290 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
shoots, called " snekering' 1 continues until the plants 
are ready to cut up. This is when the leaves are ripe — 
the veins swollen and turgid, tho leaves harsh, not soft 
and pliable like growing ones, and if folded, the lower 
side out, will crack with a clean, brittle fracture. Should 
a considerable part of the field be like this, cut and hang 
up ; but this work is usually done in September. 
Horse Papers for Farmers.— No. 
In casting about for a substitute for trotting 
speed, any horse-breeder who lias given atten- 
tion to the present condition of the American 
horse-market, will probably hit upon beauty of 
form and stylish action as the most promising 
features. Really handsome horses for private 
carriages, are so rarely seen, that it may almost 
' be said they do not exist. If any one will take 
pains 1o examine the carriage-horses in the Cen- 
tral Park in New - York, and at the various 
watering-places, he will acknowledge the truth 
of this statement. There are a good many 
well-grown, rather fat animals, with bush}' 
manes, and large, curly tails, to which good 
grooms manage to give a tolerable appearance 
by dint of warm blanketing, and by curbing 
their necks into an unnatural position. But, 
strip these horses of their gorgeous harness, and 
lead them out with their halters only, and they 
will assume, their proper stations as thorough- 
going lunk-heads. By nature, they generally 
have coarse coats, flabby muscles, defective 
joints, flat feet, short necks, big heads, and a 
clumsy action. Their movement is too often 
that of animals who find their own weight a 
sufficient burden. The}'' are only accepted for 
their work, because they are the best that the 
market affords. A friend recently told me, that 
he had sent an experienced man all through 
New England, and as far west as Ohio, without 
finding for sale a single spau of horses such as 
he wanted for his carriage. After having given 
considerable attention to the subject, I am sat- 
isfied that there are not in all New York City, 
five pairs of really fine carriage-horses; nor is 
the number likely to increase so long as it re- 
mains the custom with breeders to seek almost 
exclusively rapid trotting action, — a search that 
is very seldom successful, and that brings into 
the world a vast crowd of third-rate and fourth- 
rate horses, of very low average value. 
The typical carriage-horse was well shown 
by John Leech, in some of his drawings for 
"Punch." Its most important condition is a 
large infusion of thorough blood. Such an ani- 
mal is rather lean than fat; tall, muscular, and 
active. Its coat is thin and glossy; its mane 
and tail not too abundant, the hair being straight 
or slightly waving, and of the texture of silk. 
Tho pastern-joints, instead of carrying a cart- 
horse's tufts that require constant clipping, are 
naturally clean and smooth. The hoofs are 
large and well formed, and neither too flat nor 
too steep, though this is a point over which breed- 
ing has perhaps less control than over any 
other, indicating that it has received less atten- 
tion than more conspicuous features. Tiie legs 
of such an animal are short below the knees 
and hocks, arc broad, as viewed from the side, 
and thin, as seen from the front or rear. The 
knee and hock joints themselves are large 
and bony, and free from puffs and bony excres- 
cences. The legs above these joints are long, 
the longer the better ; and the various muscles 
and sinews are clearly defined under the soft 
skin. The shoulders are very sloping, and the 
withers rise well into the hollow of the saddle. 
The back is short from the withers to the top 
of the hip, and long from here to the root of 
the tail, which is set on level with the spine, 
and naturally carried well up when the animal 
is in motion. The neck is long and muscular, 
hut by no means thick or fat, and ils crest is 
high and thin. In its natural position, without 
the help of the check-rein, it should be nearly if 
not quite level for eight or ten inches back from 
the ears. The ears themselves are long, thin, and 
active. The head small and not Roman-nosed ; 
the eyes prominent and the nostrils large. 
A pair of such horses standing from lo l |a to 
10 hands high, reasonably young, free from im- 
portant defects, and well broken, could proba- 
bly be readily sold for $10,000. If they were 
as plenty as they might be, they would still 
bring a fourth of that priec. Such horses need 
no check-reins to keep their heads in position. 
The conformation of the shoulders, neck, and 
crest secures this. Such it horse's head is per- 
fectly and evenly balanced in a position that we 
cannot hope to attain by any amount of check- 
ing and martingalingwith the ordinary carriage- 
horses of the day. Every movement that such 
a horse takes is graceful and strong ; his whole 
appearance indicates intelligence and nervous 
vigor. He cannot be ungraceful and ho cannot 
be dull. He may or may not be fast. For car- 
riace use this is of minor consequence. What 
is wanted first of all, is style, ami a stylish ac- 
tion in moving heavy loads, which only great 
natural strength and vigor can make possible. 
