1848. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
61 
As I have become a farmer, I think I shall sow some 
in the spring, and see whether it can be made a pofit- 
able crop. The chief advantage from the use of su¬ 
mac in tanning, is that it makes the leather of a light¬ 
er color. Thos. Guest. 
Trenton Falls, New Jersey, January, 1848. 
Origin of the Narragansett Horse>s. 
Eds. Cultivator —The following extract from Up¬ 
dike’s “ History of the Church in Narragansett,*” a 
a work which incidentally speaks of other things not re¬ 
lating to the church, furnishes, probably, the best ac¬ 
count of the origin, decline and extinction of the 
famous Narragansett saddle-horses, that can anywhere 
be found. James A. Charlton. 
Fast Windsor Hill, Ct., Dec . 27, 1847. 
11 Mr. J. P. Hazard, in a communication to the au¬ 
thor says: 
‘ My grandfather, Gov. Robinson, introduced the fa¬ 
mous saddle-horse, the Narragansett pacer, known in 
the last century over all the civilized part of North 
America and the West Indies, from whence they have 
lately been introduced into England as a saddle-horse 
for ladies, under the name of the Spanish Jennette. 
‘ Gov. Robinson imported the original from Anda¬ 
lusia, in Spain, and the raising them lor the West In¬ 
dia markets was one of the objects of the early plant¬ 
ers of this country. 
•' My Grandfather, Robert Hazard, raised one hun¬ 
dred annually, and often loaded two vessels a year with 
them and other products of his farm,* which vessels 
sailed directly from the South Ferry to the West Indies, 
where the horses were in great demand. 
1 One cause of the loss of that famous breed here, 
was the great demand for them in Cuba, when that 
Island began to cultivate sugar extensively. The 
planters became rich, and wanted the pacing horses 
for themselves, and their wives or daughters to ride. 
They wanted them in greater numbers than we sup¬ 
plied them; and sent an agent to this country to pur¬ 
chase them on such terms as he could, but to purchase 
at all events. This agent never let a good one, that 
could be purchased, escape him. 
‘ This, and the fact that they were not so well 
adapted to draught as other horses, was the cause of 
their being neglected, and I believe the breed is now 
extinct in this section. 
‘ My father described the motion of this [kind] of 
horse as differing from others, in that its backbone 
moved through the air in a straight line, without incli¬ 
ning the rider from side to side, like the common racker 
or pacer of the present day. Hence the gait was very 
easy, and the horses being of great power and endu¬ 
rance, would perform a journey of one hunred miles a 
day, without injury to themselves or riders.’ ” 
We are much obliged to Mr. Charlton for the 
trouble he has taken in procuring and forwarding the 
above facts in relation to the once celebrated Narra¬ 
gansett horses. We have never before been able to 
obstain a clue to their history. 
The Andalusian horses of Spain were formerly held 
in high estimation. It is said they were carried into 
France many years ago, and that a cross from them 
produced the famous Norman breed, which is used in 
that country for stage-coaches, or “ diligences.” They 
were also carried, at an early day, into the Spanish 
settlements of South America and Mexico, and it is 
not improbable that the swift-footed “ Canalos ” of 
California, of which Col. Fremont has given some 
account, (see last number of the Cultivator, page 31,) 
are descendants of the ancient Andalusian stock. 
Col. Chas. Hamilton Smith, in the “ Naturalist’s 
Library,” thus speaks of the Andulasi an horses: “ The 
Andalusian horses are flexible, graceful aud active, 
forming excellent manege or riding-school steeds, and 
very good chargers. They vary in color, but bays 
predominate, and next blacks and greys.” 
Of the South American stock, the same writer 
says :— u The South American horses are marked with 
most, if not all the characters of their Andalusian pro¬ 
genitors; they have their grace and good temper, and 
surpass them in speed, surety of foot, and bottom. Indi¬ 
viduals taken on the Pampas have been known to carry 
a heavy man one hundred miles without drawing bit.” 
Of the Mexican branch of the family he says:—* 
u The Mexican are known to be derived chiefly from 
Andalusian progenitors. * * They are a beautiful 
and sprightly race, of small stature and delicately 
formed, like roebucks, with handsome heads, the nose 
being slightly aquiline.” 
The origin of the fine breed of Andalusia is said to 
have been a mixture of the blood of the Barbs and 
Arabs from Africa, with the Spanish horses. During 
the occupancy of Spain by the Moors from the eighth 
to the sixteenth century, the horses from Africa were 
introduced in great numbers and mixed with the stock 
of the country. “ This mixture,” says Prof. Low, 
“ was greatest in Andalusia and Grenada, and other 
kingdoms of the South, and there it is that the Span¬ 
ish Jennette was formed and is still found with its pris¬ 
tine characters. These elegant little horses were 
greatly valued over Europe. They are stouter than 
the Barbs, but much of the same graceful and easy 
action. They are gentle and spirited, and capable ot 
long and rapid journeys.” 
During the invasion of Spain by the French, the 
breeds of Spanish horses were much injured, and some 
of the best nearly ruined. In order to prevent the 
Spaniards from using the horses for cavalry purposes, 
it is said that Bonaparte’s marshal issued an order to 
disable, and blind the right eye of every serviceable 
horse in Andalusia.”* The execution of this barbar¬ 
ous order, with the disasters incident to the French 
invasion, nearly deprived Spain of the noble race of 
horses for which she had long been celebrated. 
Experiments—Lime and Plaster. 
We are well pleased with the contents of the Culti¬ 
vator in general; many of your correspondents furnish 
very interesting communications; but some of them, 
especially those detailing their experiments in farming, 
are so indefinite that they lose much of their value to 
the practical farmer. In order to derive much (if any) 
benefit from the experiments of others, we should know 
all the minutia of the operation, from its beginning to 
its end^ for it frequently happens, that an apparently 
small error in repeating the process, w r ill lead to a re¬ 
sult entirely different to that which might have been 
anticipated. 
We have observed one fact, relative to the use of 
plaster and lime, on the same soil at the same time, or 
shortly after each other. We have been using lime 
pretty freely for several years, and have repeatedly 
made experiments with plaster upon corn, for which 
the ground had been limed within from one to four 
years, and in no single instance was there the least 
perceptible advantage from the use of the plaster after 
the lime. The experiment was made by plastering 
several rows through the field, at a distance of from 
four to five rods from each other, and the result was 
uniformly the same—no difference in color, size or pro¬ 
ductiveness of those rows, over the rows intervening. 
How long this will be the case, and when gypsum will 
again be beneficial to the crops on land to which lime 
* Col. Chas. Hamilton Smith in Naturalist’s Library . 
