1877.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
213 
The Jenifer Arabian-Cross of Arabian 
and Percheron. 
We give on this page a portrait of a pure brecl 
Arabian stallion, known as the Jenifer Arabian. 
This horse was imported from Egypt in 1872, by 
Colonel Jenifer, who pur¬ 
chased the animal at Is- 
malia, in the desert be¬ 
tween Cairo and Suez. 
The fact of.the purchase 
and exportation of the 
horse, is vouched- for by 
Col. F. G. Skinner, for¬ 
merly one of the editors 
of “Turf,- Field and 
Farm,” and now of the 
“ Rod and Gun,” who 
was present at the pur¬ 
chase, and witnessed a 
trial of the horse when 
ridden by Col. Jenifer, 
when it succeeded in 
beating a field of the best 
Arab horses in Egypt. 
The difficulty in procur¬ 
ing these horses is in the 
prohibition of their ex¬ 
port by the Egyptian 
Government, whose per¬ 
mission to send a horse 
out of the country must 
first be obtained. This 
horse, on its arrival in this 
country, was inspected 
and admired by several 
well known horsemen. 
It is of the same blood 
as the best animals in the racing stud of the 
Khedive of Egypt. The horse is white in color, 
with silver mane and tail, is now 11 years old, is 60 
inches high, and has a perfect pedigree. His ori¬ 
ginal name was Ismael Pacha, which was changed 
on his arrival in this country to that given above. 
His present owner is Colin Cameron, Manager of 
Elizabeth Stock Farms, Brickersville, Lancaster Co., 
Pa. The present reputation of the horse is very 
high. His disposition is gentle and docile, a lady 
can handle him with ease, either in single or dou¬ 
ble harness, or under the 
saddle ; he is at the same 
time fearless, and is not 
startled by locomotives 
or other unusual objects, 
thus exhibiting the tradi¬ 
tional character of the 
breed. He has taken first 
premiums every year 
since his importation, and 
has been a very success¬ 
ful breeder. One of his 
colts, at 2 year? old, meas¬ 
ured 15 hands and 1 inch, 
and all of them are noted 
for the size of bone and 
muscle. No breed of 
horses is so useful in im¬ 
proving other races,as the 
Arabian. Nearly all, if not 
all, the good qualities of 
the various races of horses 
now in existence, are de¬ 
rived from the Arab. The 
Hungarian horses, noted 
for bottom and endur¬ 
ance, are of Arab descent; 
the Russian Orloff, a 
famed trotting race, has 
the same lineage; the 
French Percheron derives 
his fine bone, his sym¬ 
metry, his soundness of constitution and his capaci¬ 
ty for hard work, from the Arab ; the English racer, 
known throughout the world as the fastest horse in 
existence, and our own native running and trotting 
breeds, inherit their most valuable points from their 
Arab ancestry. Even the French-Canadian, the un¬ 
doubted source from whence sprang our useful 
Morgan horses, looks back to the same origin. 
The Arab is well fitted by the necessities of his po¬ 
sition, the work he has to perform, and his manner 
of subsistence, to thus become the general im¬ 
prover of horse.s everywhere. The conditions of 
the life of his owner are such as to demand, in this 
horse, endurance and speed, and the Arabian has 
been for centuries bred with a view to the develop¬ 
ment of these, which he possesses to a degree un¬ 
attained by any other known breed in the world. 
For a horse for the general uses of the road or 
the farm, the nearer we can approach the union of 
the thorough-bred, with mares of the larger classes, 
the nearer we approach a perfect work horse. There 
are uses for which the heaviest class of horses are 
found to be the best, but these are the exceptions 
and not the rule. A medium sized horse, springing 
from, say the Percheron, or some other heavy race, 
on the one side, and the thorough-bred on the other, 
should combine all the excellent points to make it 
valuable as a working animal, except for rapid work. 
We are enabled to give here an example of such 
a cross, by the kindness of Mr. J. J. Parker, to 
whom we are indebted for a photograph of his 
pure bred Percheron mare, “Rosa Bonheur,” with 
her colt “Arabian Boy,” by the Jenifer Arabian. A 
copy of this photograph is given in the engraving 
on this page. The colt was six months old when 
photographed, and possesses the fine, round, bold 
form of the Percheron, with the good action of the 
Arabian. Mr. Parker has 
raised other colts of this 
cross, and exhibited 
three of them at the Cen¬ 
tennial, where we for¬ 
tunately had an oppor¬ 
tunity of inspecting them, 
and of observing the ex¬ 
cellence and promise of 
the cross. The Board of 
Managers of the Centen¬ 
nial were so favorably 
impressed with these 
cross bred colts that, al¬ 
though by the rules of 
the exhibition such ani¬ 
mals were excluded from 
competition, a separate 
class was made especi¬ 
ally for them, and not 
only was a special award 
made for them, but a com¬ 
plimentary notice was 
given to Mr. Parker, for 
his laudable enterprise 
in originating the cross 
and thus proving its 
value. Mr. Parker de¬ 
serves the credit of hav¬ 
ing been one of the first 
to introduce the Percher- 
ons into Pennsylvania, 
and several years ago the American Agriculturist 
took occasion to compliment him upon his success 
in introducing stock of the highest character. 
Since then he has made other visits to France, 
and has selected with great care many fine speci¬ 
mens of the Percheron breed for importation to this 
country. In some respects, our breeders have 
not exercised sufficient care in making selections, 
neglecting the chief point of value in these horses, 
viz., their adherence to the Arab type, and their 
possession of the fine bone and symmetrical build 
of their ancestral race. 
In consequence, we have 
taken occasion to warn 
importers of their mis¬ 
take in this respect, and 
of the danger of injuring 
the credit of an excellent 
breed, by twinging in ani¬ 
mals of impure blood, or 
selected more for gigantic 
size of carcass and limb, 
and for excessive weight, 
than for the more valua¬ 
ble points of sound con¬ 
stitution, symmetrical 
form, and activity of 
movement. In. noticing 
such errors of judgment, 
we had no reference to 
the importations of Mr. 
Parker, which have been 
highly creditable to him, 
and of great service to 
the agricultural interest 
of his State and neigh¬ 
borhood. His recent en¬ 
terprise, of establishing 
the value of the cross of 
the Arab, or thorough¬ 
bred, on the Percheron, 
will confer another obli¬ 
gation upon farmers and 
horse-breeders, and will undoubtedly tend to ad¬ 
vance in value the higher bred types of the true 
Percherons. After all, it is only the high bred ani¬ 
mals of this or other breeds, that are worth using 
in breeding, as it is only from these that we can 
look for satisfactiory results in the progeny. 
ARABIAN STALLION, OWNED BY COLIN CAMERON, LANCASTER CO., PA. 
PERCHERON MARE AND ABABIAN-PERCHERON POAL, OWNED BY J. J. PARKER. 