Of course, such animals as are here depicted 
are more nearly perfect than it will often be 
our lot to see, but the. standard is one toward 
which it is always safe to aim. "We can only 
hope to attain it by using means which can 
hardly fail to produce horses of more than ordi- 
nary value, and the more nearly we approach the 
standard, the higher the price that we may hope 
to get. Probably if two farmers were in a sys- 
tematic way, the one to breed fast trotters and 
the other to breed such carriage-horses as are 
here described, the trotting man would raise 
more animals worth §5,000 each, than would the 
other; but he would produce ten or twenty times 
as many worth less than $500 each, and the 
balance of profit would be largely on the side 
of the carriage-horse breeding. I believe, in 
fact, that the average value at four years old 
would be full}' twice as great in the case of the 
carriage-horses as in the other; while, of course, 
there would still be chances, by no means in- 
significant, of raising now and then a very fast 
trotter, and a good proportion of excellent road- 
sters. It is to be claimed for this sort of breed- 
ing that it has no greater element of risk than 
the breeding of Shorthorns or any other ani- 
mals whose merits depend on a harmonizing of 
all good qualities. Where the only thing 
sought is a rapid trotting action, so many defects 
are disregarded that there is room for all man- 
ner of constitutional weaknesses to creep in, 
and it becomes a game of a few great prizes 
and many blanks. 
It is hardly necessary to say that iu breeding 
carriage-horses, it is our advice to use only the 
best thorough-bred stallions. This we regard 
as indispensable in all breeding, and we have 
dwelt sufficiently upon its importance in pre- 
ceding articles of this series. This point being 
assumed, the key to success lies in the selection 
of suitable mares. The dam of a fine carriage- 
horse, or of any first-class horse of all work, 
should be bred rather than bought. That is to 
sav, there are so few suitable animals to be found 
in this country that it would be shorter and 
surer work to breed any considerable number 
of them, than to hunt them up in the market. 
If anything less than perfection be the object, 
there are thousands of good mares with whom 
the chances of success would be tolerably fair. 
An important consideration in carnage-horses 
is good size, and this must be sought chiefly in 
the dam and the grain bin. Strong feeding will 
always increase the growth of a colt, but there 
is some danger that he may grow to an ill-shape, 
if forced much beyond his natural development. 
The dam of the carriage-horse need not have 
more than one-half thorough bkiod. This much 
is essential ; for the gamey look and high step- 
ping action, the bony, muscular, stylish appear- 
ance that we have described, can hardly be had 
with less than three-quarters pure blood. As 
much more than this as can be attained without 
loss of size will be advantageous; but thorough- 
bred animals are rarely large enough for heavy 
carriage-liorses, and are often deficient in the 
knee action essential to the most stylish gait. 
My own ideas as to the best system of breed- 
ing for carriage use are derived from Prank 
Forrester, who was unquestionably our best 
authority in these matters. His theory, which 
seemed a reasonable one, was that, considering 
the large size and high action that it is desirable 
to have, and considering also the importance of 
infusing as much thorough blood as possible, 
without detracting too far from these qualities, 
the start should be made with the largest and 
most stylish mares that it is possible to get. In 
his opinion the French Percheron, or Norman, 
would best supply these conditions. The Per- 
cheron mare is very large, has a good shoulder, 
and has a particularly fine action. At the time 
of his death he contemplated importing six of 
these mares intending to cross them twice with 
thorough-bred horses. All of the first cross, 
except the mares selected for breeding, would 
have found a ready market at profitable rates. 
They would even have made fair, heavy carriage- 
horses and would have been capital for omni- 
bus teams, etc. The second cross, (three-quar- 
ters-bred), he believed would be finer and more 
valuable than any other carriage-horses that it 
would be possible to obtain. But he would 
have selected the finest of these mares to 
cross again with the thorough-bred, hoping in 
their progeny to oblain the perfection of car- 
riage-horses and weight-carrying saddle-horses. 
These suggestions may be valuable to farmers 
who propose to make horse-breeding the prin- 
cipal item of their business, but their operations 
are of much less consequence, so far as the good 
of the country is concerned, than is the inci- 
dental breeding of small farmers who raise one 
or two colts every year. It is to such that my 
remarks are chiefly addressed, and it would not 
be within their power to provide themselves 
with Percheron mares for the sole purpose of 
breeding. Their wisest course is, to provide 
themselves for their farm work, with the best 
mares that their circumstances will allow them 
to get, securing at least blood-like look, fine 
action, and a good constitution. That is, secur- 
ing precisely the sort of mares, that are best 
adapted for work in their own teams. 
I cannot convey a better idea of the kind of 
mare it is recommended to use than by condens- 
ing a description given in "Herbert's Hints to 
Horse-keepers." In frame the mare should be 
so formed as to be capable of carrying and well 
nourishing her offspring; that is, she should be 
what is called "roomy." The form of hip that 
is considered the most elegant, where the tail is 
set on very high and the haunch-bone is nearly 
as high as the hip, is particularly unfit for breed- 
ing purposes. The sloping hip gives much 
