California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



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Walking Horses. 



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''"VE are glad to notice that many of 

 our Western fairs are ofiering 

 handsome premiums for the fast- 

 est walking horses. There is no 

 disguising the fact that a good 

 walk is the most useful gait that a gen- 

 eral puri^ose horse can possess; and if 

 one-half the attention were paid to culti- 

 vating this gait, and breeding with a 

 view to its transmission, that is now 

 given to that of training and breeding 

 trotters, horses that could walk five miles 

 an hour would soon be as abundant as 

 '2 :3() trotters now are. The trouble now 

 is that the whole country is possessed of 

 a mania for fast trotters, and as soon as 

 the colt is broke to halter, *no matter 

 whether he be thoroughbred, Conestoga, 

 Norman, Clydesdale, Hambletonian, or 

 Canadian, he is put to trotting. The 

 whole country is engaged in training 

 trotters, from the plowboy in the field to 

 the professional on the track, to the ut- 

 ter neglect of that more useful, everj'- 

 day gait, the walk. Even the xjuporters 

 of draught stallions from Europe have 

 caught the infection, and, instead of 

 bringing the best walkers, we only hear 

 of their "great trotting action." It is 

 time to put an end to this nonsense ; the 

 gait for a draught horse is pre-eminently 

 a walk, while nothing adds more to the 

 ability of the roadster to make a long 

 journey in good time than a walking gait 

 that will carry him along at the rate of 

 five miles an hour. 



The first aim, when a colt is broken to 

 the harness, should be to educate him to 

 a good, fast walk, and after that has 

 been done, if you can get him to trot 

 fast, so much the better. One of the 

 most successful breeders of trotting 

 horses in America has often remarked to 

 us that he would not keep a horse on his 

 place that was not a fast walker, and that 

 he had invariably found that the fastest 

 walkers made the fastest trotters. It is 

 a positive luxury to ride or drive a horse 

 that can walk off with you at the rate of 

 five miles an hour. It is such a relief to 

 feel that when you ease up your horse 

 from his swinging trot, or lope, that you 

 have not come to a stand-still, but that 

 you are yet making remarkable progress. 

 For our own private use on the road, the 

 walk is the gait which we prize above all 

 others, and anything which jjromises to 

 increase the number of fast walkers will 

 receive our hearty encouragement. — 

 Spirit of the Times. 



Aeab Houses. — The article on Arabia 

 in the second valume of the now edition 

 of the "Encyclopedia Britannica" is by 

 William Palgrave, one of the first author- 

 ities upon the subject. A good portion 

 of his article is given to that theme of 

 never-failing wonder, the Aj-ab horse. 

 Ho says: 



Reared under an open shed, and early 

 habituated to the sight of man, to the 

 sound and glitter of weapons and to all 

 the accessories of humae life, the colt 

 grows up free from vice or timidity, and 

 even acijuires a degree of intelligence 

 tli.at surprises a stranger. Barley and 

 dates are the chief stall provender; but 

 the grass of tlie pasture grounds, in the 

 selection of which much care is taken, is 

 the ordinary nourishment of an Arabian 

 horse. Of water the allowance is always 

 kept purposely scant. A good Nejdee 

 will canter four-and-tsveuty hours m 

 summer thuo and eight-and-'forty in the 

 winter without once requiring a drink. 

 Haw meat, dried, is occasionally given 

 in small (juantitios when extra exertion 



is required; lucerne grass is employed 

 for lowering the tone. Geldings are very 

 rare. The color which most frequently 

 occurs is gray; then comes chestnut; 

 then white and sorrel; mottled gray and 

 black are now and then to be found; 

 dark bay never. 



Colts are ridden early — too early, in- 

 deed — in their third, or even second 

 j'ear, and are soon broken into a steady 

 walk or canter, and to the ambling pace 

 which is a special favorite with Arab 

 riders. Racing, an Arab amusement 

 from time immemorial, and the game of 

 "jerzed," a kind of tournament, or mock 

 fight with blnnt palm sticks, highly pop- 

 ular without the peninsula, complete the 

 training as to wind and pace. 



Saddles are seldom used in Nejd, and 

 stirrups never; but both are occasionally 

 employed in Hijaz and Yemen. So it is, 

 also, with bits, the place of which is 

 taken in Nejd by halter ropes, the real 

 guidance of the animal being almost 

 wholly effected by the pressure of the 

 rider's leg and knee. Shoes, too, are of 

 rare occurrence, nor are they needed in 

 the light sand-mixed soil of the central 

 provinces; on the other hand, the hoofs 

 are often rubbed with grease to counter- 

 act the drying effects of the heated 

 ground. 



