8 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AND PLANTS 



distinctive work, without which man would have failed to develop 

 his civilization at certain significant points. 



Animals a means of recreation. Wholly aside from the sport 

 of hunting, our animal population contributes not a little to the 

 diversion and the recreation of man. The old-time tournament l 

 and the later fox chase ministered to the pleasure sense of man, 

 as does the modern horse race. There is no enjoyment more 

 exhilarating than driving behind a spirited horse, unless it be 

 that primitive pleasure of riding ; and the training of intelligent 

 horses to the higher class of service is a business that rises 

 to the rank of a fine art. 



Thousands of ponies contribute not only to the health of 

 children but also to their pleasure and development, both physi- 

 cal and mental, for no experience is better suited to stimulate 

 resourcefulness in the child than is the everyday management 

 of an animal of the horse kind. 



The business of fancy breeding is a refining kind of enjoy- 

 ment that for sheer fascination has no superior. As the 

 clay in the hands of the potter, so is a flexible species in the 

 hand of the breeder, as is evidenced by a glance at what 

 has been done in the breeding of pigeons and of dogs (see 

 PP- 93~95)> an d as will become evident as we proceed with the 

 study now in hand. 



Animals and plants as sources of raw material for manufac- 

 turing purposes. Animals may be thought to afford but little 

 raw material for the manufacturer, but the wool and the skins, 

 the bones and the slaughterhouse refuse, all work up into 

 valuable material for factory consumption, providing endless 

 necessities and even luxuries, from the covering of our hands 

 and feet to brushes and combs, buttons and knife handles, 

 gelatin and glue. 



Plants and plant products are nearly all submitted to some 

 process of manufacture before assuming forms suitable for the 

 uses of man, and this affords opportunity for the exercise of 



1 See the story of " Ivanhoe." 



