VOl,. XXXI. No. 26, 
WHOLE No. 1326. 
PRICE SIX CENTS, 
82.65 PER YEAR. 
Horseman 
ENGLISH PRIZE HORSES 
SEEDING ON SANDY SOILS. 
Sand is easily worked, and farmers ac¬ 
customed to plowing and cultivating it are 
not easily persuaded to take and work 
heavier lands. The chief difficulty with 
sand is that of getting grass, and especially 
clover, to succeed well on it. While rich 
enough there is no trouble, but sand needs 
frequent manuring and a yearly addition of 
vegetable matter from some source. Plow¬ 
ing under a growth of clover every third 
year will keep the soil up, and a “ black 
sand” with plenty of vegetable matter is 
one of the most productive of all soils. Put 
if several hoed crops have been taken in 
succession the vegetable matter is speedily 
exhausted. The fields become incapable of 
holding grass roots, and frequently in winter 
large hollows in the drifting sand are dug 
by the wind and blown away. 
What to do with these light sands is a 
i. It is practically impos¬ 
sible to manure them all, and without 
manure muoh of the most vaiuable part of 
the soil will be blown away, so that there 
will be nothing for clover to take root on 
the following spring. We will mention a 
method practiced by some farmers who own 
some of this difficult soil to manage. They 
sow buckwheat early hi July, which is plowed 
under in August or 1st of September and 
rye and timothy seed immediately sown. 
The decaying buckwheat keeps the soil 
moist, and both grain and grass get a good 
growth before winter. The roots hold the 
soil and the top of the plant keeps the wind 
from reaching it. In April or March follow¬ 
ing, clover Is sown, which gets a better start 
than as though the field had been left naked. 
An Exhibition of Horses, at which $7,500 
was offered in prizes, was held at Pomona 
Gardens, near Manchester, England, on the 
7th instant. The show was very successful, 
being numerously attended, and comprised a 
large display of fine animals in the various 
classes for which premiums were offered. 
The London Graphic gives small, sketchy 
portraits of some twenty of the prize ani¬ 
mals, eight of the most prominent of which 
we ,have had engraved and present below. 
Though the figures are small aud somewhat, 
roughly drawn, they will give the reader a 
fair idea of the characteristic form and style 
of representative animals of the several 
breeds portrayed. 
Our engraving portrays notable specimens 
of the prize winners, the numbers corre¬ 
sponding with those over each figure:—No. 
1. Thoroughbred iHallion, “ Citadelfirst 
prize; class 1. No. 2. Agricultural or Dray 
Horse, “King Tom;” first prize; class 2. 
No. 3. Cart stallion, “Compact Tom ;” first 
prize ; clas3 4, No. 4. Sample of Trooper. 
No. 5. Stallion pony, “Sir George j” first 
prize ; class 3. No. 6. Bay pony, “Bobby; ” 
first, prize ; class 20. No. 7. Agricultural 
herse, “Peeping Tom ;” first prize; class 27. 
No. 8. Hunter, “Erl King;” first prize; 
class 7. 
The English are noted for breeding horses 
for certain purposes, as the above classifica¬ 
tion indicates. Their farm and cart horses— 
such, for instance, as shown in figures 2, 3 
and 7 in our engraving—are usually much 
heavier than those used for like purposes in 
this country, though many have given them 
a trial, especially in Canada and some of our 
HORSES FOR FARM USE 
Hals' the secret of doing good work lies in 
having good tools to do it with. lu like 
manner the team which a farmer works has 
as much as aught else to do with his success 
or failure in fanning. Our modern methods 
of farm management lessen the use of horses 
on one side by employing steam wherever 
practicable ; but they immensely increase it 
on the other side by substituting horse-labor 
for that of men. Improved mowers and 
reapers for securing the hay nnd grain crops ; 
improved cultivators nearly superseding the 
use of the hoe In cultivated crops, are the 
order of the day, 
horse. In some sections theso French horses 
have attained considerable popularity under 
the name of “Samsons,” sometimes called 
“ English Samsons,” though the basis of the 
brer'Vs rarely EngJJah. Their peculiarities 
are short leg-, sound feet and heavy bodies | difficult question 
in proportion to their size. The English or " ' 
Scotch “Clydesdale” breed is generally too 
large-bodied, and too “loguey” to cross on 
our native mares. Possibly bettor results 
would be secured by taking Clydesdale mares 
nnd breeding with some of the heavier class¬ 
es of American trotters. Theoretically this 
should give all the strength and body re¬ 
quired, with sufficient action and speed for 
all practical purposes. 
A team weighing 3,100 to 2,350 pounds, 
closely built and well kept, will do the bulk 
of work on a hundred acre farm, as we 
know by experience. If more team help is 
needed get some more horses as nearly like 
them as possible rather than strive to get 
horses of unnatural size and proportions. 
It, is no wonder that farm¬ 
ers are beginning to Lake decided interest In 
the horse business—not always in trottors 
for the race course, but especially in gpod, 
strong-limbed and fast walkers for the. plow, 
the Cultivator, the rake and the reaper. 
The higher price farmers have to pay for 
hired help makes it doubly important that it 
should not be neutralized either by inferior 
implements or teams. With some horses 
six to seven acres a day is all that can be 
reaped or mown ; while with others twelve 
to fifteen acres are just as easily acconi plished. 
It is discouraging to a farmer, and equally 
so to hia hired man, to work hard all day, 
and accomplish little through the Inefficiency 
of his team. Work soon gets behind-band, 
and It costs twice as much, often more, to 
do work three weeks too late as to do it at 
the proper time. 
What kind of horses do fanners want f 
The subject Is a broad one, and we aid 
