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NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JULY 34, 1S33. 



From the Turf Register. 

 OSAGE HORSES. 



Cantonment Jesup, Lou. July 15, 1832. 

 The modern turf horse is said to he deficient 

 in the powers of endurance and ability to cany 

 weight, which were so eminently possessed by the 

 immediate descendants of the Arabian, Barb and 

 Turkish horses, which produced the unrivalled 

 English stock. My object is to direct the. atten- 

 tion of American breeders to a stock of horses 

 possessing good wind, great powers of endurance, 

 and hardy constitutions, with fine, bony, sinewy 

 limbs. They are indigenous to our continent ; 

 and if the experiment I recommend, of crossing 

 them with our bred horses, succeed, will preclude 

 the necessity of recurring to the present race of 

 horses in England, which is doubtless degenerate. 

 I allude to the wild or prairie horse, inhabiting 

 the southwest region of our continent, and roam- 

 ing amid the immense grassy plains of that sec- 

 tion, and to this race, partially tamed by the sav- 

 age tribes of the country. No one who has seen 

 the Osages galloping over their boundless prairies, 

 under their fervid sun, and maintaining this gait 

 for hours — viewed their muscular and handsome 

 steeds, and compared his own jaded nag with the 

 bounding and restless animals around him — but 

 has confessed the superiority of their horses over 

 burs. In July, 1829, thu writer accompanied a 

 party of gentlemen on a visit to Clermore's hand 

 of Osages, on the Verdigris river, a tributary of 

 the Arkansas. A runner having been despatched 

 to apprize them of our intention, upon arriving 

 within two miles of the town we halted to await 

 their welcome. In a moment they were in com- 

 motion, and the chiefs and principal warriors (in 

 number about a hundred) mounted, and approach- 

 ing at full speed ; hearing lances, and shields, 

 painted of various colors, and otherwise adorned ; 

 their heads surmounted with helmets of feathers 

 and red and blue cloth ; their arms and legs clasp- 

 ed by tinkling bauds ; some uaked, with the ex- 

 ception of th>? breech-clout ; others clothed in the 

 favorite dress of the Indian, a blue frock, with red 

 collar and cuffs ; and another portion with only 

 the painted blanket streaming from their shoulders; 

 sounding their war cry, and advancing rapidly and 

 tumultuously ; rushing in among us to give a wel- 

 come, and then wheeling their horses on the vast 

 surrounding plain, in mimic pursuit of eacli other. 

 They presented a most joyous, novel and splendid 

 barbaric spectacle. Here it was that my admira- 

 tion of their horses was fust excited ; for this was 

 the first opportunity I had of viewing their good 

 horses. Among them were three or four, evi- 

 dently of the same family; on one of which Cler- 

 more himself rode. They were of a beautiful 

 cream color, with black manes and tails; a dark 

 stripe along the back, and dark or black legs from 

 the knees down ; not over fifteen hands in height, 

 but of compact, stout frames. A mahogany bay, 

 of this size and form, caught my eye, as possess- 

 ing a most superior walk. One brave sported a 

 Pawnee head dress, horse, and other spoils, taken 

 in battle. The stallion was of a very dark and 

 peculiar iron grey, tall and slender, but a most 

 beautiful animal. There is now at Cantonment 

 Gibson a wild mare, caught by the Osages when 

 on a hunt. She is white, with a neck like a stal- 

 lion ; finely formed in every respect ; of great 

 length of body, and having remarkably fine limbs. 

 Every attempt has been made to break her, but 

 with indifferent success ; she having thrown, at 



their imminent hazard, all her riders. She has 

 produced a likely, hut small, brown bay filly, by 

 one of the worthless Cherokee ponies about the 

 garrison. When we consider the firm, elastic 

 soil, excellent herbage, and fervid sun of the 

 plains over which these horses roam — the ques- 

 tion, what advantages in soil, climate or food, the 

 desert or mountain Arabian horse possesses over 

 them, naturally presents itself. They ought to 

 possess, in an equal degree, the flinty hardness of 

 limbs, speed, &c. of the Arabian. But one reason 

 can be given for the superiority of the latter, (if 

 they be in fact superior,) viz.: that the Arabs 

 have been more careful in perpetuating a good 

 strain and in suffering no inferior cross. But from 

 the fact of the Osages prizing very highly their 

 good horses, and the reluctance with which they 

 part from them, together with my observing a par- 

 ticular family of horses among the chiefs, induce 

 the conclusion that a peculiar breed exists among 

 them ; and I submit to sportsmen, whether an ex- 

 periment, with a few of their stallions and mares, 

 is unworthy a trial. Assuredly there are in our 

 country gentlemen of fortune, enterprise and pa- 

 triotism enough, to make the experiment ; and 

 though the immediate cross with the blood horse 

 should not evince speed enough to make first rate 

 turf horses, yet their stamina would, by judicious 

 crossing, produce those fine saddle and draft 

 horses which a late writer (Mason) asserts the 

 Virginia turf horse of the present day rarely pro- 

 duces. Should the experiment be made, (and 

 there are so many mares and stallions of every de- 

 gree of excellence and blood, in Virginia and Ken- 

 tucky especially, that it might be conducted with- 

 out bearing too onerously upon an individual 

 sportsman,) it should not be abandoned in despair, 

 though the first or second cross should not equal 

 expectation. When we recollect the perseverance, 

 repeated trials, and number of years, devoted by 

 a Duke of Cumberland, before he succeeded in 

 obtaining a superior stock of iiorses ; and the per- 

 tinacity of an Earl of Oxford, in establishing the 

 truth of a theory, by continuing a cross (of grey- 

 hounds) to the eighth remove, ere he attained the 

 degree of. perfection anticipated, we should be in- 

 cited to attempt and continue our experiments. 

