How To Handle And Educate Vicious Horses

By Oscar R. Gleason.

The Percheron Horse In America

By M. C. Weld; In France By Charles Du Hays. New York: Orange Judd Co., 1886.

These two works bring horse knowledge down to the present time. It is remarkable that though the horse has been a study for centuries, there is always something new to learn about the noble animal.

In reading these useful books, we were impressed with the thought that has often occurred to us before, how much a study of one branch of science assists another. Some years ago, when the speculations about the cross-fertilization of flowers became popular, the writer of this read a paper before the American Association at Detroit, to show that the whole speculation was founded on an assumption that was far from being proved. It was assumed that "in-and-in breeding " was an injury to plants; and then that insects, by cross-fertilization, were a material aid to them in maintaining a healthy race. Without denying what is certainly a fact, that many plants do not seed unless fertilized by insect agency, it was shown that the plants that relied on them had a worse chance than those that depended on in-and-in breeding; and it was also shown that even the popular belief that in-and-in breeding was an injury to animals, was a popular delusion.

In the latter of the two books named, there is a chapter on this subject, and the proof clearly given that there is no deterioration of the races - but rather, a strengthening - wholly confirming the views of plant life in the paper referred to.