Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1856-12-19
From The Ohio Cultivstor,
Fast Horses Alphabetically Consider.
ed.


In all our horse talk and writ
ing, we have spoken disparaging-
|y Of that class Of horses, the on
" merit Of which is,Ithat they are
fast. These gaunt, leggy
spiders which can do nothing but
run, are about as useful in the
world as those fancy gentlemen in
ilashy vests, who generallyattend
them in their airings. sAnd we
have still less sympathy with the
gamblings attendant upon the
meeting of this kind of men and
horses upon the turf We have
never attended suoh ameeting,and
have no desire to. Thus much
for our disclaimer.
OF late, quite a respectable
portion Of the agricultural press,
and many Of the news and liter
airy papers, have come down up
on the "trials Of speed at agri-
cultural fairs, which they say is
only horse-racing under another
name. Well. it is hard to say
just where we pass the line Of
healthful rivalry, when once we
enter the path Of competition.-
Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Jones both
compete for the prize for the best
ten lbs. of butter. Mrs. Jones
does her best, but Mrs. Smith does
a little better, by her superior
dexterity with the skinner or la
die, and she wins. Here is a wo-
man race. with all its rivalries,
and expectations, and disappoint-
ments, on a small scale. Almost
everybody says II IS right; we
shall not dispute with them
Clark has a Suffolk pig,-he be-
lieyes in Suffolks. White has u
Byfield, ----he believes in Byfields.
Clark and White set out to see
which will make the best por-
ker in given time. One tries
the jugglery of ground and cook
ed feed, the other the mystery
of steamed potatoes and corn in
the ear. One beats, Of course,
and the other thinks he is cheat
ed. Here is a hog race. Judge
B. and Gen. G. being troubled
with plethoric purses and ambi-
tious brains, go to England OF
Timbuctoo. and each buys anoth-
er calf, which is educated and
brought up far more carefully
than those who call them father,
and at the proper time exhibited
for the big prize. Here is bull
race, a step or two in advance o.
the others.
Charley has a nice filley, with
thin, sloping shoulder, long hip
and such good walker; he'd like
to see the nag that could out.
walk his filley. Charley is riding
to town, and Jim comes up on
the same errand, and having
learned the state Of Charley's
mind, accommodates him with q
walk with his sorrel for q quarter
OF a mile; the stakes are the gooc
opinion Of each boy for his nag
Charley loses. Nobody evel
thought that wasa horse race;--
well, may be it wasn't. At tn,
county fair, John had a Morgan
and Will had a Belllounder; stan
ding still, the judges could no
tell which was best, and as one o
the other had to be best, tn,
Judges said, "Let's see then
move" John trotted, and Will
trotted, John trotted faster, ant
Will trotted faster, John trotte'
as fast as he could, and Will trot
ted as fast as he could. and the,
both trotted as fast as they could
and kept on trotting; and tn
people gathered about, and eacl
one Of the five thousand made VI
his or her mind which horse the,
would rather have, and so did TN
judges, and the trotting was over
And then some folks though
they began to smell a horse race
and some folks have a very dis
eliminating and nice sense o
smell. Our olfactories are not S
sharp.
But enough Of this pleasantly
We me willing to take moro SER
Gus view Of the subject. On
! objector says, East horses ar
NOT an agricultural necessity, nc
even an agricultural product
No practical farmer need be tol
that the rearing aud training {
Of such horses is at utter yarianc
s with agricultural success. Fas
: horse flesh has no value, since th
introduction Of railroads and te
7 egraphs.'
8 That is what q young gentl,
. man wrote Of the late exhibitio
of the US. Ag. Society, lat Phi
adelphia.
Is it an agricultural necessit,
= A. 4 I.