H O R
H O R
Fattening cf Horses. See the article Fattening.
Watering of Horses. See the article Watering.
Horsf.s of draught. See the article Draught Horfes.
jRrtW-HoRSE, in zoology. See the article Hippopotamus.
S<7<7-Horse. See the article Hippocampus.
/^r-HoRSE. See the article War.
Horsf, in. a fhip, that rope which is made fad to the fhrowds to prefer ve him that heaves the lead there, from falling into the fea.
Horses is alfo an appellation fometimes given to the waps, as alfo to thofe fhort waps that arc fe'ized to the middle of the top-maft and top-gallant mail flays, wherein are reeved the top-fail, and top-gallant fail bow-lines.
Horse-#m«. The Horfe-bean is the only kind propagated by the plough ; it delights chiefly in a fliffand moift clay ; three bufhels will fow an acre, and this is to be done in February. The common produce is about twenty bufliels from an acre. They muft lie fome time upon the ground after they are cut, before they are carried in. Some farmers fow tares and Horfe- beans together, which is a very good way, for the feeds are eafdy feparated by a riddle. Mortimer's Husbandry, p. 1 39.
HoRSE-B/ffrf, in the manege. See the article Montoir.
Horse- B}-ead, Bread of a proper kind is often given Horfes to hearten and ftreogthen them when they have gone through great fatigues, or are to prepare for fuch. Common houfe- hold-bread will anfwer the purpofe, but the more common way is to prepare a kind of bread on purpofe. There are two different receipts for making this fort of bread, each of which has its admirers. The fir ft method is this : Take wheat- meal, oat-meal, and beans ground fine, of each half a peck, anifecd two ounces, gentian and fenugreek-feed, of each an ounce, liquorice two ounces; let all thefe be made into a a fine powder, and fifted together, that they may be perfectly mixed. Then add the whites of twenty new-laid eggs, and as much fine-ale as will knead the whole into dough. This is to be made into loaves, and well baked, but not burnt ; and the Horfe is to have a good quantity of it every morning for five or fix days, without any other provender. The other method is much nicer, but perhaps does not any ■way better anfwer the intended purpofe of heartening up the creature. It is this : Take wheat-meal, rye-meal, bean-meal, and oat-meal, of each half a peck ; anifeed and liquorice, of each an ounce ; white fugar-candy, four ounces: Beat all thefe to powder, and fift them together ; then add the whites and yolks of twenty new-laid eggs, and as much white-wine as will make the whole into a dough. Let this be made into great loaves, and well baked ; it muft not be given the Horfe too new, but when it has flood about three days, it may be- gin to be ufed ; the outfule is always to be chipp'd off when any of it is given. Thefe are the two forts of bread ufually given to prepare Horfes for long journies. But there are three other receipts for making bread for race Horfes, which are as much efteemed, and are given by our expert jockies for the fecond, third, and fourth fortnight's feed. The firtf. kind is made in this manner :
Take three pecks of clean beans, and one peck of fine wheat ; let thefe be ground together, and kneaded into dough, with a large quantity of frefh barm or yeaft, but with as little water as may be. When this has heaved and worked up a little, let it be kneaded again, and then made into large loaves and carefully baked ; when three days old, it may be given to the Horfe, but not fooner.
The fecond fort is to be made as the other, only with equal quantities of beans and wheat, and the cruft of this is to be cut quite away before it is eat. This is to be given to the Horfe at his ufual meals, cither alone, or mixed with oats and fpiit beans.
The third fort of bread is ftronger than either of the others, and is to be made thus : Take three pecks of wheat, and one of beans ; let them be ground together, and made into very fine flour ; knead this up into dough with a good quantity of yeaft dhTolved in as much ftrong ale as is neceffary ; add the whites of twenty eggs, and make the whole into large loaves. Thefe muft be thoroughly baked, and when they have flood three days, the cruft mult be cut off, and the crumb only given, either alone, or mixed with oats or fplit beans. This is to be the food for the laft fortnight.
Animated Horse- Hairs, a term ufed to exprefs a fort of lono- and flender water-worm, of a blackiih colour, and fo much refembling a Horfe-halr, that it is generally, by the vulgar, fuppofed to be the hair fallen from a Horfe's mane into the water as he drinks, and there animated by fome flrange power. Dr. Lifter has at large confuted this abfurd opinion, in the Pbi- lofophical Tranfa&ions. See the articleSETACEous Worms,
HoKSE-Hair Worms. See the article Amphisb^ena.
