them down to stubs eighteen to twenty-four inches high and let them
branch close to the ground, for if there is a single reason for growing
a long-bodied tree I have never heard it. On the contrary, there are
many reasons against it. Let every twig that starts grow the first year,
for they will be needed to furnish leaves to assimilate the food taken
up by the roots, and to return the solid part to increase the growth of
trees and root. You have now only the question of cultivation, and that
should be the best that you can give. Plant the orchard in some suitable
crop, preferably a low growing one, that requires hoe work, but leave
ample space next to the trees for continuous cultivation, and keep that
space clear of grass and weeds, for the trees cannot compete in their
new surroundings with these gross drinkers of the water that is in the
soil, that will be so badly needed to start their growth. Should the
summer be dry, keep a dust mulch by frequent cultivation with light
harrows or sweeps until the fall rains come, and if your soil is
reasonably fertile, the growth the trees will make will be a surprise
and pleasure, and the hardest period in growing your orchard will be a
thing of the past. Get all the information you can from practical fruit
growers; study the bulletins of the National Agricultural Department and
of the State Experimental Station; read the papers and magazines that
treat of these subjects; seek every available source of information; and
having digested the opinions and practices of others, formulate your own
opinions, map out the course you believe most suitable to your
surroundings and follow the dictates of your own judgment. Continue this
line of action through the coming years, adapting your methods to suit
the condition of your orchard from year to year, and if you have
exercised good common sense success is as certain to reward your efforts
as anything in this life can be certain that is dependent upon human
effort and the vicissitudes of drouths, storms and frosts.
The Army Horse
By O. M. NORTON, V. M. D., VETERINARIAN ARTILLERY CORPS, U. S. A.
Knowing that the method of purchase and the kind of horse required in
the military service of the United States is a matter of interest to
both horse breeders and dealers, the scarcity of horses meeting these
requirements has caused me to write this article, for Trotwood’s.
First, as to Method of Purchase.
The buying of horses is done by the Quartermaster’s Department of the
army, the number of horses bought at any one time depending on the needs
of the service at that time. This number may vary from one to two to
hundreds and even thousands. Bids are advertised for, giving the number
of horses required, and the date on which they are to be delivered to
the government. Then contractors or dealers in horses put in their bids
at the prices at which they will furnish the required number of horses.
The bids are opened on a certain date, and the lowest bidder is given
the contract. Soon after the contract is awarded, a Board of Officers is
appointed to inspect and buy the horses that the contractor brings
before the Board, providing, of course, that the horses fulfill the
specifications of the contract.
A horse purchasing Board usually consists of from three to five members.
One of these officers is from the Quartermaster’s Department, U. S.
Army, the others being usually members of the Cavalry or Artillery;
there is also a Veterinarian to inspect the horses in regard to
soundness. He may be either a Quartermaster’s Veterinarian (civilian) or
a Veterinarian of the Cavalry or Artillery.
Usual Requirements of Horses Purchased.
The horses bought consist principally of two types, viz.: the Cavalry
horse, weighing from 950 to 1,150 pounds; and the Artillery horse,
weighing from 1050 to 1300 pounds.
Cavalry Horse: The requirements of most contracts say that the horses
must be sound and well-bred; gentle under the saddle; free from vicious
habits, with free and prompt action at the walk, trot and canter;
without blemish or defect; with easy mouth and gait, and otherwise to
conform to the following description: a gelding of uniform or hardy
color; in good condition; from 15 ¼ to 16 hands high; weight from 950 to
1150 pounds; age from four to eight years; head and ears small; forehead
broad; eyes large and prominent; vision perfect in every respect;
shoulders long and sloping well back; chest full, broad and deep;
forelegs straight and standing well under; barrel large and increasing
from girth toward flank; back short and straight; loins and haunches
broad and muscular; hocks well bent and under the horse; pasterns
slanting and feet small and sound.
Artillery Horse: The Artillery horse has in general about the same
requirements described for the Cavalry horse, with the following
exceptions: weight being from 1050 to 1300 pounds; should be more of a
draught horse type, as he is required to work in harness, as well as
under saddle; shoulders should be well-muscled, so as to give good
support to the collar; hindquarter should be heavy and strong; the horse
should not be what is known as “beefy” or lymphatic type, but should be
active on his feet and thus able to turn quickly.
