The Panola weekly star. (Sardis, Miss.) 1882-18??, 1884-02-02
The Horse and His Dcgeneracy.

History chronicles no improvements
tho horse made by tho agency Of man.
The horses Of the days Of Pharaoh, orof
Homer, have their superlors In no part Of
the civilized world to-day. The Arabs
have for ages been noted for the excel.
lence Of their horses, but that excellence
was not created, nor has IL been In.
creased by the arts Of nan. Since the
time Of Cromwell the horses Of England
have steadily ~degcucratcd. Those
most convorsant with the matter say
that this dcgcncracy has been the most
marked and rapid during the last fifty
years Tho horses Of this country lack
the value of their ancestors Of tho Revo-
%luilonary period. Nowhere. or Mt no
time. can man boast OF improving the
horse by tho arts Of breeding. Whatis
the reason Of thisp
The horse, the on. tho hog and the
sheep comprise tho four great classes OF
domcsticatcd farm animals. In certain
dircc ions man has improved these
three last. These improvements have
made them more valuable. The OK has
been bred to make more flesh from the
samc amount Of food, aud TO lay ON fat
at an earlier age; tho COW has been
bred 10 give instead Of n supply Of milk
barely large enough to sustain her
young. q bountlul Yield. and of a
richer quality; the hog has bcen bred
Into n veritablo machine 10 convert food
into pork the sheep has been bred to
yield more wool, aud Of q finer texture,
and 10 make moro mutton. All these
changes have been beneficial because
the value Of the animal lay in lis pro.
duction Of bcof, milk. pork. wool or
mutton. rs 10 case might DO. II is
tue that these changes have been nc.
complishcd At the expense Of yigor aud
endurance. These two qualities are I'M
portant In tho hog, on or sheep, but
those that have been developed so far
oycrshadow their lcsscning that ON tho
whole We can say that the arts OF man
have improved our kline, swine and
sheep.
But Il is not ~ with the horse. Its
value does not depend upon the guam
tity aud quality Of It's flesh. milk OF
bodily covering. Unlike tho Others. lis
value depends upon the work Il can do,
Hence vigor and endurance a-o the
prime essentials OF a good horse. But
as man has lcssencd the vigor and en-
durance Of the hog. OK aud sheep. 80 he
has Of the horse. This Is tho invnriable
result Of human art. Whenever man
Hampers with the work OF nature no u
certain TO lessen bodily vlgor. IL could
not be otherwise. For the course o.
nature. nndlsinrbed aud undciccied. |,
always towards the greatest health,
Man changes the course Of nature ant
the result Is lcssened yigor and cndur
ance.
Man has improved some qualities o
the horse. lie has increased It's speed
perhaps, but only for short distances
Our r~ace-horses Of to-day would max,
n sorry record with those OF days NJ
longer past than those Of tho ''pony OK
pres" to say nothing Of the couriers o
centuries ago. because they have beef
made TO dctcriorate In ylgor and cndur
ance. We have pondcrous, hcay,
horses to-day; hut they can not do a
much work before the pillow or dray a
those Of tho eighteenth century. W
can not point anywhere 10 horses pro
duced by breeding that are tho equal
OF the horses Of the days of chivalry
They lack not only In vigor aud hard
hood. but In intelligence. As the per
feet symmetry II development by IN
course Of nature has been destroyed b
man. tho Intelligence Of the animH
lcsscncd. Whenever the hand OF ma
has touched his equine friend Il hs
been only to mar.
This decrease In the excellence Of III
hsrse can not be shifted from man |
time. One instance alone demonstrate
the unfalmcss Of this. Tho Andsluslar
arr now mere ponies, yet they are n
descendants Of those noble beasts riddle
20 victory by the Spanish chiyalry In u
days when the valor 81 the horse was |
important M the yalor Of the knight
. rider. Taken from their hills and Va
, lcys 10 serve In the haunts Of men. nd
! to be subjected 10 the arts OF brccdln,
D they have sadly degenerated. But {
! horses Of the Spanish explorers Of boi
: North and South America escaped. N
. ~ day tho descendants Of these san
/. Spanish horses are. under the nurtu
!. oil nature aud natures WAYS the super
Wild horses % the new world. They q
: the work Of nature; the AndaluslI
. ponies are the work Of mans ART
; Hrairls Farmer.