 In order, Mr. Editor, that breeders may know what 

 facilities they would meet with, and be enabled 

 to form some idea of the expense they might have 

 to incur, I will state the most expeditious mode, 

 and best season, for reaching the country of the 

 Osages. — From January to June the Arkansas has 

 water enough for the steamboats which ply from 

 the mouth of White river and New Orleans, to as- 

 cend to Cantonment Gibson. This post is, by 

 water, about six hundred and fifty miles from the 

 Mississippi ; by land, about three hundred and 

 fifty. Clermore's village is distant from it fifty- 

 five miles. Forty miles from the garrison is the 

 residence of their trader, Col. A. P. Choteau, of 

 St. Louis ; a gentleman whose predilection for 

 the sports of the turf would induce him to exert 

 his great influence to persuade the chiefs to part 

 with their best horses. I cannot, at this moment, 

 refer to the Indian laws ; but think they pro- 

 hibit any purchase from the tribes without the 

 sanction of their agents. The agent of the Osages 

 is Mr. Humtramck, who resides at White Hair's 

 town, situated on the Osage river, a tributary of 

 the Missouri. But, upon application, doubtless the 

 President or Secretary of War would authorize an 

 attempt to purchase, A Subscriber, 



To preserve Beans and Peas. Peas and beans 

 may be preserved through the winter by scalding 

 them in a strong syrup of sugar and drying them 

 — after which they should be put in a buttle and 

 corked close. If each part of this process is con- 

 ducted with care, it will be found when they are 

 cooked that they have lost but little of their flavor, 

 and that they will form a great addition to vege- 

 table dishes during the winter. — Genesee Farmer. 



SWEET APPLE PUDDING. 



Take one pint of scalded milk, half a pint of 

 Indian meal, a tea cupfid of molassrs, a tea spoon- 

 fid of salt, and six sweet apples cut into small 

 pieces — should be baked not less than three hours 

 — the apples will afford an excellent rich jelly. 

 This is truly one of the most luxurious yet simple 

 Yankee puddings made. — A". Y. Farmer. 



CREAM. 



.Veto Method of obtaining Cream from Milk, by 

 G. Carter, Esq. of Nottingham Lodge, near El- 

 thaa;, Kent. The process of divesting the milk 

 of its component portion of cream, to an extent 

 hitherto unattainable, has been effected by Mr. 

 Carter, and is thus detailed by that gentleman in 

 a paper presented to the Society of arts. A pe- 

 culiar process of extracting cream from milk, by 

 which a superior richness is produced in the cream, 

 has long been known and practised in Devonshire ; 

 this produce of the dairies of that county being 

 well known to every one by the name of " clotted" 

 or " clouted cream." As there is no peculiarity in 

 the milk from which this fluid is extracted, it lias 

 been frequently a matter of surprise that the pro- 

 cess lias not been .adopted in other parts of the 

 kingdom. A four-sided vessel is formed of zinc 

 plates twelve inches long, eight inches wide, and 

 six inches deep, with a false bottom at one half 

 the depth. The only communication with the 

 lower compartment is by the lip, through which it 

 may be filled or emptied. Having first placed at 

 the bottom of the upper compartment a plate of 

 perforated zinc, the area of which is equal to that 

 of the false bottom, a gallon (or any given quantity) 

 of milk is poured (immediately when drawn from 

 the cow) into it, and must remain there at rest for 

 twelve hours; an equal quantity of boiling water 

 must then be poured into the lower compartment 

 through the lip : it is then permitted to stand 

 twelve hours more, (i. e. twenty-four hours alto- 

 gether,) when the cream will be found perfect 1 , 

 and of such consistence that the whole may be 

 lifted off by the finger and thumb. It is, however, 

 more effectually removed by gently raising the 

 plate of perforated zinc from the bottom by the 

 ringed handles, without remixing any part of it 

 with the milk below. With this apparatus I have 

 instituted a series of experiments ; and, as a mean 

 of twelve successive ones, I obtained the follow- 

 ing results : — Four gallons of milk, treated as 

 above, produced, in 24 hours, 44 pints of clotted 

 cream, which after churning only 15 minutes, 

 gave 40 ounces of butter. The increase in the 

 cream, therefore, is 12 J per cent, and of butter 

 upwards of eleven per cent. The experimental 

 fanner will instantly perceive the advantages ac- 

 cruing from its adoption, and probably his atten- 

 tion to the subject may produce greater results. I 

 shall feel richly rewarded if, by exciting an interest 

 on the subject, I can produce any, the slightest, 

 improvement in the quality or mode of producing 

 an article which may properly be deemed one of 

 the necessaries of life. 



