Smyrna times. [volume] (Smyrna, Del.) 1854-1987, 1891-09-30
ARABIAN HORSES.
Their characteristics Compared with
Those Of American TrOtters.


Those OF American TrOtters.
There are hundreds Of horses called
Arab in America which have no right to
the name. Almost every spotted horse
or "calico" horse is said to be more or
less Arab, while it Is stated as positive
fact by no less an authority than John
II. Wallace that an Arab may be of any
color in the world but spotted. No Arab
is a calico in color. It is an exceedingly
difficult thing to get pure bred Arab.
The Bedouin chief will not sell one at |
any price, and the only ones procured
are secured by raids on the tribes of the |
Euphrates valley.
In the whole United States there are |
only three strictly pure bred Arabian
horses. Two of these are the stations |
Leopard and Linden Tree, which were
presented to General Grant by the sui
tan of Turkey, and mare called Naomi
which has been imported from England.
OF the two Grant stations Leopard is
not at all a prepotent horse and is get
ter of few foals, and Linden Tree is the
possessor of one of the ugliest tempers of
any living horse. He is said to be fiend
| incarnate, though his colts are gentle
and kind enough when properly treated.
1t is popularity of the Arabs that if
used kindly and treated with considera-
ton they are gentle and lovable.
"To one that has gained the confidence
of an Arab horse there is the pleasure of
| knowing that he associates with brute
endowed with a SOUL" Abuse one of
them, and you have aroused devil that
can never be subdued, for of their cour-
age there is no limit, and they will re-
sist abuse while they have life. General
Grants stallion Linden Tree is said to
have been made vicious because the man
in charge of him did not gain his conf
dence and abused him.
There is a great deal of foolish senti-
ment existing about the Arab horse,
however. He has many good qualities,
is highly intelligent, quick to learn, has
rare beauty of form and rich quality, is
for saddle purposes beautifully gated,
quick and active in his movements, and
of much endurance; but when compared
with the thoroughbred race horse or the
American trotter he suffers much by the
comparison.
He lacks the size and speed of the
thoroughbred, and what a spectacle a
Maud s, a Jay-Eye-See, a STEAMBOAT, a
Nelson would make of the greatest trot,
ting Arab that ever lived could they meet
on a trotting treck!
J As q race they are handsomer than the
American trotters, many of which have
inherited Roman heads and cat hams
> from the great progenitor, Rysdyk's
| TT,,,1IoAo,so,, - oo,,II 10 Jo,,o ,rr;AI,
out a loss of size and speed, for the pur
pose of giving beauty and finish to the
American trotter, it might be we'll tt
add more of the Arab blood to the com
posite article which goes to make up tn!
American trotter, but the experiment
has been tried and not found successful
No Arab known to civilized man is 81
handsome as Mambrino King. -BostoI
Couria-
Splitting" q NeighbOr.
J The workmen employed at one of tn
chair making works in an English tow
were cutting up a large cherry tree a
the circular saw bench when something
squirted in the sawyer's face and raj
over the bench in all directions TIL
engine was stopped, and an examination
showed that the saw had struck cavit
in the tree and liberated a considerabl
quantity of quicksilver, afterward est
mated as half gill. The log was care
{, fully examined, and it was found tina
many years previously hole had bee
bored in a slanting downward directio
through the heart of the tree, the quicl
silver poured in and the hole CAREFUL
> plugged. The rings of the tree shove
that it was ninety years old, and tina
? after the hole had been plugged tn
u growth had covered the head of the plu
i with several inches of solid wood.
As it was known the tree came out {
= an old cherry orchard at AllertOn, Yorl
:, shire, where yearly "a cherry feast
s. used to be held, it was thought tn
quicksilver had been put in the tree i
connection with some old ceremony, bJ
later it was found that up to thirty
forty years ago quicksilver was thus en-
plQyed to kill fruit OF other tire,
by those who had "grudges" again
their neighbors. 1t was usual to do tn
IL in the dead of night. A piece of bar
was first carefully taken off, the no
bored, quicksilver poured in, the no
plugged, and last the bit of bark WI
carefully replaced. The tree from IL
next rising of the sap began to wither.
the present case the attempt was u fai
- ure, for except where the quicksilv,
had lain dt had not penetrated son
inches beyond the end of the boring Il
tree was sound.-Notes and Queries.