IMPROVEMENT OF AGRICULTURAL HORSES. 
693 
horse and the quality of the soil to be cultivated, we shall 
endeavour to associate the breed with the country for which 
it seems specially adapted; suggesting, finally, such a system 
of selection and general treatment as will tend to the im¬ 
provement of those varieties which possess the requisite qua¬ 
lifications to entitle them to our favorable notice. 
1. Varieties of Horses employed for Agricultural 
PURPOSES. 
' A cart-horse, according to Dr. Johnson, is ‘‘ a coarse 
unwieldy horse, fit only for the cart,^^ a definition not com¬ 
plimentary, hardly correct, but certainly expressive of a 
popular notion. To associate the idea of coarseness with the 
animal seems perfectly natural. A rugged, ungraceful exte¬ 
rior is instinctively ex[)ected, wliile hard work and harder 
fare are awarded to him as his natural inheritance. Such a 
definition does not of course apply to the sleek and well-fed 
animal of the model farm, nor the magnificent specimen of 
the race daily seen in the brewer’s dra}^; but to the cart¬ 
horse as he exists in hundreds of extensive establishments, 
roughly treated, badly sheltered, indifferently fed, and the 
victim to a host of diseases which spring up with mushroom 
rapidity under cover of neglect. Do we require specimens of 
glanders, farcy,grease, cracked heels, mange, surfeit, cataract, 
ophthalmia, thrushes, canker, quitters, sandcracks, ossifica¬ 
tions, bursal enlargements? we seek them with invariable 
success in localities where draught horses are crowded into 
unhealthy sheds. In proportion to the improvements in tlie 
system of management, we find these various maladies less 
})revalent, until w^e come to the veritable agricultural horse, 
w ho ought to be the healthiest animal in existence, but w ho, 
generally speaking, has an unfortunate predisposition to cer¬ 
tain affections, some of w'hich are now’ almost confined to his 
class; prominent among them being grease and cracked 
heels, mange, diseases of the eye, side bones (ossified lateral 
cartilages), and bursal diseases of hocks and fetlock. The 
causes which lead to the constant occurrence of these affec¬ 
tions will occupy our attention further on. 
The numerous varieties of draught horses in England may 
be traced to some three or four originals. 
The animal described by Professor Low^ as the English 
black horse” is most prevalent, being in some degree con¬ 
nected with most of the common kinds of cart-horse, d'he 
original is characterised by a short, thick, ungainly body; 
strong, thick, and hairy legs from the knee downwards; his 