Of all niceties of grooming, docking 

 and clii)i>ing excepted, the Arabs are 

 masters; and their natural kindness to 

 animals — a quality which they share 

 with most Orientals, together with the 

 care every reasonable man bestows on a 

 valuable article of property — insure to an 

 Arab harse good treatment,, at the hand 

 of its owner. But Arab horses do not 

 commonly enter tents, nor play with the 

 women and children, nor, in a general 

 way, do they share the family meals, nor 

 are they habitually kissed and cried over, 

 as the imagination or credulity of some 

 narrator has suggested. An Arab flying 

 for life has, indeed, been known to give 

 the only morsel of bread about him to 

 his horse rather than eat it himself — an 

 act in which self-ju-eservatiou had as 

 large a share as affection. Lastlj', the 

 standing prohibition of horse selling from 

 Nejd has really nothing more romantic 

 in it than narrow-minded application of 

 the principles of protective monopoly; 

 in other cases, reluctance to conclude a 

 bargain simply indicates that the offer 

 made was insufficient. 



The Okloffs of Russia. — A recent 

 traveler describes them as driven in 

 shafts, often between two running mates, 

 at the top of their speed, for miles, and 

 rarely or never breaking their square, 

 quick trot. Thoroughbred horses, Eng- 

 lish hunters or Arabians, are used for 

 their mates, and we can judge very well 

 that there must be a speed obtained 

 which would be judged respectable even 

 on our fashionable trotting courses. This 

 breed is the result of discreet breeding of 

 a single man. Count Orloff. It has a 

 reputation of being eomposeil of a large 

 sujjply of the best Oriental (chiefly Ara- 

 bian) blood, mingled with that of some 

 English, and more of the best trotting 

 stock of Euroiie, (Russia, Germany and 

 Denmark.) 



It seems probable that wo shall not 

 see American trotters established as a 

 uniform breed, until some one, or some 

 comjiany of breeders, systematically dif- 

 fuse (not cross) thoroughbritd blood of 

 some sort, either English or Arabian, 

 thl'ough that of a well seh'cted group of 

 mares of our most famous trotting fami- 

 lies. It is a work of years, and fixed re- 

 sults would hardly be (!xpected before 

 the third or fourth generation, 



I have been led without thinking into 

 this discussion of the subject of breeding 

 trotters, when I intended merely to con- 



trast the breeding of draft horses with 

 that of trotters, and to impress the fact 

 that the trotting horse is generally a 

 heavy bill of expense to his breeder, and 

 a disappointment when sold, while first 

 class draft and express horses, and styl- 

 ish carriage horses may be bred with a 

 certainty of reward, which is always the 

 highest satisfaction to the breeder. 



I may here mention an interesting fact 

 which came recently under my observa- 

 tion while abroad, and that is, that the 

 Russians are using the established breed 

 of Count Orloff to develop sub-races or 

 branches of the breed. Among these is 

 the Orloff' carriage horse. Those which 

 I saw were superb 15 '^ -hand stallions, 

 coal black, light-limbed, upheaded, level, 

 and powerfully muscled, with high, styl- 

 ish action, and reputed to be very honest 

 trotters. What a boon it would be to 

 this country to have such a breed! — Cor. 

 Am. Agriculturist. 



Peechekon Hoeses. — These horses do 

 not originate exclusively in Perche, as 

 believed by many; in fact, this province 

 is rather devoted to raising horses than 

 to breeding them. The intelligent far- 

 mers of that section buy horses old 

 enough to work, bred in Vendee, Poitou, 

 Bretagne, Normandie, Picardie, Artois, 

 and even in Chamjiagne, Niveruais, 

 Bourgogne and Franche-Comte. These 

 are selected with good judgment from 

 all the principal races of French horses, 

 being the best specimens, their color, 

 form and style must correspond with 

 what is known as the Percheron horse. 

 Thej' are well fed for one to two j'ears, 

 and are thus modified, Perchb^es, by the 

 large amount of oats fed by these farm- 

 ers. They derive their good qualities 

 less from their ancestors than from the 

 oat sack (Magne). This idea may be a 

 useful hint to some American breeders 

 who have been dissatisfied with the re- 

 sults of breeding tro Percherou stallions. 

 It may also be interesting to know that 

 the prestige of the gray color is losing 

 ground, and that there is now a move- 

 ment among the breeders to produce 

 Percherons of a bay or other dark color. 



Clyde Hoeses. — The Loudon Field 

 says that Clydesdale breeding in Scot- 

 laud has grown in poiiularity, and is ap- 

 jjarently increasing. The Clydesdale is 

 admittedly the best sire for a farm stud. 

