Middletown transcript., 1868-11-14
The Thoroughsr.a vs.. the Psrohsron.
The following is from the Turf, Field
and Farm, of the 23d I:

A writer in the October issue of the
Farmers Gazette, published in Richmond,
Va.-whose admiration Of the blooded-
horse has our fullest sympathy hy-rather
overshoots the mark in advocating the SUI
periority of the thoroughbred for all pur-
poses, He takes occasion to be facetious
at the expense Of the Percheron, and be-
trays his utter ignorance of the invalua-
BILE qualities of the race after the follow
ing fashion: ~,st .l..I e l.5lG E..h. .k
I" The Normandy Percheron horses have
been introduced lately into Virginia by
| breeders of Durham cattle and Essex pigs
and our horses are now to be bred. like
our Berkshires, Cotswolds and Durhams,
to parallelogram forms and for avoirdupois
weights. The ,Percheron horse has all the
points which we Virginians have been
trying to breed out of our horses for two
hundred years, and into our beeves for
| fifty years. How wofully and horribly
would our Virginia horse-loving people
stultify themselves if they should quit the
racer and take the Percheron. In France,
where they eat horse-fesh, they very ma
| turally prize the fat, square, heavy. slug
gish Percheron, Just as the English beef
eater prizes steaks from the short horn OK.
But do our Virginian short horn breeders
propose to raise Percherons for the butch
ers? If so, their choice of breed is very
judicious. / trust, however. that it will
be some time before horses are sold in
Virginia by the c,ot or ton. The Per-
cheron which have seen would average q
ton if in good order, of which neck, head
and legs would make fully '' fifth quar-
ter" They are the true breed for horse
beeves, But those Of us who do not eat
horse-hesh and desire to rear horses for
purposes of locoinotion, had better breed
from thorough-breds of the old Virginia
four mile stock" %
Now, we venture to state that Mr.
Ficklin, of Belmont near Charlottesville in
Virginia, has two Percheron stations,
and Mr.. w. L. Walters, of Baltimore,
five, any two Of which can haul heavier
load given distance in given time
over our ordinary roads, than any four
thorough -breds the writer can trot out.
! We will venture farther and assert that
Mr., Walters has q fast tpotting pair Of
mares Of the pure Percherop breed, that
will travel with an ordinary family car
| riage, containing four persons, With their
baggage, one hundred miles farther In one
II week, oyer our ordinary roads, than any
one pair of tharonghbFads in Virginia or
elsewhere.
Il If the writer will procure from Orange
i Judd 4 Go. New York, the admirable
| work Of Da Hays on. the Percheron horse,
and peFase 1t attentively, he will become a
i wiser man on the horse. He will there
find the average time made in twenty
nine trials of these sluggish horses, as he
sees fit to call them, at mile and quar-
ter, was four minutes and twelve seconds.
j The average in thirty one results at 1 SO
miles was $40. The average time made
4 by forty horses and mares at two miles,
{ was 1920. Sixty-five trials at q miles
gave an average as to time OF. 8. Is.
!, These were all under the saddle. In har-
ness, the average of eight horses and
!, mares at two miles was 7.36 Decidee
made at Rouen in 1864, Q 3-5 miles in
, 9.21, with 1856 pounds behind her.
Now, as regards the endurance Of these
! j" beefy' horses-a gray mare, bred by
M. Beaulavoris at Almenesches, performed
/ the following match in 1S45 :-Harnessed
to a travelling tilbury, she started from
Bernay ut the same time as the mail cou-
: rier from Rouen to Bordeaux, and arrived
! at Alepcon, having made So 3-6 milei
over billy, difficult road in Al 24m.
n A gray mare, seven years old, belong
ing to NJ. fConsturier, of Fleury Sur An
! dele, 1864. harnessedto tilbury, trav
7 elled fifty-eight miles and back on tw,
i consecutive days, going at a trot anS
without being touched by the whip. y
: This was over the road from Lyons-la
Foret, from Pont Audamler and back,
1 difficult and hilly way The following
time was made .---The first day the dis
81 tance was tpottsd In Al Inn 35s. the sec
: ond day in oh. 1m. 30s.; the 13& las
! miles were made in one hour.
: CuRE FaR RISeRosE. A correspcn
: dent of the Rmul Ne,o FYEey, says tina
! hehas known a horse that went for tWelp
!, months on three legs, from ringbene
made perfectly sound BY the applicatior