trol your practice, might be led to inquire how 

 it is that you seem to give almost exclusive pre- 

 ference to horse, over ox or mule power, for the 

 plow, for heavy work on the farm, and for trans- 

 portation on your excellent roads ? — exactly re- 

 versing, in this respect, the habits of the saga- 

 cious farmers of the old Bay State, whose cir- 

 cumstances so nearly resemble your own to all 

 appearance, and to which State New- York 

 seems accustomed to go annually for apostles, 

 if not for examples, to enlighten us in the agri- 

 cultural art. There, Agricultural Societies, after 

 full deliberation, and with the express sanction 

 of such wise counselors as the late John Lowell 

 — danim venerabile nomcn — have expressly re- 

 fused to offer premiums for horses of any kind — 

 esteeming them the most expensive of all ma- 

 chines, animate or inanimate, employed in the 

 business of the farmer. 



As to the ox — they contend that he costs less 

 to raise — is easier to break — lives on coarser 

 food — consumes less — for gearing, shoeing, and 

 grooming, costing almost nothing — and is ever 

 ready for his work. That, while the horse is 

 every day lessening, the ox is every day im- 

 proving, in value — is exempt from mseases — 

 and is even more valuable dead than alive, being 

 in every part and parcel of him available, even 

 in his hoofs and his horns. 



And, then, as to the mule — in strength fully 

 equal to your light lands — the planter of the 

 South and the farmer of the South- West will 

 tell j'ou that his life, on the average, is more 

 than double that of the horse ; and. therefore, the 

 capital in that heavy item is only to be half as 

 often renewed. I think it 's in the " Pickwick 

 Papers " that Sammy Veller asks the coachman, 

 " Did you ever see a dead donkey ?'' " No." — 

 " Did you ever see a man that had seen a dead 

 donkey ?'' "No !" — " Did you ever see a man 

 that had seen any other man that ever saw a 

 dead donkey ? " " No ! " — And yet, gentlemen, 

 I do not maintain that the life of this hybrid is 

 everlasting ; but I do know that the late General 

 Ridgely, of Hampton, Maryland, who owned 

 large iron-works, and employed between fifty 

 and a hundred, once told me that if any man 

 would make him a gracious gift of a full set of 

 horses, on setting out in life as a young farmer, 

 and require him to keep up the stock, he would 

 reject the ofler. Mr. Jo. Patterson, of Baltimore, 

 conducting the same business on a large scale, 

 with uncommon sagacity and circumspection, 

 lately told me the same thing ; and I have un- 

 derstood that when Mr. John llidgely, of Hamp- 

 ton, succeeded to that magnificent estate, there 

 was in one of his father's wagons an entire team 

 tliat had worked together for 24 years ! 



I am not una^^'a^e that your reasoning is, and 

 presume not to dispute its force, that you have 

 '■489) 



to keep a span of horses any how, for your fam- 

 ily to go to town occasionally, and to church on 

 Sunday ; and j-ou tell me that the Ladies could 

 not be reconciled to the use ofthe.se long-eared, 

 hard-headed beasts ! Well, this may be so ; 

 and far be it from me to refuse you credit for 

 thus consulting their taste and their wishes. — 

 Doubtless it is but one example of universal sub- 

 mission on Long- Island to the same resistless in 

 fluence. But you must allow me to add that ( 

 hardly ever met with a housewiife who, if her 

 'lord and master' would only condescend to enter 

 into a minute and frank explanation of his views 

 and situation, would not cheerfullj' make any 

 reasonable sacrifice of pride, or fashion, or per 

 .sonal indulgence, to promote their common good 

 How often does the wife lend her husband hei 

 house-.servant, and her dairy-maid, and even 

 her cook, to go out to help him on the fanii !— 

 Ay, I have seen her pull off' her very apron to 

 be used by the seedsman in sowing his grain ! 

 And besides, after all, this antipathy to driving 

 mules is but a national prejudice — an opinion ; 

 but opinion, it is said, is the queen of the world. 

 For an illustration, look at Spain — the very 

 home of the superb Andalusian horse. There 

 the royal family and the grandees monopolize 

 the 'privilege of driving mules — a privilege al- 

 most prohibited to the plebeians. There are 

 now several teams on the mail line along the 

 rich limestone valley of the Shenandoah ! 

 But, to come nearer home — in sight of this 

 town, my friend Mr. Milhaud does, w ith a pair 

 of mules, all the labor and hauling for his farm, 

 on the margin of your extraordinary prairie, 

 ^^■hich stretches around for so many miles, and 

 which, I learned with surpri.se, is abandoned to 

 pasturage — its bosom never having been marked 

 with the traces of a jjIow. 



Nevertheless, gentlemen, I presume not to say 

 that j'ou have not good and sufficient reason for 

 deciding in favor of the more active, sightly, 

 short-lived, voracious, expensive and inedible 

 horse. If the ladies insist, why, there 's an end 

 of the matter ; for we all admit that 



" Where a lady 'a in the case. 

 All other things give place." 



And there 's no use in looking for other reasons, 

 when one is all-sufficient — else I might attribute 

 your predilection to something of that spirit of 

 chivalry which at once produces and is produced 

 by a passion for such unrivaled goera as you have 

 on Long-Island — like the hor.se of Adoni.s de- 

 scribed by Shakspeare, in the universality ot 

 his knowledge — 



"So does your horse excel a common one, 

 In shape, in courage, color, pace, and bone." 



One thing more I will venture- to suggest. — 

 Small as are your farms, generally, compared 

 with such as I have been accustomed to see in 