 The great rise in the price of horses has 

 stimulated farmers in breeding, and the 

 encouragement given to this valuable 

 breed of horses by the Glasgow Agricul- 

 tural Society has aided in the improve- 

 ment of the Scotch farm horses. The 

 best animals in the country are annually 

 attracted to the Glasgow meeting, and 

 there the agricultural clubs throughout 

 the country have facilities for selecting 

 worthy sires, which are nowhere else ob- 

 tainable. 



Remedy fok Woems. — A correspon- 

 dent of the Maine Farmer gives this 

 remedy for curing worms in horses: I 

 have found linseed meal the best thing I 

 ever used. Give from a pint to a quart 

 for a few days, then a less quantity will 

 do. I usually give this in shorts, meal 

 or oats mixed with boiling water, and a 

 little salt put in every day. In some 

 cases a few doses of sour apples, without 

 anything else, will remove worms. I 

 like remedies that are easily given. The 

 meal is a good feed for horses in small 

 quantities, if they are not troubled with 

 worms. 



t!ui(E FOK Sceatcues. — TalvC a piec<^ 

 of buestone the size of a largo kernel of 

 wheat; dissolve in one-half teacup of hot 

 waller; when cool, apply with a swab two 

 or three times a day ; the parts to be 

 washed clean and wiped dry first. 



WoKMs. — A horse is not inconvenienc- 

 ed by worms while in a state of health ; 

 they are the result of indigestion. The 

 object to be accomplished is to give the 

 digestive orgens a healthy tone. When, 

 from an unhealthy condition of the di- 

 gestive organs, worms have gathered in 

 the intestinal canal, give bitter tonics 

 and alteratives, which are obnoxious to 

 them; they then die and pass off as fecal 

 matter. Give poAvdered poplar bark, 

 powdered sulphur and powdered salt, in 

 equal parts. Dose, one tablespooful, in 

 bran or other feed. 



^bcicnltuve. 



Conveyance of Live Fish. 



E are beginning to learn that up to 

 a certain point, the value of water 

 •/ for uon-lung-breathiug aquatic 

 "^ animals does not so much depend 

 on its amount as ujion its distri- 

 bution in such a manner that it shall 

 absorb the greatest quantity of atmos- 

 pheric air, or rather of the oxygen which 

 enters into the composition of that air, 

 leaving much of the nitrogen out unab- 

 sorbed. The earliest observer known to 

 me of this fact was the late Dr. K. Ball, 

 who, in Bell's Uritish Crustacea, records 

 how much better he kept a crayfish (As- 

 taeus) in a shallow vessel than in a deep 

 one. In all my aquarium work I keep 

 this law in view, and I regulate the 

 amount of surface of water exposed to 

 air, as well as the actual quantity of 

 water, according to the known require- 

 ments of the animals to be kept; and the 

 result is very surprising both on the 

 health of the creatures and in the saving 

 of the maintaining aquaria. 



I also apply the rule to the conveyance 

 of aquarium animals. To give an actual 

 example, I find that the following ani- 

 mals and some others may, at certain 

 temperatures, be safelj' sent from South- 

 end, in Essex, to the Crystal Palace in 

 boxes (or preferably in baskets) packed 

 in damp, freshly gathered sea-weed: 1, 

 nearly all the sea anemones; 2, most of 

 the Echinodermata; 3, a large number of 

 Anualids; 1, many Crustacea; 5, some of 

 the Tunicata; 6, nearly all shelled Mol- 

 lusca, both univalves and bivalves, and 

 some of the Nudibranchiata; the follow- 

 ing fishes: Amphioxus (this once came 

 alive from Naples in a post letter, and 

 four of them so brought are still alive in 

 the Crystal Palace aquarium), plaice, 

 soles, brill, rocklinhs, eels, gobies, blen- 

 nies (of three species), sea scorpions. 



The explanation of the reason why 

 they so travel is this: They are sur- 

 rounded with moisture iO a sufiicieut de- 

 gree to enable respiration to be carried 

 on. Take, for example, any fish so con- 

 veyed. It is not immcrced in water, but 

 its gills are kept wet by such very thin 

 films of water that their thinness, other- 

 wise shallowness enables them to be 

 instantly oxygenated by contact with the 

 atmospheric air, which enters the aper- 

 tures of the containing box or basket, and 

 which permeates the entire mass, and 

 therefore the gill filaments are kept wet 

 and separate from one another, and the 

 blood uuintertuptedly Hows through 

 them, and is au'ated as it does so, oxygen 

 being abseu'bed from the perfectly aerated 

 water, which thus does double duty in a 

 measure. I admit that the balance thus 

 maintained is a delicate one, and is 

 easily disturbed by external causes. 

 Thus, a heated atmosphere would cause 

 the moisture to evaporate and the gills 

 to dry up, and the fish or other cr(^atuie i 

 would soon die. So also great cold 

 would freeze the gills into a temporarily 



