that

et down was off like a streak of brown lightning. He would not go in a bee-line, but followed first the road, then the line fence to where the marauding cattle were at work. By the time my father or one of the boys on horseback reached the break in the fence the fleet-footed dog would be hustling those cows. If he didn't actually get them back into pa

ing dogs is also a work for experts. Anybody knows that a poorly trained dog makes the difference between real sport and disgusting failu

G YOUNG

where colts range over vast areas and never get acquainted with human beings except at branding time, it is little wonder that they must be broken. They do a little breaking on their own acc

f you put an old, worn strap on him, or a fraying rope which he can b

bad habit harks right back to some mistake. You can manufacture balky horses by overloading a wagon for your t

you have accustomed him to the feel of a burden on his back, a very small weight first, then the saddle of an old harness, then a very light saddle. Don't

t pulling means. He should already know that a pull on the right rein means "gee" and on the left means "haw"; never give the command "whoa" to a colt, unless you ha

wed to bolt when the mowing machine starts. Break the automobile to him gently. Lead him up to a quiet one. Have a bit of his favourite dainty to offer him from the seat and see to it that he is convinced that the automobile is harmless. (Would that it were true!) Speak reassuringly to him. If he jerks back, don't get mad

LLS AND

ry boy's daily life. He may do these things cheerfully, because he knows they are boys' jobs or because he hates to see his mo

heme. It's fun to train an animal and then it will be more fu

the axe and the wheel is ready to turn. This fine dog knows that a certain signal means work. He does not skulk off and hide, nor yawn and look limp. He steps up into the wheel, waits for the signal, then begins a steady tread. On Mondays he does the washing, on Tuesdays

ANIMA

idence. With horses taken right from the range or wild, the men who are most successful are those who train by kindness. A horse whose spirit is broken and who

by Julian

f Happy F

you will see the calves trembling when coming for their food, trying to keep one eye out for sudden blows while drinking; the horses jerking timidly up as if expecting their tender mouths to be yanked; the cows kicking the milkers; the colts hard to toll in from pastures;

fellow and that's her way of expressing herself; she will catch mice for you, too. A happy cow will give down her milk; a happy pig will lay on fat faster than a miserable one, a happy horse will almost

and can keep it in enough to train a dog to draw a wagon, you will find it isn't so hard

get him used to being handled. A rope may be knotted round his neck and worn for a day or two, or a rope halter put over the head; something that slips on easily so that you don't have

hree hundred dollars. They started out worth four or five dollars a head for veal. Training and grass have done most of the rest. If trained in kindness, they are docile, gentle, industrious, an

often than girls do. I wonder how that comes. Practise on the hens, girls, and on the cat. I know of a cat whic

as well as reproducing their kind, farm life would be less dreary and hardsh

WILD

something is wrong. Probably home conditions are such that an intimate acquaintance with any animal is inconvenient or else some unnatural lessons in natural history have been forced upon the children at school and their interest in the real things has been dead

ll you much about the animal or the boy. When you know them better you will give them names that fit. The new boy's name may be Reginald. W

e lives, and above all what he can do. After all "what he

ind out what animals can do, how

sshoppers and throw them into the water because they were cruel, although their mother berated them for cruelty. They wanted to find out whether gras

for the practice of caging wild creatures merely for the entertainment their misery will afford an irresponsible and curi

tells any secrets, his confidence is not betrayed to the enemy. He comes and goes at will and pays his debts by keeping true that balance which existed in nature before mankind upset it. From the human side taming wild things is a delightful though not an easy way to learn to be patient, persevering, and gentle. You

result in complete failure. Taken when

ty. When I consider the number of cases of neglected pets I am inclined to discourage children from keeping them. It is a very good method of developing responsibility, bu

I

n to see photographs of birds perching on the hands of children or grown people. One noted naturalist is pictured with a piece of bread in his mouth, out of which a bird is taking a bite. To really tame a full-grown bird is practically impossible. To gain its confidence is difficult. It means that the person has never in its presence made a motion

tame. If even a young bird is caught after a severe chase, it is likely to be days, weeks, and even months, before the effects of its fright can be obliterated. If they can be picked up without frightening them, they will often immediately perch on th

rt of the forest. To them he was like some new kind of beneficent tree, yielding nuts for the nut-eaters, grain for the grain-eaters, and bits of suet or scraps of meat for all who came for it. He called them all, "Me chickens." Was there anything wonderful in this? Yes; so thought the Scotch wo

ds in order to make the country a better place to

er from a spoon, but should not be expected to thrive on this diet alone. Their natural food while growing, and probably afterward, too, is largely insects. A supply of these should be given the young birds. Th

AND TH

d. That is, they are sufficiently tame to come to the tamer, eat from his hand, nestle in

very toad is worth twenty dollars to the garden he lives in. Yet how seldom one hears of a tame toad. At best they are tolerated, but not often encouraged by protection or by a little attention. To tame a to

by Charle

ay Be Tame

h by Ches

Amiable and We

IRR

nnoyed, although he had himself encouraged them and had enjoyed their friendliness and tameness. The case got so bad that he was forced either to vacate or to get rid of the squirrels. He finally had a trap set. The first squirrel that came in ran straight into the trap

, the great man replied: "I read him such a lectu

y are, alas! egg-suckers and nest-robbers. The gray squirrel has not been caught in this nefarious occupation. If

the only pair we ever caught were shut in a convenient closet "till morning." When morning came there were onl

WOODCHUCKS

ormerly. They are extremely fond of green corn, but corn in any form is eaten greedily. Also, I regret to say, they are nest-robbers. In fact, they will eat fish, flesh, and fow

t that a bottle of cow's milk with rubber nipple will do the trick. Having no such convenience as a rubber nipple, we once successfully brought up a baby pig on a bottle. We took a goose quill and wrapped it with a strip of clean old cotton cloth ti

ph by E.

ttle

eel all the enthusiasm you do about him, for his mischief is sometimes exasperating. An animal enclosure

"American Animals" there is a good story of a tame 'chuck for which the author traded an old fish line with a broken hook and thirteen cents "to boot." This little chap was brought up by hand and developed most interesting traits. H

l-sized one from her hand. The account that went with the picture said that this skunk was in "perfectly good working order,"

t, the snake, and Judge, the hawk. Whether you would call them tame or not depends. They certainly had "wild, wild ways," though they frequented the kitchen and slept under the