234 THE CULTIVATOR. August 
have been sacrificed. With a view to securing the ob¬ 
ject sought for, speed in the gallop, this may be to a 
certain extent justifiable. As is observed by Prof. 
Low —“ strength and the power of endurance may be 
sacrificed for the property of speed; and even sound¬ 
ness of constitution to the artificial uses to which we 
destine the animal. Not only may these things be, but 
there is reason to infer that this unrivalled breed has 
already suffered deterioration.” 
And how has the hunter, which we have seen pos¬ 
sesses a rare combination of valuable qualities, been 
bred ? The impression, I am aware is entertained by 
some, that the hunter possesses no such distinctive 
characteristics as entitle him to be ranked in a sepa¬ 
rate class; in fact, it is not long since a gentleman, 
somewhat noted for his knowledge of 11 horse flesh,” 
was heard to remark that hunters were never kept as 
stallions, and, that mares intended to breed them were 
always put to blood horses. It is true that blood 
horses have been often, but not invariably, resorted to 
in breeding hunters; and it seems to be equally true 
as will be presently shown, that the infusion of this 
blood to too great a degree, has been one of the causes 
of the deterioration of the hunter in strength and con¬ 
stitution. 
But in relation to the origin of the hunter, we are 
informed by Prof. Low, that the lighter and more 
agile horses of the warmer countries have been mixed 
in blood with the pre-existing races, so that the form 
of the latter has been moulded to a new standard. 
* * * The hunters have been mixed not only with one 
another , but with every other race which seemed fitted 
to give the conformation and characters required. The 
horses of Spain, Italy, and Turkey, nay, of Bar¬ 
bary and Arabia, have been resorted to. * * * The 
mixture of the blood of the race horse with that of 
horses designed for the chase, has been continually in¬ 
creasing, so that the characters of the modern hunter 
have been more and more approaching to those of the 
thorough bred horse. Yet a great distinction has 
hitherto existed, and ought still to be preserved be¬ 
tween them.” 
To establish a race of horses of this description, is 
no easy thing, to be accomplished in a year or two; 
but a work requiring a long course of systematic breed¬ 
ing, continued through many generations. The noble 
characteristics of the hunter, as he formerly existed, 
are not to be produced, as some appear to suppose, by 
a single cross of the blood horse with common mares— 
especially at this day, when, as we have seen, the 
blood horse (as a breed,) has lost many of those pro¬ 
perties which formerly imparted value to the hunter. 
The diminution in England of hunters of the old 
standard, which has taken place from causes to which 
I have before adverted, is regarded by many as a se¬ 
rious loss. Prof. Low’s observations on this point are 
worthy particular attention, both as showing the great 
value of this description of horses, and the difficulty of 
producing a new stock of similar and uniform charac¬ 
teristics. u We may be assured that the race of true 
hunters, if materially diminished or injured in their 
characters, will not without great difficulty be re¬ 
stored. A simple cross between a thorough-bred horse 
and a common mare, may produce a good individual, 
but this is very different from that progressive change 
by which a class of characters can be communicated 
and rendered permanent, and a true breed formed.” 
But the old-fashioned hunter has of late given place 
in the hunting field to a horse of more blood—to one 
in fact, possessing the principal properties of the mo¬ 
dern blood horse; and this [^regarded by some as evi¬ 
dence that the blood horse is better adapted to labori¬ 
ous exercise than the hunter. But a very different 
conclusion will be formed by a fair view of the whole 
case. We are told by British writers that the fashion 
of the chase has greatly changed— u that it is now be¬ 
come a short and fiery gallop,” To correspond with 
this change, a horse of different properties is chosen. 
Instead of the substantial kind of hunter, who could 
carry his rider and bear the fatigues of the chase for a 
whole day, a lighter animal, with more speed for a 
short distance, but with far less strength and capacity 
for endurance, is used; so that two horses are now re¬ 
quired to perform the work which one did before. 
Prof. Low informs us that — u it is now common to 
have relays of horses, so that a sportsman may mount 
a fresh one when the first is exhausted.” Again, he 
observes, in regard to these changes in the fashion of 
the chase ,—“ it is to be feared that refinement has 
been carried to its limits. The rapidity of the chase 
has been carried to a degree that assimilates to the 
sport of a race, animating, certainly, to the highest de¬ 
gree, but differing in the feelings which it excites, 
from the legitimate exercise of the hunting-field. The 
effect begins to be perceived in the character of the 
horses employed, which, in the great hunting counties, 
are manifestly tending to a lighter form than ought to 
characterize the hunter.” Equus. 
Electro-Culture. —Much was said a year or two 
since, and high expectations raised, relative to accele¬ 
rating the growth of vegetables by electricity. Plats 
of ground were encircled by wires buried beneath the 
surface of the soil, and connected with upright pointed 
conductors, for stimulating the growing plants,—the 
operator forgetting that the moist soil, being a free 
conductor of electricity, dissipated in a moment every 
particle of the fluid that came down the rods, and not 
reaching the plants; and also forgetting that if the soil 
were not a conductor, the electricity thus brought 
down could never reach them;-—two conflicting ab¬ 
surdities thus lying at the very threshold. Extraordi¬ 
nary expectations were also raised by the occasional 
observance of the great luxuriance of some plants at 
the foot of lightning rods—resulting from growing in 
the deep bed of mellow soil made by digging the hole 
for the lower end of the rod. 
Accurate scientific experiments have been lately 
made under the supervision of Professor Solly, of the 
London Horticultural Society, which set the matter 
finally at rest. A large and powerful cylinder elec¬ 
tric machine was used, and the plants, in pots, within 
doors, were kept heavily charged, four hours each day, 
for four weeks; and although the experiment was varied 
in many different ways, not the slightest influence 
could in any case be perceived, either favorable or 
detrimental to vegetable growth. The plants operated 
upon, several pots of each sort being taken, were 
young French beans; young plants of the common 
scarlet geranium; plants of the strawberry; seeds of 
wheat; and seeds of mustard and cress. Experiments 
were afterwards made in the open air, on a number of 
different plants, and the machine worked four hours 
each day for nearly six weeks, but not the slightest 
difference could be observed between those electrified 
and those not. 
Large Corn.—A correspondent of the Southern 
Planter describes a field of corn which he saw on the 
farm of W. Gilmer, 6 miles west of Charlottesville. It 
was in drills five feet apart. “ We rode through it; but 
it was more laborious than riding through a thicket of 
woods; for though we went in the widest row we could 
find, it was difficult to keep the blades and stalks from 
dismounting me. The tassels were beyond the reach 
of my cane, and I on horseback.” The land was the 
richest alluvial flats. From 20 to 40 barrels per acre 
were harvested from it. 
