38 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AND PLANTS 



it is desirable to haul as much freight as possible with one team, 

 one wagon, and one driver. 1 



However fast the horse may go, he rarely pleases us in his 

 gait or his endurance, nor are his intelligence and docility yet 

 ideal. The horse is naturally a timid animal, and with his great 

 power is dangerous and growing more so with his increasing 

 spirit, unless his intelligence and tractableness are made to keep 

 pace with his increasing energy and action. Our safety depends 

 not upon our strength in his management, but upon the extent 

 to which the horse will take training and our ability and skill 

 in imparting that training. 2 Before a large proportion of our 

 spirited horses are satisfactory at this point much is needed by 

 way of further improvement. 



In respect to fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants much 

 remains to be accomplished. Most of our fruits are relatively 

 new and not completely acclimated or fully adapted to all our 

 soils and conditions. Added to that is the fact that conditions 

 in fruit raising have suddenly changed. The time was when 

 every man picked from " his own vine and fig tree," but now 

 we expect that most fruits will be transported long distances 3 

 and still reach the consumer not only sound but fresh. This 

 is asking much, and the present call is for desirable " market 

 varieties," meaning those which yield well, are of good quality, 

 and will stand shipment, especially the latter. 



1 As a good example, Ginn and Company, the publishers of this book, 

 had in their service a single team that could and did haul a load of over eight 

 tons. It mattered but little that the wagon weighed three and three-fourths 

 tons. One man drove the whole, and expensive labor and long delays were 

 avoided. 



2 People who are not horsemen often think they are " able to hold any 

 horse." Real horsemen know better, and fully realize that the bit and the line 

 are at best only guides of a superior intelligence over one that is inferior but 

 willing to yield itself to guidance. For driving purposes, therefore, a horse is 

 valuable and safe in proportion as he has been trained and educated, and 

 always under all circumstances amenable to direction and control. 



8 Consider the shipping of such delicate California fruits as peaches, pears, 

 and grapes over the entire United States and the exportation of apples to 

 Europe. 



