AGRICULTUKE AND THE HORSE. 421 



horses in this republic, — a horse to about every six 

 persons, male and female, old and young, black, white, 

 and mixed. There are 23,820,G08 cattle; of which 

 number, 8,935,332 are cows, 1,319,271 are oxen, and 

 13,566,005 are called ofhei^ cattle, — an undefined dis- 

 tinction not known, I am happy to say, among the 

 horses. For this vast number of horses, whose pur- 

 pose is fixed and defined, I appear to-night before this 

 small body of the founders of the New-England Agri- 

 cultural Society. Of their industrial and commercial 

 value it is unnecessary for me to speak here among 

 those who know what a large portion of the wealth of 

 our great grazing-farms they represent. That they will 

 always have advocates, I cannot for a moment doubt. 

 Their history has a charm which appeals at once to the 

 farmer's boy as he sits by the fireside perusing his scanty 

 but appropriate library. Their services will always be 

 held in high esteem by all those who enjoy what is ener- 

 getic and active and progressive in life, and who believe 

 in the superior importance of vigorous and manly effort. 

 They have already passed into the literature of the 

 world ; standing by the side of the warrior on the bat- 

 tle-field ; bearing the monarch in his pride, the maiden 

 in her sweetness and grace, the lover in his ecstasy and 

 joy ; adorning the triumphal pageant, and solemnizing 

 the'mournful procession. Of the horse have poets sung; 

 art has immortalized him ; science has devoted herself 

 to his comfort and health ; and man has always hastened 

 to bestow upon him with a liberal hand his lar^^est and 



