Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-01-31
Fast Horses Agriculurally Considered


II all our horse talk and writing, we have
spoken disparagngly of that class of horses the
only merit of which is, that they are merely
fast. These gaunt, leggy spiders that can do
nothing but run, are about as useless in this
world as those fancy gentlemen in tashy vests,
who generally attend them in their airings-
And we have still less sympathy with the
gamblings attendant upon the meeting of this
class of men and horses upon the turf We
have never attended such meeting, 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
literary papers, have come down upon the
trials of speed" at agricultural 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 tea lbs. of butter Mrs. Jones does
her best, but Mrs Smith does little better, by
her superior dexterity with the skinner or
the ladle, and she wins Here is a woman race,
with all Of its riyalries and expectations and
disappointments on small scale. Almost
everybody says it is right; we shall not dispute
with them. Clark has Suffolk pig,-he be-
lieves in SuffOlks White has Byfield-he
believes in Byfelds. Clark and White set out
to see which will make the best porker in a Civ
en- time One tries the jugglery Of ground and
cooked feed, the other the mystery of steamed
potatoes and corn in the ear. One beats, of
course, and the other thinks he cheated. Here
is a hog race. Judge b. and Gen. c. being
troubled with plethoric purses and ambitious
brains, 20 to England or Timbuctoo, and each
buys another calf which is educated and
brought up far more carefully than those who
call them father and at proper time exhibi-
ted for the big prize. Here is bull race, a
step or two in advance Of the others.
Charley has a nice FLY, with thin. sloping
shoulders, long hip, and such good walker
he would like to see the nag that could out
walk his iilly. Charley is riding in town, and
Jim comes up on the same Grand and having
learned the state of Charleys mind, accommo-
dates him TO a walk with his sorrel for quar-
ter Of a mile the stakes are the good opinion
of each boy for his nag Charley loses. No
body ever thought that was a horse race; well.
maybe il wasn't At the county Fair. John
had Morgan and VIII had a Bellounder
standing still, the judges could not tell which
was best, and as one or the other bad TO be
best, the judges said, Let's sec them move
John trotted and VIII trotted, John trotted
faster, and VIII trotted faster, John trotted rs
FAST as he could, and VIII trotted as fast as he
could, and they both trotted as fast as they
could and kept on trotting aud the people
gather about, and each one of the 1--WE thousand
made up his or her mind which horse they
would rather have and so did the Judges. and
the trOtting was over. And then some folks
thought they began 20 smell horse race and
some folks have a nice and discriminating sense
OF smell Our olGctories are not that sharp
But enough OF this pleasantly We are
willing 20 take more serious view Of the sub
jet, One objector SAYS, Fast horses are nat
an agricultural necessity, or even an agricultn-
raj product No practical farmer need b. told
that the rearing aud training Of such horses is
nc utter variance with agricultural Success
Fast horse tesh has no practical value since
the introduction OF railroads and telegraphs
That Is what young gentleman wrote Of the
late exhibition OF the United States Agricultu-
raj Socety at Philadelphia
Il is an agricultural necessity to raise az
~ bnshels OF wheat 10 the acre, and 50 get iif-
" dollars instead Of fifteen dollars for your
crop! Il two thousand pound balloek an
agricultural product p let Us abolish these
railroads, 50 that the heeSes we send 20 Goth
am wsii get nice and tough as IN iormer years,
by four weeks travel on eet, becanse these
New Workers are getting better steaks than
they deserve. and our eattle feeders are getting
too mach money. Let as have a moral reform
society, and petition the Legislature to pass an
Act. iorhsdding any farmer 10 raise 4 colt that
can trot hster than mile in Eileen minutes
or that shall Be worth over fifty dollars At 0ar
years Old because 'fast horse flesh has no prac.
teal value" now. and a five hundred dollar
colt Is not an agricultural proauct''
Oh 6eorge Il may ds g sslk khst va ia.