Price: The price at present ranges from a hundred and fifty to a hundred
and seventy-five dollars, probably about a hundred and sixty for Cavalry
horses; Artillery horses being somewhat higher, one hundred and
sixty-five to one hundred and eighty dollars.
When a horse is shown to the Board for purchase he is inspected by the
Board first in regard to general conformation, height, weight, muscular
development, bones, etc.; whether he is high in withers, thus liable to
sore back and bruises by saddle; length of back, thus whether able to
carry weight; should have short back with good muscular development;
should not be ewe-necked or bull-necked, thus hard to control and never
making a good saddle animal.
Color: Bays, browns, blacks and sorrels are the colors best suited for
the service. Grays are sometimes taken, there often being a gray horse
troop in the regiment, but are not as preferable as the hardier colors.
Sex: Only geldings are accepted, mares and stallions not being taken,
excepting in times of great necessity, as during war.
Gaits: Walk, trot and canter being the three gaits prescribed by Army
Regulations, pacing or single-foot horses are not desired in the
service. And here is where the writer expects to receive Trotwood’s
condemnation. However, if they do pace they are used in the army, and
the writer has often noticed how quickly both officers and men will pick
a pacing horse, or one that single-foots for their mount if allowed to
do so, thus proving, that although we may condemn the pacer openly, deep
down in our hearts we have a soft spot for him who carries us many miles
with so little effort to himself or us.
After the horse is inspected for general conformation he is trotted to
see his action, also to see whether he goes sound, is a paddler,
string-halt, interferes, etc. He is then examined by the Veterinarian as
to defects, age, eyesight, etc. If affected with any enlargement or
weakness of tendons, hocks as to spavins, thorough-pins, curbs;
examining pasterns for sidebones, ringbones, quittor, wire scars, etc.,
he is rejected. Sometimes horses are taken with small splints, also with
small wire scars, especially in this Western country, where wire fences
are so common. If shod, shoes are removed to examine feet thoroughly for
quarter-crack, false-quarter, founder, corns, etc. The eyes are
thoroughly examined for any signs of defects, and in this country,
Middle West, where periodic ophthalmia is so often seen, it is often
hard to tell where a horse has had a few light attacks of it in the
past, and it is well for the Veterinarian to reject a horse that is the
least suspicious, thus being on the safe side.
If the horse examined is not sound in every respect he should be
rejected, and any one desiring to furnish horses for an army contract
had better read carefully the specifications stated above and then start
out to compare the horses of his neighborhood with the specifications as
set forth, and he will find that there are very few that are truly sound
and able to pass muster. Where the horse is accepted by the purchasing
Board he is branded on the left shoulder with the letters “U. S.,” and
often there is also branded on his hoof a number, and he is then ready
for shipment to the place where he is needed for service.
Besides the two classes of horses mentioned, there are also a few very
heavy draught horses bought for two batteries of siege Artillery, these
horses weighing from 1300 to 1500 pounds. There are also bought by the
government a few horses for special purposes, as horses used in the Fire
Department and horses used in the Quartermaster’s Department as drivers,
etc.
The specifications of most contracts say that the horses shall be well
bred, but owing to the scarcity at present of horses, and the high
prices paid for highly bred horses, we often find in the service horses
that show none or very little indication of any breeding.
Disposal of Horses Unfit for Government Service.
Horses that fail to give good service, or are not able to do the work
required, or are unsuited for the purpose for which they were bought,
are inspected and condemned and sold at public auction to the highest
bidder; when condemned are branded with the letters “I. C.” (inspected
and condemned). This brand is placed on the side of the neck under the
mane.
The History of the Hals
THE FATHER OF THE TURF IN TENNESSEE.
CHAPTER VI.
By JOHN TROTWOOD MOORE
“Uncle Berry,” continued Mr. Peyton, “I find, arrived in Tennessee in
the month of February, 1806. In the spring of that year he made a match
of mile heats, $500 a side, over the Hartsville course, with Henrietta
against Cotton’s Cygnet, which he won.
“The old men of the neighborhood manifested great sympathy for the young
stranger, and predicted that Lazarus Cotton would ruin him.
“This was his first race in Tennessee, and I witnessed his last, which
was run over the Albion course at Gallatin, in 1862.
