No. 151.] • • 341 



che chief varieties, as mentioned by Pallas, among the Asiatic horses, 

 are the "moustachoed horse," characterized by numerous strong bristles 

 on the upper lip; the " woolly horse," a Russian variety, " covered 

 with a crisp woolly hair, and common among the Baschkirs; and a 

 naked or hairless horse, not uncommon among the Krim Tartars, who 

 keep it always clothed," and there is a variety delineated by John- 

 ston, in which " a woolly mane is continued from the neck along the 

 middle of the back to the tail." The 1st record of the application 

 of tamed horses to the use of mankind is in Genesis, in w'hich it is 

 written, that, when Joseph transferred his father's remains from Egypt 

 to Canaan, " there went up with him four chariots and horsemen," 

 which was 1650 years before the birth of our Savior. Horse races 

 formed part of the Olympic games in Greece, 1450 years before 

 Christ. " The first notice we have of a horse being employed in agri- 

 culture, is in the tapestry of Bayeux (woven in 1066), where one is 

 depicted drawing a harrow." In 1121 the first Arabian horse was 

 imported into Great Britain, and was presented by Alexander I, of 

 Scotland, to the church of St. Andrews. King John afterwards pro- 

 cured 100 stallions from Flanders. Edward II, and Edward III, ijn- 

 ported horses from Lombardy, France, and Spain. Henry VIII first 

 established race-courses, and James I perfected the system, and dur- 

 ing his reign a peculiar breed was formed for the purpose; and from 

 Great Britain our best stock has been obtained. The food for the 

 horse is a matter that requires our particular attention, although we 

 find him fed in different countries upon leaves, roots, twigs of trees, 

 flesh, broth, dried fish, eggs, etc., Still these substances cannot be 

 considered his natural food, as the horse is truly a herbivorous ani- 

 mal; among the Tartars horses are frequently eaten, and their flesh 

 is considered a great delicacy. 



It is well to recolleet that there are but four eliments which are 

 considered principally concerned in producing food for animals, and 

 they are nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen and carbon. Chemists say 

 that "no animal can subsist for any length of time upon food desti- 

 tute of nitrogen," and that a mixture of different food is absolutely 

 necessary to the well-being of all kinds of stock. And I would 

 impress upon all those who now soil animals, or who may hereafter 

 do so, the absolute and indispensable necessity of an ample supply 

 of water, which, although it is not nutritious in itself, still is all- 

 important as a dissolver of the nutritive matter which is fed to ani- 

 mals, rendering it fit for the absorbents to convey it into the blood. 

 By analysis, it is found, if a horse be fed 1,000 parts of the common 

 bean, he obtains from it 570 parts of soluble nutritive ' matter, 4.26 



