394 
Wisconsin' State Agricultural Society. 
a hundred dollars. In social life, too, we often see young folks 
kiting about as if they were surcharged, with vitality, energy, and 
strength, who, upon being called into requisition for active service, 
are unfit for either harness or saddle, and neither win a race or 
carry a burden, except in their stomachs. 
And yet, the horse, as regarded in the blue-grass district of Ken¬ 
tucky, or on the green hills of Vermont, or amid the rich verdure 
of England, where he is the companion of ladies and gentlemen, as 
the donkey is of the huckster, becomes almost human in point of 
intelligence, indispensable in respect to usefulness, convenience, and 
pleasure, and a source of profit to the breeder, who regards pure 
blood, pure pedigree, and exemption from disgrace of any name or 
nature, concerning this noble animal that has received his watch¬ 
fulness and attention, with as much jealousy and care as he would 
evince in guarding the good name of family and kindred. 
Never so gentle and proud as when handled by ladies of refine¬ 
ment and gentleness; never so reliable and faithful as when reared 
from colthood to trust implicitly in the kindness of every man, 
woman, and child who have access to him; sharing the courage of 
his rider in the battle-charge or fox-hunt; exerting his strength in 
conveying burdens, or winning a prize in the race; and often with 
intelligence superior to that of his befuddled master, the horse, from 
Bucephalus down to Morgan, Messenger, Black-Hawk, and Ham- 
bleton has been so thoroughly identified with man’s interests and 
pleasures, that it seems almost “ the unpardonable sin ” to abuse this 
willing servant, this useiul friend, and this valuable acquisition—a 
fine horse. The man who would degrade a horse by harnessing 
and working him, side by side, with a blasted, treacherous, tricky, 
condemned, long-eared, and downcast mule, would, if not restrained 
by public ordinances, utilize the phosphates of a cemetery by con¬ 
verting it into a hop-yard. So, while discouraging the ordinary 
farmer from large attempts to raise fine horses, it shall not be said 
that I disparage or underestimate their value; but to insure suc¬ 
cess in this branch of stock-raising, the breeder must give so much 
attention to it, that he will necessarily be deprived of the requisite 
time and means for the successful prosecution of other and more 
profitable departments of agriculture. 
