1863. 



NEW EiVGLAXD FARMER. 



355 



or other peculiar occupations of the people, togeth- 

 er with notices of farmer's clubs or other iustitu- 

 tions, could not fail to be interesting and instruct- 

 ive to a large number of readers. 

 .Let us have a few examples from each of the 

 New England States. 



NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN HORSES. 



The idea so commonly expressed at the com- 

 mencement of the present war that the Southern 

 cavalry are superior to those of the North, is ably 

 discussed by S. B. Buckley, in a late number of 

 the Country Oeuileman. He says that compara- 

 ^ively few horses were raised in the slave States, 

 excepting Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennes- 

 see and Texas, and if the planters wanted to im- 

 prove their stock of horses, they sent North for 

 the material, and if a wealthy gentleman wished 

 nice, elegant horses for carriage or family use, he 

 went or sent North to buy them. The annals of 

 the turf show that Northern horses have beat the 

 Southern, even in speed as well as trotting, and 

 they certainly are their equal, if not more than 

 equal, in their power of endurance. Indeed, this 

 was all admitted at the South previous to the re- 

 bellion. 



Mr. Buckley ascribes the supposed superiority 

 of the horses of the Southern cavalry to the more 

 considerate and judicious treatment which they I'e- 

 ceive, both at home, and after they enter the ser- 

 vice. He says : 



At the South, riding and traveling on horse- 

 back is, or lately was, much in vogue, and more 

 especially in all the region not intersected by rail- 

 roads ; but they rarely urge the horse to a greater 

 speed tlian a fast walk, or a moderate pace, the 

 last being preferred, and considered the easiest. 

 Thus moving, they will average from thirty to for- 

 ty miles per day for weeks, and even months in 

 succession, with little or no damage to the horse. 

 Those in the Southern service are generally owned 

 by their riders ; and in cases where they are not 

 thus backed, their owners are in the same compa- 

 ny or regiment, to see that their horses are rode 

 carefully, and that they are well fed, and cleaned 

 at night ; and before mounting, that the blankets 

 are evenly and smoothly fixed beneath the saddles, 

 so as not to hurt the back of the horse. 



In proof of the correctness of iiis position, that 

 the inferiority of the horses of the Northern cav- 

 alry is owing to mismanagement and abuse, he 

 cites the example of the 3d Indiana cavalry, whose 

 men own their horse«, and consequently feel a 

 personal interest in having them well fed and prop- 

 erly cared for, nor do they, without reason, ride on 

 a gallop or a run on every frivolous occasion ; and 

 adds : 



Their horses are now in as good condition, with 

 verj' few exceptions, as when they entered the ser- 

 vice, nearly two years ago. I was recently told by 

 an intelligent private of this regiment, that their 

 dead and disabled horses amounted to less than 

 fifty, besides which a small number (about 20,) 



had been captured by the rebels. There is, I be- 

 lieve, but one other regiment in the United States 

 service, where the ownei-ship of the horses is^est- 

 ed m their riilers, and this is from Pennsylvania. 



Mr. Buckley closes with a few remarks at the 

 manner in which horses are generally used in the 

 army of the I'otomac. 



Uncle Sam owns the horses, and Uncle Sam's 

 boys, old and young, officers, surgeons, privates 

 and contrabands, think that he is rich enough to 

 buy them all another horse whenever required. 

 So they gallop up hill and down hill, ami very 

 often this gallop is increased to a run, as I have 

 witnessed at Aquia, tinough the sands of the Po- 

 tomac, or over the hills in that vicinity. Even in 

 the city of Washington, persons have l)ecn in dan- 

 ger of being over run by these fast riders. 



When I first arrived at Washington, several 

 months ago, I sup|)osed those fast men on horse- 

 back Mere bearers of important dispatches, and 

 that some great military-movements were in pro- 

 gress, but all remained quiet in the army, and I 

 soon learned that this go-ahead-ativeness on 

 horseback was a mere army custom. 



It is this unnecessary fast riding, and the want 

 of j)roper care when the horse is unsaddled, which 

 has killed and disabled thousands of horses in the 

 army of the Potomac. A gentleman connected 

 with Buford's brigade told me on tlie 18th inst., 

 that there were 1,101 dismounted men belonging 

 to it at Dumfries, in Virginia, waiting for afresh 

 supply of horses, in order to move. Yes, we 

 had tliousands of men belonging to the cavalry, 

 without horses at the very time when the rebel 

 cavalry was entering Maryland and Peijnsylvania 

 on the raid now progressing. 



The "Universal Yankee." — The following 

 item from the correspondence of the St. Louis 

 Ilepuhlican, while displaying considerable of the 

 old leaven of prejudice, is good evidence of the 

 go-ahead character of the true Yankee, who car- 

 ries his "institutions" with him : 



Baton Rouge has'degenerated, and is now noth- 

 ing more than a Yankee village. The greater 

 part of the male population have gone into the 

 rebel ranks, and the females have either departed 

 for the heart of Dixie, or else take their simff in 

 the seclusion of back parlors, where tho Yankee 

 entereth not. Yankee cavalry kick up the dust ; 

 Yankee idiom is the medium for the interciiange 

 of ideas on the street ; the roll of Yankee drums 

 has superseded the tinkle of the ubiquitous piano ; 

 and the "Bonnie Blue Flag," which bears but one 

 single star, has given place to "John Brown's 

 Body." In walking the streets you can almost 

 fancy that you hear the sound of the hammers of 

 the shoemakers of Lynn ; and the other day, in 

 the course of a prospecting tour, to see if there 

 was anything left that I had not seen before, I 

 was elecrified by coming suddenly upon a sign of 

 "Fresh Doughnuts for sale !" Shades of the 

 Cavalier and lluguenot ! Fresh Doughnuts ! 



^F* Letters received at the Agricultural Bureau 

 at Washington from Wisconsin, say that tliat State 

 will have twenty millions of bushels of wheat to 

 spare this year after supjilying the home demand. 



