880 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



by Brown, that *' though horses, neat cattle, sheep, and swine are of equal importance to 

 the British farmer with corn crops, yet we have few treatises concerning the animals, 

 compared with the immense number that have been 'written on the management of 

 arable land, or the crops produced upon it. But though so little has been written, the 

 improvement of those animals has not been neglected ; on the contrary, it has been 

 studied like a science, and carried into execution with the most sedulous attention and 

 dexterity. We wish it could be stated, that one half of the care had been applied to 

 the selecting and breeding of wheat and other grains, which has been displayed in select- 

 ing and breeding the best proportioned and most kindly feeding sheep. A comparison 

 cannot, however, be made with the slightest degree of success ; the exertions of the sheep- 

 farmers having, in every point of view, far exceeded what has been done by the renters 

 of arable land. Even with cattle considerable, improvement has taken place. With 

 horses, those of the racing and hunting kinds excepted, there has not been correspondent 

 improvement ; and as t swine, an animal of great benefit to the farmer, in consuming 

 offal which would otherwise be of no value, it is to be regretted that very much remains 

 to be done." 



5547. The first important effort in the improvement of live stock, was made by 

 Robert Bakewell, of Dishly, about 1730; and the first scientific work which appeared 

 on the subject, was by George Cully, in 1782. Bakewell wrote^ nothing himself; but 

 the principles on which he acted in selecting and breeding cattle and sheep, have been 

 developed, by his contemporaries, in various agricultural reports. Some excellent obser^ 

 vations on the subject have also appeared from the pens of Cline, Dr. Coventry, Sir. J. 

 Sebright, Hunt of Leicester, and others. The improvement in the sciences of compara- 

 tive anatomy and physiology has also led to an amended practice both in breeding 

 and in pathology. The example of various opulent proprietors and farmers in all 

 parts of the empire, tended to spread this improvement, by which the pursuit became, 

 fashionable. Add to these the accounts of the management of live stock in almost every 

 county of the British Isles, as contained in Marshal's Works and the County Re- 

 ports. From these sources we shall draw the information we are about to submit, 

 and shall adopt the arrangement of the horse, the ass, the mule and hinny, the 

 bull family and the dairy, the sheep, tlie swine, minor stock, and injurious animals 

 or vermin. 



Chap. I. 



The cultivated Horse. Equus Cahallus, L. ; Mammalia JBellucs, L. ; and Pacht/dermes 

 Solipedes, Cuvier ; Cheval, Fr. ; Pferde, Ger. ; Caballo, Span. ; and Cavallo, Ital. 



5548. The horse family, by far the most important among the brute creation as a 

 servant to man, includes several species both in a wild and cultivated state, as the Equus 

 hemionus or wild mule, a native of Arabia and China, and which it is supposed would 

 form an excellent race of small horses, could they be reduced to a state of domestication ; 

 the E. asinus, or ass, well known ; the E. zebra, or striped ass; the E. quagga, by 

 some considered a variety of the zebra ; and the E. bisulcus or cloven-footed horse, a 

 native of Chili, and by many supposed to belong to a distinct genus. 



5549. The common horse, justly considered as the noblest of animals, is found in a wild 

 state in the deserts of Great Tartary, in the southern parts of Siberia, and in other parts 

 of Asia, and in the interior of Africa. He is of th^ greatest antiquity, and has long 

 been domesticated and cultivated in most parts of the earth, for the various purposes of 

 war, hunting, parade, the saddle, or draught ; and in some places, partly for his flesh and 

 the milk of the female. The parts of a horse, when no longer endowed with life, are 

 applied to various useful purposes : the blood for manure ; the bones are broken and 

 boiled, to produce oil, and afterwards are ground into an excellent manure ; some of the 

 bones are also used in the mechanical arts. The flesh supplies food for the domestic 

 carnivorous animals, the cat and dog ; for carnivorous birds, as the hawk, eagle, &c., kept 

 for amusement or curiosity ; and for fish and various similar purposes. We shall con- 

 sider the horse, in regard to its varieties, organology, anatomy, physiology, diseases, 

 breeding, rearing, training, feeding, and working. 



Sect. I. Of the Varieties of the Horse. 



5550. The varieties of the domestic horse vary exceedingly in different countries. 

 The Arabian horse [fig, 603.) is a portrait of one brought by Buonaparte from 



