CHAPTER LI 

 THE HORSE AS A MOTOR 



Power from Horses. The horse is the principal source of 

 power for agricultural purposes, and will continue to be for an 

 indefinite length of time. Considered in the aggregate, the 

 horse and the mule furnish a large part of the total power 

 utilized for all purposes. In the United States there are 

 at the present time approximately twenty-one million head of 

 horses and mules. The number has been increasing for the 

 past sixty years at the rate of one-third million annually. If 

 all these were at work at one time, power to the amount of 

 twelve to fifteen million horsepower would be developed. 



Development. The prehistoric horse was not a large 

 animal ; but nature and man, by careful mating and selection, 

 have produced different types, each suited for a special pur- 

 pose, until the modern horse bears but little resemblance to 

 the original. As early as 1740 b. c. the horse was used in 

 war for transportation. It was not until about the year 

 1000 a. d. that history records the use of the horse in the field. 



The development of the horse has necessarily been very 

 slow. Greater hardiness, increased size and strength, 

 greater beauty, and other desirable characteristics were rec- 

 ognized by men who made careful selections for mating and 

 awaited results. 



The horse has been called man's best friend in the brute 

 world, and the ownership of a good horse is something that 

 any man can be proud of. Notwithstanding the fact that 

 the horse is an animated thing, it is the chief source of power 

 on the farm, and may properly be considered a motor. It 



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