NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



245 



opmcnts are worse than useless. I see, or think I 

 see, that the proper attribute of Christianity, and of 

 a Christian teacher, is, that they should mingle in 

 works like these; and that, in doing so, they should 

 try to call attention to the wants and the necessities 

 of the producers of these works, and to remind the' 

 nation that, after all, man is greater than his works, 

 and the workman superior to his fabric. So this ex- 

 hibition calls attention to the dignity of labor ; it 

 sets forth in its true light the dignity of the working 

 classes ; and it tends to make the other people feel 

 the dignity which attaches to the producers of these 

 things. 



THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE. 



The English race-horse boasts of a piire descent 

 from the Arabian, and under whatever denomination 

 the original stock of our thorough-bred horses have 

 been imported, namely, as Turks, Barbs, or royal 

 mares, there can be no doubt they were selected by 

 the patrons of the turf, and by their agents, during 

 the reigns of James I., the two Charleses, James II., 

 and the commonwealth ; and whether they were 

 brought from Barbary, Turkey, or the continent of 

 Europe, they were considered as the triie sons and 

 daughters of the desert. The first Arabian ever seen 

 in England was imported by Mr. Markham, in the 

 reign of James I., and the first foreign mares of any 

 note were brought over by the agents of Charles II., 

 under the denomination of royal mares. The change 

 of climate, the pasture, and extreme care and atten- 

 tion in breeding by the best stallions, (and never for- 

 getting the maxim that " From the brave descend the 

 brave,") have wonderfully increased their size, their 

 strength, and their powers of endurance ; and it is 

 generally believed, bj'' the most learned men of the 

 turf, that a first-class English ^race-horse would give 

 eighty-four pounds to the best Arabian which can be 

 found, for any distance under ten miles. In 1828, a 

 match was made at Calcutta between the English 

 horse Kccruit, carrying one hundred and forty-eight 

 pounds, and the best Arab at the time in India, Pyr- 

 amus, carrying one hundred and fifteen pounds, two 

 miles. Piccruit had been a very short time in India, 

 and had tender feet, which disabled him from taking 

 strong work, notwithstanding which, he won in a trot. 



The clearest proof of the improvement which has 

 taken place in the English race-horse, is the fact tliat 

 no first nor second cross from the imported Arab, 

 with the exception of the produce of one mare by 

 the "SVellesley Arabian, (Fair Ellen,) is good enough 

 to win a fifty-pound plate in the present day ; where- 

 as, in 17iO, our best horses were the second' and third 

 crosses from the original stock ; and we have no rea- 

 son to assume that the Arabian horse of ISoO has 

 degenerated from his ancestor of 1730. • The most 

 distinguished progenitors of the English race-horse 

 are the Byerly Turk, the Darley Arabian, Curwen's 

 bay Barb, and the Godolphin Arabian ; and no horse 

 of any eminence has appeared in England, in the 

 last hundred years, which does not inherit their 

 blood. Of the two former, we know very little ; 

 they were the sires of Basto, and of Flying Childcrs ; 

 but the blood of the Godolphin Arabian is in every 

 great stable in England. He was a thick-necked, 

 heavy-shoiddcred, over-topped horse, without ap- 

 parently a single good point adapted to racing 

 qualifications. Goldfindcr and Eclipse, both foaled 

 in 17G4, were considered the most extraordinary 

 horses in the last century — Sir C. Bunbury always 

 asserted that Goldfindcr was the best horse. The 

 celebrity of Eclipse, as a stallion, has contributed to 

 his fame far more than his public running, which 

 only lusted two years. Horses of this era were 

 rarely put into traming before they were three years 



old ; some never appeared until they were five years 

 old ; and all the great matches and sweepstakes were 

 made for long distances, four, six, and eight miles, 

 ^lany writers have, therefore, inaagined that the 

 horses, in olden times, were more adapted to stay a 

 distance, than our present bi-ecds ; but it does not 

 follow, because it was the fashion to run long dis- 

 tances in 1750, that the horses of that day had great- 

 er powers of endurance. Heavy weights and long 

 courses were in vogue, because it Avas the custom for 

 owners and amateurs to ride in the last half mile 

 with the leading horses ; a feat not very difficult of 

 attainment, considering that the race-horses had run 

 four miles before they joined the party. Our expe- 

 rience teaches us that the first cross from the Arab 

 frequently show speed ; but there are verj' few in- 

 stances of the first or second cross which can run be- 

 yond the distance of one mile in good company. I, 

 therefore, suspect that the form of the best race- 

 horse of 1750 is inferior to that of a common plater 

 of the present day. 



It is computed that there are upwards of two hun- 

 dred thorough-bred stallions, and one thousand one 

 hundred brood mares, which produce about eight 

 hundred and thirty foals annually ; of these are 

 generally three in the first class of race-horses, seven 

 in second class ; and they descend gradually in the 

 scale to the amount of four himdred and eighty, one 

 half of Avhich never catch the judge's eye ; the re- 

 mainder are either not trained or are found unworthy 

 at an early period. 



lleferring again to shape and condition, a good 

 judge may be deceived as to the individual condition 

 of a particular horse. There arc horses which run 

 best apparently lustj', and others are only up to the 

 mark when they carry no flesh, and Avith very slight 

 muscular developments. There are very few horses 

 which require the same work, the same food, and the 

 same physic. Thick-Avinded horses, Avith strong 

 constitutions, may be SAveated every fivO days during 

 their preparation, and Avill take three times as much 

 Avork as some delicate mares and geldings, of AA'hich 

 there are many that never Avant a SAveat. One horse 

 cannot gallop Avhen the ground is deep ; another, with 

 thin feet, cannot move if the ground is hard ; and a 

 heavy fall of rain Avill upset scientific calculations. 

 Mares seldom run in their best form before the month 

 of August ; and geldings are considered to be best 

 in the spring. — lioic-s. 



SEX OF EGGS. 



During the last summer, says a correspondent 

 of the Plough, Loom, and .^Vnvil, I Avanted to 

 raise a stock of poultry from a favorite hen and 

 cock. They Avcre of the black- breasted red game 

 breed. The cock Avas purely bred, but the hen Avas 

 a little crossed. The eggs she laid Avcre of a deep 

 buff" color, and as she was the only hen I had Avhich 

 laid yelloAV eggs, they Avero easily collected. When 

 I hixd tAventy-six eggs, I put thirteen of the largest 

 under a brood hen to be hatched; one egg got broken, 

 and the other twelve had chickens in them ; one, 

 however, died in the shell, and so the number Avas 

 reduced to eleA'on. Of these, one died before I could 

 ascertain its sex ; of the ten remaining, eight Avere 

 cocks and tAvo Avere pullets. The thirteen smaller 

 eggs I also put under a brood hen, and she liatched 

 me ten chickens. Of these, eight Avere pullets and 

 two Averc cocks. There is no ditrcrence in the shape 

 of the eggs laid by the same hen ; in size they vary 

 but little. I observe this peculiarity, that although the 

 hen had vcUoav legs and the cock bhuk, yet, through- 

 out four broods, Avhich I liave ha'l from the same lien 

 and cock this summer, every yclloAV-legged chicken 

 has proved a cock, an.d every black-lcggeii one a pullet. 