“Shortly after the race at Hartsville, Uncle Berry trained a famous
quarter race mare called Sallie Friar, by Jolly Friar, and made a match
for $500 a side, which was run on Goose Creek, near the Poison Knob.
Sallie was the winner, and she was afterwards purchased by Patton
Anderson, who ran her with great success.
“In the fall of 1806 Uncle Berry won with Post Boy the Jockey Club
purse, three mile heats, at Gallatin, beating General Jackson’s Escape
and others. Escape was the favorite, and the General and Mrs. Jackson,
who were present, backed him freely. Before this race he sold Post Boy
to Messrs. Richard and William L. Alexander for $1,000 in the event of
his winning the race, after which he was withdrawn from the turf. Here
he first met General Jackson and made a match with him on Henrietta
against Bibb’s mare for $1,000 a side, two mile heats, equal weights,
though the General’s mare was two years older than Henrietta, to come
off in the spring of 1807 at Clover Bottom. The result proved that Uncle
Berry underrated the horses and trainers of the Tennessee turf, as the
General’s mare, a thoroughbred daughter of imported Diomed, won the
race.
“The General, though deprived of the pleasure of being present on that
interesting occasion (having been summoned as a witness in the trial of
Aaron Burr at Richmond) showed that his heart was in the race, as
appears from a letter to his friend, Patton Anderson, dated June 16, and
published in Parton’s ‘Life of Jackson,’ from which I quote:
“‘At the race I hope you will see Mrs. Jackson; tell her not to be
uneasy. I will be home as soon as my obedience to the precept of my
country will permit. I have only to add as to the race, that the mare of
Williams’ is thought here to be a first-rate animal of her size; but if
she can be put up to it, she will fail in one heat. It will be then
proper to put her up to all she knows at once.’
“This is Jacksonian. Not many men would take the responsibility of
giving orders of how to run a race at the distance of five hundred
miles. This error of underrating an adversary, especially such an
adversary, was a heavy blow to Uncle Berry, from which he did not fully
recover until he started Haynie’s Maria, mounted by Monkey Simon,
against him.
“Not long after this defeat he set out to search for a horse with which
to beat General Jackson, and purchased from General Wade Hampton, of
South Carolina, a gelding called Omar, bringing him to Tennessee. After
recruiting his horse at Captain Alexander’s, near Hartsville, he went to
Nashville and offered General Jackson a match for $1,000 a side, three
mile heats, according to rule. This the General declined, offering
instead the same terms as to weight, as in the former race, in which he
was allowed two years’ advantage, a proposition which, of course, was
not accepted.
“Unable to get a race in Tennessee, Uncle Berry took his horse to
Natchez, Miss., traveling through the swamps of the Chickasaw and
Choctaw Nations, and entered him in a stake, three mile heats, $200
entrance; but his bad luck pursued him, and just before the race his
horse snagged his foot, and he paid forfeit. He remained near Natchez
twelve months and nursed his horse as no other man could have done,
until he was perfectly restored to health and in condition for the
approaching fall races of 1808. Writing to Col. George Elliott, he urged
him to come to Natchez and bring fifteen or twenty horses to bet on
Omar, and also to bring Monkey Simon to ride him, which Colonel Elliott
did.
“Simon’s appearance on the field alarmed the trainer of the other horse,
who had known him in South Carolina, and, suspecting that Omar was a
bite, he paid forfeit.
“As Simon was a distinguished character, and made a conspicuous figure
on the turf of Tennessee for many years, it may be well to give some
account of him. His sobriquet of ‘Monkey Simon’ conveys a forcible idea
of his appearance. He was a native African, and was brought with his
parents when quite young to South Carolina, before the prohibition of
the slave trade took effect. In height he was four feet six inches, and
weighed one hundred pounds. He was a hunchback with very short body and
remarkably long arms and legs. His color and hair were African, but his
features were not. He had a long head and face, a high and delicate
nose, a narrow but prominent forehead, and a mouth indicative of humor
and firmness. It was rumored that Simon was a prince in his native
country. I asked Uncle Berry the other day if he thought it was true. He
replied, ‘I don’t know; they said so, and if the princes there had more
sense than the rest he must have been one of ’em, for he was the
smartest negro I ever saw.’ Colonel Elliott, speaking of Simon after his
death, said he was the coolest, bravest, wisest rider he ever saw mount
a horse, in which opinion Uncle Berry fully concurs.
