772 



HORSE. 



were it consistent with the plan of this work to go 

 fully into the question, we feel convinced that we 

 could prove, in the clearest manner, that the superior 

 conquest of soil and climate which England enjoys 

 above all countries in the world, is owing to the 

 greater number of horses, which find so much food 

 for themselves, as well as for all the other domestic 

 animals, and for man. 



The proof of this is not confined to the progressive 

 history of our own country, for we have a sort of in- 

 verse proof in the case of some other countrie-s, as, 

 for instance, in that of Poland. There was a time 

 when Poland was the granary of Europe, and at that 

 time Polish horses were celebrated ; but, in the many 

 vicissitudes which that unfortunate country has uu- 

 .lergone in the close of the last century and the 

 elapsed part of the present one, the circumstances of 

 it have been completely changed. One foe or one 

 friend, or friend and foe both, acting a part equally 

 unfriendly, first drained Poland of its horses, for the 

 supply of those armies to which its hapless fields 

 served as a thoroughfare ; and no sooner had this 

 cruel exhaustion taken place, than its agricultural 

 produce became diminished in quantity and altered 

 in kind. Up to that period a very great breadth of 

 Polish land, even under one of the most execrable 

 fiscal systems that ever cursed a section of the human 

 race, was employed in the growth of wheat ; and 

 though the produce, acre for acre, was perhaps never 

 anything like what it is in the very best parts of this 

 country, yet it was, upon the whole, abundant, so as 

 to enable a large quantity to be exported. Now, 

 however, the case of Poland is sadly altered. There 

 are no doubt some limited districts in which wheat 

 can still be grown to advantage, but these are the 

 districts which are annually made fat by the impover- 

 ishment of the rest of the land, through the agency 

 of the heavy falls of rain, and the flooding of the 

 streams and rivers. But the great breadth of the 

 country is absolutely unfit for wheat, not well adapted 

 for oats, and affords but scanty crops even of rye. 

 In consequence of this, a great portion of the breadth 

 of land has been thrown into sheep pasturage, and 

 considerable amelioration has taken place wherever 

 this has been introduced. This depasturing with 

 sheep will in time bring a healthy sward upon the 

 surface, which will retain the rich portion which the 

 winds and rains sweep and wash away when the sur^ 

 face is naked ; and thus the land may, by careful 

 management, be renovated in the course of time. It 

 will take a considerable time, however, before Poland 

 shall again be what it once was. The circumstances 

 of Poland are no doubt peculiar in so far. It is, 

 generally speaking, a light sandy or gravelly soil, 

 chiefly the former ; and, although this is the founda- 

 tion of fertility where the land can be " kept in good 

 heart," yet such a soil is always hungry, and hungry 

 in consequence of that activity which renders it fertile 

 under proper management ; so that it will not be till 

 the number of domestic animals, and especially horses, 

 shall be greatly increased, that Poland will again 

 become a rich corn country. 



We have taken this view of the utility of the horse 

 in preference to any direct allusion to the use of the 

 animal on the farm, the road, the race-course, or the 

 battle-field, because the use of the horse in all these 

 respects is palpable to every one's observation ; and 

 therefore, if we were to enlarge upon any of them, 

 we should be merely stating that which almost every 



reader has daily opportunities of observing for him- 

 self. We have done it, too, because, at this moment, 

 the question is one of serious interest to all who wish 

 to promote the agriculture of the country. The pro- 

 jects which are before parliament, or in preparation, 

 for establishing railway communications upon all the 

 great thoroughfares, which shall render th'e use of 

 horses for the carriage of goods and passengers quite 

 unnecessary, are no doubt as legitimate as any other 

 kind of speculations ; and though it is probable that 

 the greater number of them will totally consume the 

 funds expended on their construction, without any cor- 

 responding advantage to the public, yet it is doubtful 

 whether that ought to be made illegitimate ground of 

 objection to them ; for, from the periodical exposure 

 of bubbles of one kind or other which takes place in 

 this country, and after which business becomes gene- 

 rally so much more wholesome than it was before, it 

 really appears that there is i'n this country a power 

 of producing wealth beyond the wholesome necessity 

 for it, just as there is in some constitutions a disposi- 

 tion and over-production of blood, and that a sort of 

 leechcraft and phlebotomy, by means of which th'e 

 surplus runs to waste, is as necessary in the one case 

 as in the other. The professional difference of the 

 two cases is, that lawyers, projectors, engineers, 

 persons cunning in making great holes in the earlh, 

 and multiplying brickbats without number, are the 

 pecuniary leeches, and fatten on the blood of those 

 whom they " ease," which is not the case with their 

 brethren of the lancet. 



Nor need we offer any apology, even to the most 

 fastidious reader, for introducing this snfy'ect in our 

 notice of the horse ; for, as the horse is far more of a 

 domestic than a wild animal, the most important part 

 of his history is its bearing on the general welfare of 

 society. 



The chief objection to the origin of those projects 

 is the incapacity of the parties with wFiom they ori- 

 inate for judging of the bearing of the project upon 

 the interests of society. We say it with great defe- 

 rence, but it is nevertheless true, that, beyond statute, 

 ustom, and authority, lawyers are an exceedingly 

 ignorant class of men, and that they should be so may 

 be said to be a matter of necessity, that is, a necessary 

 result, of their education and habits. Their official 

 perfection consists in taking the most narrow and 

 partial view of a case, and concealing all the rest as 

 much as possible ; and because of this a good lawyer, 

 that is, one profoundly versed in the small subterfuges 

 of law, always makes a very partial and dangerous 

 legislator. It is doubtful whether the matter is im- 

 proved by the other parties who combine with lawyers 

 in the concocting of such projects, because they be- 

 long to a class very properly called schemers, very 

 many of whose members and whose plans are vision- 

 ary. ' It should seem, therefore, that it would have 

 been desirable to institute somewhere an inquiry into 

 the effect which the general introduction of railways 

 on the great lines of communication is likely to have 

 upon the number of horses ; and, again, what effect 

 this is likely to have upon the agriculture of the 

 country. It is quite clear that no description of rail- 

 roads can be carried into the details of the localities, 

 and that they cannot be profitably used except on the 

 thoroughfares of great traffic, if indeed they can be so 

 there. Therefore, there must still be cartage and 

 carriage driving on the byways and country roads, 

 and across the farms ; and to all such carriages as are 



