THE GENESEE FARMER. 



21 



THE PEDIGREES OF THE ARABIAN HORSE. 



LiNSLEY, in his rremium Essay on the Morgan 

 [Torse justly observes: The earliest records we have 

 of the horse, traee him to Kj,7pt, whence he j^radu- 

 aliy found his way to the various Egyptian colonies. 

 Among the African varieties, tLe Barb is remarkable 

 for his fine and graceful action, and is found chiefly 

 m Morocco and Fez. lie is lower than theAra- 

 bian, seldom exceeding fourteen hands. The shoul- 

 ders are flat, the chest deep, the joints inclined to be 

 long, and the head very ane. lie is superior to the 

 Arab in form, but has not his speed and -endurance, 

 nor his spirit and "countenance." The Barb has 

 chiefly contributed to the excellence of the bfpanish 

 horse. ^ Tlie Godolphin Arabian was a Barb, and 

 from him has decended some of the best racing stock 

 of England. 



OOTLIKE OP THE HeAD OP AN ARaBIAN HOKSE. 



The Arabian horse deservedly occupies the very 

 highest rank. So late as the seventh century, the 

 Arabs had very few horses, and those of a very 

 inferior ([uality. The horses that they obtained from 

 Cappadocia and other neigliboring countries, were 

 preserved with so nuch care, and so uniformly pro- 

 pagated from the finest animals, that in the thirteenth 

 century they had obtained great celebrity. The 

 Arabs divide their horses into three classes: the At- 

 tecki, or inferior breed, which are little valued, and 

 are found wild in some parts of the desert; the Ka- 

 dischi, or mixed breed; and the Kochlani, or thoro'- 

 bred. Many of the latter have well-attested pedi- 

 grees, extecdingf more tlian four hundred years, and 

 the Arab confidently asserts that the pedigree of 

 feis favorite mare can be traced distinctly to the 

 stud of Solomon. More care is taken to preserve 

 the pedigree of their horses than the genealogies of 

 their chiefs; these pedigree are always reckoned from 

 the dams. The Arabian hor.5e might not always be 

 acknowledged to possess a perfect form, but no one 

 can fail to admire his head. (See the annexed cut, 

 engraved for the Genseee Farmer.) The broad, 

 square forehead, the short, lean, firm, and delicate 

 muzzle, the bright, prominent, and intelligent eye, 

 the small, sprightly, and almost transparent ears, are 

 universally acknowledged to be unrivalled in any 

 other breed. The fineness of his legs, and the oblique 

 position of his pasterns, may be supposed to lessen 

 his strength; but his legs, although small, are flat 

 and wiry, and they are not required to carry heavy 

 weights. The muscles of the thigh and fore-arm 



are strikingly developed, and assure us of his ability 

 to perform many of the feats of strength and endup- 

 ance related of him. But in reading of his really 

 marvellous marches, we must remember that the^e 

 are no watches to note accurately the time, nor mile- 

 stones to mark correctly the distances on the path 

 of the desert, and we must make some allowance for 

 the proneness of the Bedouin to exaggeration. The 

 Arabian horse is as celebrated for his docility as for 

 his speed and courage. He rarely exceeds fourteen 

 hands in height, his body is light, his hips and loins 

 excellent, and his shoulders extremely beautiful. It 

 is to *ae Arabian that the English are chiefly in- 

 debted tor their unrivalled breed of horses for the 

 turf and the chase. 



SUBSTITUTES FOR THE POTATO. 



The excitement so prevalent, a month ago, respect- 

 ing the Japan potato, {Dioscorea Batatas) having 

 almost subsided, and no friit commensurate with" 

 the great effort made by several prominent horticul- , 

 turists having been reaped, we think it may not be , 

 out of place to present again the claims of our na- 

 tive tuber, the Apios tuherosa. It is now nearly 

 two hundred years since the introduction of thi* 

 plant to Europe, where it has been fully tested. Ifc 

 had not, however, half the notorieiy of the Japa«j 

 root, and we presume it would still stand the test ii i 

 comparison with that celebrated esculent. Were i\\ 

 not, unfortunately, a native of this country, mucli 

 might be said in its favor. The Apios tuherosa ii 

 a leguminous plant, a herbaceous perennial, with tu- 

 berous roots, which are farinaceous when cooked, and 

 when analyzed have been found to contain about 

 half their weight in water. An accurate French ex- 

 perimentalist, professor in the university of Pavia, as- 

 certained that the produce, by careful cultivation, in 

 comparison with that of the potato, would be about 

 one-third. Its further cultivation, on a large scale, 

 was not recommended by him. We presume it will 

 not attain any greater reputation than its more mod- 

 ern Japan competitor, though the amount of produce 

 of the Dioscorea is certainly much greater than that 

 of our more humble Apios. ^ 



Large Tield of Potatoes. — Last spring I planted 

 three potatoes of the kind called "Lady-fingers," 

 weighing exactly one pound. I cut them in as many 

 pieces as they had eyes, and found that I had 114 

 pieces. I planted them in a drill about a foot apart, 

 in ground that was plowed the fall previous. I struck 

 out the row with the plow the same as I would corn 

 ground, and put rotten hog manure in the bottom of 

 the furrow, and covered it about an inch with mould, 

 then laid the pieces of potatoes in and covered with 

 a hoe. All came up excepting seven. I hoed them 

 several times through the season. When I dug them 

 I found the yield was little more than half a, crop oo' 

 account of the dry weather, although I had the 

 pleasure to harvest one bushel and a half of potatoes, 

 from the three planted, weighing 90 tbs. I broaghft 

 from Wisconsin, in the fall of 1855, six other kinds 

 of potatoes, weighing together five pounds. From 

 these, planted the same way, I raised two bushels and 

 a half, weighing 147 pounds. J. L. Miller— JSasf 

 Hanover, Pa. 



