1849. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



189 



THE STALLION "MORGAN HUNTER.' 



[For the above beautiful engraving we are indebt- 

 ed to the owners of the animal it portrays. As we 

 have never seen "Morgan Hunter," we are unable 

 to speak of him from personal knowledge — and 

 therefore copy the following notice from the July 

 number of The Cultivator:] 



It has been well remarked that, though a pic- 

 ture may convey too favorable an idea of a defec- 

 tive animal, yet it is impossible to portray all the ex- 

 cellencies of a good one. Making due allowances 

 for the latter difficulty, the above figure may be con- 

 considered a correct likeness of the horse from which 

 it was taken. 



"Morgan Hunter" is six years old; was bred, as 

 we are infonned, by Mr. Exwell, of Springfield, Vt.; 

 was got by GifFord Morgan, dam by the same horse. 

 He was sold by F. A. Weir, of Walpole, N. H., in 

 May last, to Messrs. Hackley k, Gilbert, of East 

 Hamilton, Madison County, N. Y., and stands the 

 present season at the stable of S. A. Gilbert, in that 

 town. He is a capital specimen of the Morgan fa- 

 mily of horses. In his general form, he possesses, 

 in a remarkable degree, what Youatt lays down 

 as the most important requisite in a stallion — com- 

 pactness — " as much goodness and strength as pos- 

 sible, condensed in a little space." His head is fine, 

 and his eye large and brilliant; his chest capacious, 

 barrel round, loin very broad, back short, quarters 

 long and muscular, flanks deep and full, limbs short- 

 jointed, flat and sinewy. In temper and spirit he 

 exhibits the intelligence and docility which charac- 

 terize most of his near relatives. Like the high- 

 mettled Arabian, he unites the playfulness and good 

 humor of a pet lamb, with the courage and power of 

 the war-horse — whose " neck is clothed with thun- 

 der," — " who rejoiceth in his strength," and " mock- 

 eth at fear " 



The history of the Morgan horses has been fully 



given in previous pages of The Cultivator. Some 

 people, however, who have not fully investigated the 

 matter, seem to entertain the idea, that they origi- 

 nated with a cross of the French or Canadian horse. 

 We have never seen the least evidence that the ori- 

 ginal, or as he is called the Justin Morgan horse, 

 possessed any of this blood; and of the four stall- 

 ions which were kept of his get, we believe the 

 Bulrush or Chelsea Morgan, was the only one that 

 inherited any French blood through the dam. 



We notice various advertisements and cuts of 

 horses, as " Morgans," in the papers of the differ- 

 ent parts of the country. A comparison of those de- 

 scriptions and their originals, with the cut at the 

 head of this article, may serve, in some degree, to 

 show whether the animals truly represent the stock 

 whose name they bear, or are only counterfeits. 



Instinct of Plants. — Hoare, in his treatise on 

 the vine, gives a striking exemplification of the in- 

 stinct of plants. A bone was placed in the strong, 

 dry clay of a vine border. The vine sent out a lead- 

 ing, or tap root, directly through the clay to the bone. 

 In its passage through the clay the main root threw 

 out fibres, but when it reached the bone it entirely 

 covered it by degrees with the most delicate and mi- 

 nute fibres, like lace, each one sucking at a pore in 

 the bone; like a litter of pigs at their dam as she lies 

 down on the sunny side of the farm-yard. On this 

 luscious morsel of a marrow bone would the vine con- 

 tinue to feed as long as any nutriment remained to be 

 extracted. What wonderful analogies there are run- 

 ning through the various forms of animal and vegeta- 

 ble creation, to stimulate curiosity, to gratify research, 

 and finally, to lead our contemplations from nature, 

 in a feeling of reverence, "up to nature's God." 



As to the vine spoken of by Hoare, it is worthy of 

 remark that the root went no further than the bone. 



