108 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 



this. The horse was kept for use in war mainly. Some 

 peculiarities of his mental make-up seem to fit him for the 

 parade ground. He seems to love excitement. He enters 

 into a race with great zest. He steps high in public and 

 wears the trappings of war with all the proud disdainfulness 

 of a Cavalier. He has given his name to one ostentatious 

 period of our history, the Age of Chivalry. 



To the Greeks we probably owe an invention of the first 

 order, that has adapted the horse more fully to our needs: 

 the iron shoe, to fit his foot for continuous travel over hard 

 roads. The cloven foot of the ox could not be so equipped. 

 It was adapted for soft ground and could not endure hard 

 roads. The horse gradually took the place of the ox, first on 

 the roads and later in the furrow. The horse was both 

 swifter of foot and stronger. Do we not still measure the 

 energy used for heavy work in horse-power? 



To our welfare sheep have contributed of their flesh and 

 their wool. The latter is their unique gift to us. Man's 

 earlier clothing of skins was heavy and unadaptable and 

 unhygienic. Sheep's wool is finely adapted to be spun into 

 threads and woven into cloth; and, so treated, it makes the 

 strongest and best of clothing. The discovery of this art 

 wrought one of the greatest advances in the comforts of life 

 for people in temperate climes. Sheep do not belong to the 

 tropics. They are adapted to life in rough, hilly, semi- 

 agricultural districts. They are less exacting as to forage 

 than are cattle, and being strictly gregarious, the flocks 

 are more easily herded and guarded from the attack of wild 

 beasts. They are quicker of growth than cattle, and more 

 prolific, and less capital is required to make a beginning at 

 sheep-raising. 



The pig has served us mainly as a supplementary food 

 supply. He puts on flesh quickly and is very prolific. 

 Hence, the meat supply can be more quickly increased by 



