1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



525 



in the shape of bones pulverized and prepared tor 

 the occasion. 



Some one of these may supply the place of the 

 missing material, and keep up the fertility of your 

 pastures, and consequently the profits arising 

 from grazing them. The subject is worth mucli 

 thought and careful experimenting. — Mahie Farm- 



THE ARAB HORSE. 



pose that any have come to America, but must 

 believe the so-called Arabians given to our Gov- 

 ernment at various times, to be of inferior breeds. 

 Rarely, indeed, are the thorough-breeds found 

 beyond the desert. It will be a subject of regret, 

 to those who admire fine horses, to learn that the 

 Arabian is considered to be degenerating, the con- 

 sequence of the subjugation of Arabia, and the de- 

 cline of the Bedouin tribe.— Phila. Bulletin. 



Layard, the explorer of Nineveh, who is as fa- 

 miliar with Arabs as he is with antiquities, gives 

 in his late work, Assyria, some curious details re- 

 specting the true horse of the desert. Contrary 

 to the popular notion, the real Arabian is celebrat- 

 ed less for unrivalled swiftness than for extraor- 

 dinary powers of endurance. Its usual pace are 

 but two — a quick walk, often averaging four or 

 five miles an hour, and a half running canter ; for 

 only when pursued does a Bedouin put in his 

 mare to full speed. It is the distance they will 

 travel in emergency, the weight they will carry, 

 and the comparative trifle of food they require, 

 which render the Arabian horse so valuable. 



Layard says that he knew of a celebrated mare 

 which had carried two men in chain armor beyond 

 the reach of some Aneyza pursuers. This mare had 

 rarely had more than twelve handfuls of barley in 

 twenty-four hours, excepting during the spring 

 when the pastures were green ; and it is only thf 

 mares of the wealthy Bedouins that get even thi( 

 allowance. The consequence is that, except in the 

 spring, the Arab horse is lean and unsightly. 

 They are never placed under cover during summer, 

 nor protected from the bitter winds of the desert 

 in winter. The saddle is rarely taken from their 

 backs. Cleaning and grooming are strangers to 

 them. They sometimes reach fifteen hands in 

 height, and never fall below fourteen. In dispo- 

 sition they are docile as lambs, requiring no guide 

 but a halter ; yet in the fright or pursuit their 

 nostrils become blood-red, their eyes glitter with 

 fire, the neck is arched, and the mane and tail are 

 raised and spread out to the wind ; the whole an- 

 imal becomes transformed. The vast plains of 

 Mesopotamia furnish the best breeds, and these 

 breeds are divided into five races, of which the 

 original stock was the Koheyleh. The most fa- 

 mous belong either to the Shammer or to the 

 Aneyza tribes. Their pedigrees are kept scrupu- 

 lously, and their value is so great that a thorough- 

 bred mare is generally owned by ten or even more 

 persons. It is not often that a real Arabian can 

 be purchased. The reason is that on account of 

 its fleetness and power of endurance it is invalua- 

 ble to the Bedouin, who, once on its back, can 

 defy any pursuer except a .Shammer or Aneyza 

 with a swifter mare than his own. An American 

 racer, or even an English hunter, would break 

 down in those pathless deserts almost before an 

 Arabian became warmed up to its work. Where 

 thorough-bred mares have been sold they have 

 brought as high as six thousand dollars ; but these, 

 it is understood, are not the best of the race. 



The Arab who sells his mare can do nothing 

 with his gold, and cannot even keep it, for the 

 next Bedouin of a hostile tribe who comes across 

 his path, and who has retained his mare, will take 

 it from him and defy pursuit. Layard thinks that 

 no Araliian of the best blood ha^ ever been seen 

 in England. If this is so, we can scarcely sup- 



For the New England Farmer, 

 A GOOD COW. 



Mr. Brown :— In February, 1852, I asked you 

 some questions as to what kind of a cow I should 

 keep, as I wished to keep but one. I now wish to 

 acknowledge my obligation to you for the infor- 

 mation you gave me through the March No. of the 

 N. E. Farmer, by which I selected the cow I now 

 have. _ She is a cross of the Native and Galloway, 

 and will not come up to some of your Middlesex 

 county cows, but is very good for this place. She 

 was seven years old in June, 1852, and gave in 

 June, July and August, last year, 2607 lbs. or 

 976 qts.'of milk, beer measure; 2 lbs. 11 oz. to the 

 qt. In the whole year up to April 1st, 185.3, the 

 time I dried her off, about five weeks before she 

 calved (she then gave over 2 qts. per day) she had 

 given 7473i lbs., or 2780^ qts. I weighed the 

 milk night and morning, every day, through the 

 the time. Her feed was one qt. of meal and three 

 of fine feed per day. Her pasture through grass 

 time, was a lot of thirty-seven rods, except six 

 weeks that she was in a lot that I could have a 

 privilege in at about one dollar per week. This year 

 with the same pasture she gave in July and Au- 

 gust, 4034 lbs. or 1501 qts. of milk, or 531 qts. 

 more than last year in the corresponding three 

 months. The second week in June she averaged 

 20 qts. per day ; 55 lbs. was the most in any one 

 day ; we could have made 17.^ lbs. butter from 

 that week's milk ; but we sell the most of the milk 

 at the door at 6 cts. per quart. 



James Tuompson . 



Remarks — We are gratified that our friend suc- 

 ceeded so well in acting upon our suggestions. 



FoT the New England Farmer. 

 HORSE RADISH. 



Mr. Editor : — Dear Sir, — Will you inform me, 

 through the columns of the Farmer, of which I am 

 a subscriber, of the best or proper method of cul- 

 tivating horse-radish for the market. 



We have in our garden, and in the grass land 

 near it, an abundance of this root, growing spon- 

 taneously, and I have thought, with a little sea- 

 sonable labor, it "would pay" to cultivate it, and 

 hence, be a new mode with me, of "turning 'the 

 soil and the penny." Respectfully yours, 



Mason, N. H., Sept. 21, 1853. g. 



J^" The peach originally was a poisonous al- 

 mond. Its fleshy parts were then used to poison 

 arrows, and it was for this purpose introduced in- 

 to Persia ; the transplanting and cultivation, how- 

 ever, not only removed its poisonous qualities, but 

 produced the delicious fruit we now enjoy. 



