RISE OF AGRICULTURE. 63 



stone period raised horses artistically, as they are to-day 

 raised at the Home Farm. On the contrary, the numerous 

 skeletons found on the sites of those long-forgotten villages, 

 show us that the prehistoric horse had too big a head. I 

 might say he was all head; and, as a Hungarian officer once 

 remarked, "A horse does not trot with his head." In our 

 day we have improved. We try to have the driver all head, 

 and the horse all legs. Again, our horse-breeders are 

 advanced in respect that they use trotting-wagons, albeit we 

 must not boast of them too much ; for, in the museum at 

 Florence, you may see a trotting-sulky that was found in a 

 pyramid of Egypt. You are told it is a Scythian war-chariot 

 — Scythian it may be, but a clearer trotting-sulky I never 

 met. Not certainly a sulky of our manufacture. It is made, 

 axles and all, of wood and leather. Shall we laugh at it for 

 that? Remember it is 3,000 or 4,000 years old, and still is 

 in running order. What kind of order do you think one of 

 Brewster's best 500-pouud wagons will be in when it is 3,000 

 or 4,000 years old? ISot even the "deacon's one-hoss shay" 

 lasted 3,000 or 4,000 years. All honor, then, to that Scythian 

 sulky, and to its unknown maker, who, were he now alive, 

 would have a rare reputation for durable work ! 



Those big-headed horses lived before men had invented 

 vehicles. Nevertheless they were useful animals ; their masters 

 ate them, and doubtless killed for their friends the fatted colt. 

 If we no longer eat horseflesh, it is because we are such good 

 Christians. Like the unknown savages of the stone age, our 

 pagan Scandinavian ancestors, eight hundred years ago, 

 thought it the best of meat, and served it at the feasts of 

 Odin. Hence it became an abomination to the early Christian 

 converts, who transmitted to us their religious prejudices; 

 and only of late years, and in certain parts of Europe, has it 

 been added to the list of foods. 



The lesson goes slowly on. One after another, animals are 

 domesticated, and, at last, comes the discovery of agriculture 

 proper, — the idea that a seed well planted and tended will 

 yield many fold, whereof a part may be kept for next season 

 and the rest may be eaten. The ruins of so-called lake dwell- 

 ings, covered for long ages with water, have revealed the 

 beginning of such culture in Europe. Among the charred 



