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either for field-work, the road, or the turf. The consequence 

 is, that the horses in the county are of any breed and no breed, 

 and are designed for horses of all work. There are occasionally 

 to be met with animals of great spirit and value, but most of the 

 horses belonging to the farmers are of a very ordinary descrip- 

 tion. What is properly called grooming a horse is hardly known 

 among us ; and our farmers have yet to learn how much the 

 value of a horse depends upon his training, his kind manage- 

 ment, the regularity of his feed, the comfort of his stable, and 

 the particular care which is bestowed upon him, especially after 

 a hard day's work or drive. Indeed, the inhumanity with 

 which these useful animals are often treated, would bring a se- 

 vere reproach upon many, if we must, according to the scrip- 

 tures, judge of a man's mercy by his mercy to his beast. 

 Though the horse is usually as constant at church as his master, 

 he does not always get very christian usage even there ; and 

 while the pious master is perhaps taking a comfortable nap in a 

 cushioned pew near a warm stove, the poor horse stands shiv- 

 ering on a bleak hill, exposed to a driving storm of sleet and 

 snow, wishing often without doubt, if he knew how to express 

 the wish, that the sermon was somewhat less orthodox as to its 

 length. Indeed, it is but matter of duty to say, that a good 

 many of the animals who are called bipeds have much to learn 

 in respect to what they owe to those animals who are called 

 quadrupeds. They have yet to learn that they, like themselves, 

 have flesh to smart and bones to ache ; are subject to like in- 

 conveniences from cold and heat, to fever and ague, to debility, 

 lassitude and fatigue, rheumatism, asthma, colic and consump- 

 tion ; and though it may seem, at first sight, that a horse has a 

 supernumerary set of legs, yet that in truth he can travel with 

 no more comfort upon three than the man can upon one. 



Of the comparative expense and expediency of keeping 

 horses or oxen for farm labor, I design to speak, if I have op- 

 portunity, in another place. The farm work in this county is 

 almost universally done by oxen. The broken and uneven 

 surface of many of the farms in the county render ox labor 