“Simon was an inimitable banjo player and improvised his songs, making
humorous hits at everybody; even General Jackson did not escape him.
Indeed, no man was his superior in repartee.
“On one occasion Colonel Elliott and James Jackson, with a view to a
match race for $1,000 a side, a dash on two miles, on Paddy Carey
against Colonel Step’s mare, consented to lend Simon to ride this mare.
“Colonel Step not only gave Simon $100 in the race, but stimulated his
pride by saying they thought they could win races without him, whereas
he knew their success was owing to Simon’s riding. Somewhat offended at
the idea of being lent out, and by no means indifferent to the money,
Simon resolved to win the race, if possible; and nodding his head, said:
‘I’ll show ’em.’ The mare had the speed of Paddy and took the track, and
Simon, by his consummate skill and by intimidating the other rider,
managed to run him far out on the turns, while he rested his mare for a
brush on the stretches.
“On reaching the last turn Simon found the mare pretty tired, and Paddy,
a game four miler, locked with her, and he boldly swung out so far as to
leave Paddy in the fence corner. The boy came up and attempted to pass
on the inside, but Simon headed him off, and growled at him all the way
down the quarter stretch, beating him out by a neck. Simon could come
within a hair’s breadth of foul riding and yet escape the penalty.
Colonel Elliott lost his temper, which he rarely did, and abused Simon,
saying, ‘not satisfied with making Paddy run forty feet further than the
mare on every turn, he must ride foul all the way down the quarter
stretch.’
“The Colonel repeated these charges until at length Simon answered him
with, ‘Well, Colonel Elliott (as he always called him), I’ve won many a
race that way for you, and it is the first time I ever heard you object
to it.’”
* * * * *
Much has been said and written of the tenderness and care bestowed by
the Arabs on their favorite horses, but I doubt whether any Arabian
since the time of the Prophet ever showed such devotion to his favorite
steed as Uncle Berry to the thoroughbreds under his care. In fact, his
kindly nature embraced all domestic animals. For many years he resided
on a rich, productive farm near Gallatin, where he trained Betsy Malone,
Sarah Bladen and many other distinguished race horses; raised fine stock
and fine crops and proved himself to be one of the best farmers in the
neighborhood. He had pets of all kinds—huge hogs that would come and
sprawl themselves to be rubbed, and game chickens that would feed from
his hand, and followed him if he left home on foot, often obliging him
to return and shut them up.
He raised many celebrated racers for himself and others, and so
judicious was his system that, at the age of two, they had almost the
maturity of three-year-olds. His last thoroughbred was a chestnut filly,
foaled in 1859, by Lexington, dam Sally Roper (the dam of Berry), which
was entered in a stake for three-year-olds, $500 entrance, two mile
heats, to come off over the Albion course, near Gallatin, in the fall of
1862. This filly was, of course, a great favorite with Uncle Berry. She
never associated with any quadruped after she was weaned, her master
being her only companion. At two years old she was large and muscular
and very promising, and in the summer of 1861 I urged Uncle Berry to
send her to the race course (where I had Fannie McAlister, dam of
Muggins, and several other animals in training), that she might be
gentled and broken to ride. His reply was: “I have been thinking of your
kind offer—I know she ought to be broke, but, poor thing! she don’t know
anything; she has never been anywhere, and has never even been mounted.
I am afraid she will tear herself all to pieces.” But he finally
consented for my colored trainer, Jack Richlieu, to take her to the
track. On meeting Mrs. Williams a few days afterwards, I inquired for
Uncle Berry. Her reply was: “He is well enough as to health, but he is
mighty lonesome since the filly went away.”
But of all the horses he ever owned, Walk-in-the-Water was his especial
favorite. In the language of Burns, he “lo’ed him like a vera brither.”
He was a large chestnut gelding, foaled in 1813, by Sir Archie, dam by
Gondola, a thoroughbred son of Mark Anthony, and these two were the only
pure crosses in his pedigree, yet he was distinguished on the turf until
fifteen years old, more especially in races of three and four mile
heats.
I was present when Walk, at nineteen years of age, ran his last race, of
four mile heats, over the Nashville course, against Polly Powell.
