THE CULTIVATOR. 
Dec. 
title to a mine; but rather he whose skill and industry- 
raises the ore, reduces the metal, moulds it into count¬ 
less shapes of usefulness, and sets to work the gig-antic 
engine with its thousand hands. Farmers and me¬ 
chanics if faithful to their duties, are men, in the full 
meaning of the word—useful men; men that the world 
cannot do without. Their occupations develope all the 
faculties, and produce t( sound minds in sound bodies;” 
they accustom men to rely on their own strength, to 
love labor, and to feel that independence of other men, 
and that contempt for little difficulties which are the 
foundation of true greatness of mind. 
These, fellow working men, are the occupations, this 
is the land,—ours are the institutions, and our fathers 
the stock which have produced the noblest race now 
living; and shall, if we value and use our privilege 
aright, yet exhibit human nature in its highest standard 
of perfection. We have resources and advantages pos¬ 
sessed by no other nation; and a people better fitted than 
any other to develop those resources and improve those 
advantages. We need little aid from abroad, for we 
have every thing- at home; we need little teaching from 
strangers, for we know best what is best for ourselves. 
According to my observation, farmers are too easily 
persuaded to look to other states and countries for the 
means of increasing the products of their fields, and 
improving their flocks and herds; we are not in Eng- 
land, nor at the north, nor at the south; and neither 
English, northern, or southern improvements are what 
we want. We want improvements of our own, suited 
to our own wants and position, such as none can make 
for us as well as we can make them for ourselves. Is it 
not better, as a general principle, both as to animals 
and vegetables, to choose and improve the best of 
such as are already adapted to our climate and soil, 
than to be shifting and changing, in the vain hope of ar¬ 
riving, by some short cut at such results as God in¬ 
tended we should accomplish only by close attention 
and the sweat of our brows? 
Of all the animals created for the use of man, none 
has been the subject of so much observat on and esteem 
as the horse. In their native wilds, nature forms them 
into herds and groups, and gives them in command of 
the strongest and fleetest; and by this and other wise 
arrangements, of which only God is capable, guards the 
species against general degeneracy. The same kind 
care has been shown in special provision for the secu¬ 
rity of every race of animals; but when this security is 
taken away, and they are brought under the dominion 
and management of man, the most skilful attention is 
required in changing the general character of the spe¬ 
cies, and producing and improving distinct breeds, each 
adapted to its own specific purpose. It is not every 
breed that is suited to every locality; for climate, and 
the face and food of different countries, will modify the 
shapes and qualities, not only of the domestic animals, 
but of the human species; the raw-boned, industrious, 
hardy, and temperate man of the north becomes ener¬ 
vated and indolent, both in the mental and physical 
constitution and energies, in tropical latitudes where he 
reposes in the lap of luxury, enjoying without exertion, 
the abundance which nature lavishes around him. 
The horse, best fitted to travel in the sun and sands 
of the south, is the descendant of the small, hard-boned, 
light-footed Arabian, with his high courage and silken 
coat; while grain-growing Pennsylvania and Ohio, 
with their cumbrous waggons, prefer to use a heavy 
corn-fed breed, that will throw a greater weight upon 
the collar. The north again is better served by a more 
compact and active race of middle size, endowed with 
much more strength in proportion to their weight, and 
greater powers of endurance; who bravely champ the 
bit, and nobly strain to the load with lion-like vigor; 
rejoicing at toil and answering to the driver’s voice 
with proud step and martial air, as if it was the trum¬ 
pet calling them to battle. Thus the wants and pecu¬ 
liarities—the soil, climate, and uses of each district— 
require and produce that peculiar breed which is best 
suited to itself. What better stock do we need than 
such as can be bred from the best of those we already 
have. The teams of Z. Pratt & Co., oomposed of a 
] single span, (natives of our own region,) are in the 
habit of drawing from Catskill over the mountains to 
Prattsville and back, loads of hides and leather of from 
thirty to fifty, and even sixty hundred weight, each 
wagon or sleigh not included, the distance being thirty- 
seven miles, and requiring three days to go and come. 
The quantity thus transported within the year, is 
nearly two and a half millions of pounds; and the ex¬ 
penses the last season, including all risks and charges, 
was only thirteen cents a hundred. During twenty 
years of this service, which I make bold to assert has 
not been equalled by horses of any other district or 
country on the globe, not a horse has been been injured, 
in the hands of a careful driver, and to the honor of the 
county be it said that we have never lost a hide or side 
of leather, of the million and one-half thus transported. 
I am aware that there are those, and among them, 
my friend Mr. Skinner, the experienced editor of the 
Farmer’s Library, who have strongly recommended 
mules for slow and constant work; on the ground of 
much longer life—greater exemption from accident and 
disease, and more economy in feeding; but experi¬ 
ence, the best of teachers, seems to show that the mule 
and the slave are destined to work together in the sun¬ 
ny south—both are uncongenial to us and our latitude. 
The horse which we have is just the kind that we 
need; and if we pay proper attention, in breeding, to 
the selection of both sire and dam, we shall soon have, 
of our own raising, a class of animals that for our pur¬ 
poses cannot be excelled; already, indeed, two of 
the most celebrated trotters the country ever saw, have 
been raised in our immediate neighborhood. We do 
not want such horses as roam half wild, over the pampas 
of South America; they are small, light, active, always 
on the gallop, and admirably fitted to chase the ostrich 
over the sand, or the ox through the tangled grass; but 
when put to severe tests, they are fbund wanting in 
strength, power of enduring fatigue, and even fleetness. 
Neither do we want the English dray horse, which 
represents the other extreme; he is large and strong, 
like the ox, and like him, too sluggish, heavy, and un¬ 
wieldy. 
The requisite vigor and spirit are not to be looked 
for in overgrown size and fatness in tne horse, any more 
than in the man—animation that ensures perseverance— 
the muscle that gives activity, and that ardor and am¬ 
bition which never permits them to look back and 
baulk, are what is wanting in both. 
What I have said as to horses being improved on the 
foundation of our native stock, applies with equal force 
to cattle. 
In every settlement, a stock of good cattle is of the 
highest importance; and every sagacious farmer will 
learn to choose for breeders, such as promise best for 
his particular object, whether it be butter, beef, cheese, 
or labor; and he should study this subject with a deep 
feeling of scientific interest, as well as for the sake of 
gain. Let his first care be to put aside the very best 
progeny of his stock, and never permit his dearest 
friend to cast a wistful eye on them—nor be tempted, 
by an} r price, to sacrifice them to the butcher's knife. 
If he has a favorite cow of the real fill-pail breed, let 
him reserve and turn out that one of her calves that 
most resembles herself, before it grows old enough to 
be sold to the butcher, and always guard it with spe¬ 
cial care. 
We read of premiums being given to large imported 
cows that have yielded some thirty quarts a day; but 
every dairy woman will tell you that it is not the cow 
that gives the largest quantity at a milking, that makes 
the best one in the long run. A better one still, is 
she that keeps on through the year, giving milk for 
your dairy, and cream for your table, in winter as well 
as summer, let the feed be short or long. Run fast, 
is a good name, but hold fast, is a better one. 
In the Agricultural Journals, I have read an account 
of a middle sized country cow; I refer to the celebra¬ 
ted Oaks cow, bought out of a drove in Massachusetts 
for a mere trifle. Her history illustrates two things 
worthy of note: First, what we can obtain from the 
best of our old breed: and secondly, how much de- 
