THE 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



IBeboteii to &gr(culture, SortCtulture, awts the ffimtseliolfc arts-. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. — 

 Xenojphon. 



'Tillage and Pasturage are the two breasts of the 

 State. — Sully. 



FRANK: G. RUFFIN, Editor and Proprietor. 



T. BAILIE, Publisher. 



Vol. XV. RICHMOND, APRIL, 1855. No. 4. 



* — ■ — 



For the Southern Planter. 

 ON THE HORSE. 



CONTINUED FROM THE LAST NUMBER. 

 PART II. 



Blood or Race Horses — Passion of the Eng- 

 lish for them — Their peculiar merits and 

 defects — Evils arising from too large an 

 admixture of their blood for the varieties 

 of the useful horse, such as the saddle-horse, 

 hunter, charger, coach-horse — Importance 

 of size — The best system of breeding to 

 supply that is a cross between the Cleveland 

 Bay and the thcrrough-bred — Inferiority 

 of the Arab to the English Race-horse — 

 American Trotters — Morgans — Black 

 Hawks — Union of qualities in the Cleve- 

 land Bay. 



The English have an undiminished passion 

 for the turf, and a consideration for the Blood- 

 horse as a being of rank. They look upon 

 him as the nobleman of the " population chev- 

 aline." They give him credit for a degree of 

 spiritual courage; and Englishmen, even in 

 the humblest ranks of life, will tell you there's 

 nothing like blood — blood will tell — one can 

 call upon blood. The Crown, even in the per- 

 son of a Queen, has reestablished the breed- 

 ing stud at Hampton Court, and with such 

 success that the Royal yearlings, at the last 

 sale, averaged the extraordinary sum of four 

 hundred and forty-one guineas apiece — the 

 prices varying from twenty-five to a thousand 

 guineas.* The principal breeding stallion at 

 Hampton court is the superb Orlando, whom 

 I made it a point to visit. As a consequence 

 of this taste for thorough-bred horses, perva 

 ding majesty, nobility, gentry, and commonal 

 ty, they have greatly multiplied 



During the 



* The average price of all the blood yearlings 

 sold in England, in 1854, was about one hundred 

 and forty guineas ; and of the brood mares about 

 a hundred guineas apiece. 



Voi. XV.— 4. 



past season, eighteen hundred and forty-one 

 race-horses started. The blood brood-mares 

 are not more than five times as numerous as 

 the breeding blood stallions. At New Market 

 alone, there were last month ninety-two year- 

 lings in training. The entries for the next 

 Derby are a hundred and ninety-three, but for- 

 ty of the colts and fillies entered are already 

 hors de combat. The returns so far show, for 

 1854, nine hundred and seventy- three blood 

 foals of high lineage ; but out of that number 

 not more than a dozen are likely to win places 

 in the first and second ranks of fame. They 

 will run in one year for an amount exceeding 

 a million and a quarter of dollars, exclusive of 

 " added money." 



There are a few men in England who ride 

 thorough-bred horses, as Hunters, Hacks, and 

 Chargers, and drive them, and in short use 

 them for all purposes, except those to which the 

 horses in the class of walking draft, before 

 mentioned, and the dwarf races are exclusive- 

 ly adapted; but it is generally objected to 

 them that they seldom have substance of body 

 or bone enough to stand the protracted chase, 

 or to endure steady work, if they have to carry 

 or draw any considerable weight. They are 

 usually too narrow, flat-sided, and low before, 

 want suppleness in the knees, and carry their 

 feet too near the ground, (as " daisy-cutters " — 

 " rasant le tapis ") to be pleasant under the 

 saddle, particularly in a trot ; and they have 

 often too great a development of the propelling 

 hind parts for beauty, in proportion at least to 

 the forehand, and an excessive length of trunk, 

 which is much coveted for extent of stride as 

 one of the elements of speed.* These objec- 

 tions apply the more strongly to horses for 

 quick draft, where generally greater robustness, 

 size, and show in action are required than un- 

 der the saddle. Lord Westminster now keeps 



*The stride of the renowed Boston at his bruisino- 

 pace was twenty-six feet. 