Uncle Berry, several years before, had presented him to Thomas Foxall,
with a positive agreement that he would neither train nor run him again;
having a two-year-old in training, Mr. Foxall took up the old horse
merely to gallop in company with him, a few weeks before the Nashville
meeting.
It became well known that the mare would start for the four mile purse,
and she was so great a favorite that no one would enter against her.
The proprietor, to prevent a “walkover,” induced Foxall to allow him to
announce Walk-in-the-Water, whose name would be sure to draw a crowd.
There was a large attendance, and the game old horse made a wonderful
race, considering his age, running a heat and evidently losing in
consequence of his want of condition. When the horses were brought out I
missed Uncle Berry, and went in search of him. I found him in the grove
alone, sitting on a log and looking very sad. “Are you not going up to
see old Walk run?” I inquired. “No, I would as soon see a fight between
my grandfather and a boy of twenty,” he replied.
In the year 1827, when Walk was fourteen years old, Uncle Berry took him
and several colts that were entered in stakes to Natchez, Miss.,
traveling by land through the terrible swamps of the Chickasaw and
Choctaw Nations. The colts had made very satisfactory trial runs in
Tennessee, but suffered so severely from the journey that they either
paid forfeits or lost their stakes, so that Walk-in-the-Water was the
only hope for winning expenses. He was entered in the four mile race of
the Jockey Club, and his only competitor was the b. gelding Archie
Blucher, fifteen years old, a horse of great fame as a “four miler” in
Mississippi.
On the evening before the race the Jockey Club met and changed the rule,
reducing the weight on all horses of fifteen years or upward to one
hundred pounds, leaving all others their full weight, or one hundred and
twenty-four pounds, three pounds less for mares and geldings.
This extraordinary proceeding would not have been tolerated by the
gentlemen who, at a later day, composed that Club, but Uncle Berry
protested in vain against the injustice done him. He, however, concluded
to run Walk, giving his half brother twenty-one pounds advantage in
weight. Walk had the speed of Blucher, and when the drum tapped, took
the track, with Blucher at his side, and these two game Archies ran
locked through the heat, Walk winning by half a length. The second heat
was a repetition of the first, and never was a more tremendous struggle
witnessed on a race course—a blanket would have covered the horses from
the tap of the drum to the close of the race.
Any man who has watched a favorite horse winning a race, out of the fire
and blue blazes at that, can appreciate Uncle Berry’s feelings during
that terrible struggle. The horses swung into the quarter stretch, the
eighth and last mile, and Uncle Berry, seeing the sorrel face of his old
favorite ahead, cried out at the top of his voice, “Come home, Walk,
come home! Your master wants money, and that badly.” After the race he
expressed his opinion of the Club in no measured terms. Though
habitually polite and respectful, particularly toward the authorities of
a Jockey Club, he was a man of undaunted courage and ready to resist
oppression, irrespective of consequences, but his friends interposed and
persuaded him to let the matter pass.
When he reached the stables the horses were being prepared for their
night’s rest, and he made them each an address. “Jo,” he said to a
Pacolet colt, named Jo Doan, that had lost his stake in slow time, “you
won’t do to tie to; I’ve always done a good part by you. I salted you
out of my hand while you sucked your mammy; you know what you promised
me before you left home (alluding to a trial run), and now you have
thrown me off among strangers,” and he passed on, complaining of the
other colts. The groom was washing old Walk-in-the-Water’s legs while he
stood calm and majestic, with his game, intelligent head, large,
brilliant eyes, inclined shoulders and immense windpipe, looking every
inch a hero. When Uncle Berry came to him he threw his arms around his
neck and said, bursting into tears, “Here’s a poor old man’s friend in a
distant land.”
Walk-in-the-Water won more long races than any horse of his day. If I
can procure the early volumes of the American Turf Register, I will in a
future number give some account of his performances.
Haney’s Maria was a most extraordinary race nag at all distances,
probably not inferior to any which has appeared in America since her
day. She was bred by Bennet Goodrum, of Virginia, who moved to North
Carolina, where she was foaled in the spring of 1808; from there he
removed to Tennessee, and, in the fall of 1809, sold Maria to Capt.
Jesse Haney, of Sumner County. She was by imported Diomed, one of the
last of his get when thirty years of age. Her first dam was by Taylor’s
Bel-Air (the best son of imported Medley), second dam by Symmes’ Wild
Air, third dam by imported Othello, out of an imported mare.