Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1861-10-24
HORSES FOR THE ARMY AND FOR
~ WORK.

"With all the Improvements upon our horse
stock, for the last ten years, the mas of horses
arc fit neither for the flrm or the field and the
sooner we begin to lay on weight upon good
build, the better will it tell upon farm crops,
and if need be, upon the efficiency of our
mounted men in the field"
One Of the results Of the present war, as re-
lates to the interests of the agricultural COM
munity, will be the creation of greater de-
mand for horses, both for cavalry and light ar
ullery, as well as for the transportation Of army
wagons Already it is said that ten thousand
horses have been purchased by the war depart
ment, and It the war continues--which we hope
1t will until every traitor shall be made to ac-
knowledge the supremacy of the federal gov
ernment, and to the observance of the laws
there will be a call for hundred thousand
cavalry horses within a twelve month, and
corresponding demand each year, as long as
the war continues. In connection with these
statements, two questions appear for considera-
ton: 1st, What kind of horses are required
I'd, Can we supply the needed demand?
The horses wanted for the use of our army must
be large and strong-capable of endurance, full
of mettle and bottom. These, Tor the present,
must be taken from our best class of work and
farm horses. "These pony Morgans," says the
Ohio feid Notes. from which our quotation at
the head of this article is taken-"are mighty
smart for their inches, and very good in light
carriage on good road, but great failure in a
farm team. They have not the weight to throw
into the collar, and if they are forced to take a
plow through ten-inch furrow, they must
scratch to it with all their might, and come out
with puff and spread of nostril, that is pain
full for any humane driver to see.
1t is not the Morgans alone, but the country
is full of little spindling sorre and other faded
out things, which are fit neither for the road or
the field" This may perhaps, in part, answer
our second inquiry Can we supply the de-
mand for such horses as will be wanted for ar
my usep And here we may remark that it is
sorrowful tact-although it is one which we are
forced to admit-thlt the system of breeding
which has heretofore been practiced by our
farmers and horse-hreeders has been in direct
opposition to our best interests. We have been
breeding for ShOU not for SeTrice-for speed
above all other qualities, rather than for endur-
ance, weight and toughness. It's time change
was commenced in this matter. When we find
out that we cannot furnish the required need of
army horses, and of such horses as the army
service must have, our breeders will at once turn
their attention to the matter; for this active de-
mand for horses promises a good return, and
the profits which at other times are realized
from other sources, will now be made, in part
at least in this direction.
The horse for the army is the horse for all
work and in this kind of horses we are de6ci-
ent. For general purposes of farm work, the
horses as they are now found upon farms
throughout the State are ill-ftted. In plowing
for instance, the draft of the plow is such as our
common farm horse teams cannot carry with,
out an extra strain beyond what they can trave
with as team, and should travel to keep up
good gait, day in and day out. "In view of the
facts" says an exchange, "that the team is too
light for the furrow, and the furrow too heavy
for the team, we have estimated the damage to
our agriculture by the Introduction of these
little trotting horses, at>many hundreds of thou
sands of dollars"