WoRst-Mackrel, in ichthyology, a name given by us to a pe- cular fpecies of mackrel, called alfo in Cornwall zfcad. It is the trachurus of authors in genera]. Bellonius calls it the hcertns, and the old Greek writers, as Ariflotle and the reft, the fawns. Artedi diflinguifhes it by the name of the fcom- ber, or mackrel, with the lateral lines aculeated, and with thirty rays in the pinna ant. See the article Scomber.
HoRsE-wtfj/,. the name given to a particular fpecies of pigeon, called by Moore the cslurnba tabeiiaria minor. It very much
rcfembles in fliape the carrier-pigeon, but it is fmaller, and fhorter necked ; the protuberant fiefh on the beak, and round the eye, is alfo lefs In quantity ; it is more barrel-headed alfo, and the eye is fomewhat pinched. It is matter of difpute whether this be an original fpecies of pigeon* or a baftard be- tween the carrier and tumbler pigeons. Moore's Columbarium, P-3i-
There are of this fpecies of all forts of feathers, but the blue and blue-pleds are the molt valued. Thefe are one of the forts of pigeons made ufe of in England for carrying letters, and flying for wagers ; for the true original carriers are now very fcarce, and not rifk'd on every trifling occafion.
HoRsz-Mtefie, a common Englifh name for the frefh-water mufcle, a large fpecies of fhell-fifti, very common in our fifti- ponds. Mr. Mery, of the Paris academy, has been at the pains of making a number of curious obfervations on this ani- mal. He obferves, that they are all hermaphrodites, and that, by a ftrange and before unheard-of method of genera- tion, each individual is in itfelf capable of propagating its fpe- cies, and annually does it without the intercourfe of any other. This is extremely Angular, becaufe tho' we know many animals which are hermaphrodites, or in which each indivi- dual contains the parts of both fexes, yet in mails, earth- worms, and all the reft of thefe kinds, there is always a con- grefs of two animals for the propagation of the fpecies. The ihell of the frefh-water mufcle is compofed of feveral lamina or beds of matter, in the manner of many of the fca- ftiells, and is lined within with an extremely delicate and thin membrane, which is not eafily diftinguifhed while the fliell is recent, but when 'it becomes dry it ufually fcparates from it, and peels wholly off. This fifth opens and ihuts its ihell by a very ftrong hinge, aififted by two ftrong mufcles ; the contraction of thefe fhuts the fliells firmly together, and a powerful fpring or force in the animal opens them at plea- fure. The part which performs this office, is diftinctly ken on the back of the fifti. and is an inch and half long, and about a fixth of an incli broad. Mem. Acad. Par. 17 10. The mufcles acl fo ftrongly, as to keep the fliells always firmly clofed in their natural ftate ; and this power fubiifts in them even after the death of the animal, till it begins to rot, and at that time the (hells naturally open. This creature is capable of a progreifive motion of two kinds ; it can either creep along the bottom, or crawl up the fides of a pond at the banks, or at pleafure raife itfelf up to the furface of the water and fwim. This laft is a motion it performs but rarely ; but whatever movement it is employed in, all that is feen to affift in it, is, the belly of the fifti hanging an inch or two out beyond the edges of the fliells. The belly of this fifti reprefents very well the hulk of a ftiip, and is larger toward the head, and fmaller toward the anus. This large part of the body, however, is the lighteft, and in fwimming is always carried uppermoft, for in this part the lungs are fituated, by means of which it is capable of a great dilatation of its bulk, in proportion to its weight, a thing of the firft confequence in fwimming. When it is to move along upon the mud, which is its common bu- finefs, it does this by means of five mufcles which the belly is furniihed with, which by their contractions and relaxations eafily give a force able to pull along the whole fifti. The mouth of this fifti is fo placed within the body, that it cannot extend or exert it in the common way of animals in fearch of food ; it muft neceffarily be that the water brings always nourifhment with it to the mouth ; which may well be fup- pofed, when we confider what numbers of minute animals inhabit every drop of it. As the fliells of this fifti are, how- ever, ufually kept ftiut, it might be fuppofed that the animal would want food j but it has a power of retaining a quantity of water a long time in the fliell, and feems to flowly collect from that all the nouriihment it contains, before it difcharges it to take in more. This water is kept in four large refer- voirs, and thence pafTes by the parts of generation to a large glandular fubftance, which this gentleman takes to be pro- perly the head of the fifti, though it wants the characters of the more perfect animals ; and the mouth being placed in this part, the nourifhment is received from the water here. It is foon conveyed from the mouth into ths inteftine, whofe courfe in this fifth is very extraordinary ; it begins directly be- hind the creature's mouth, it thence pafies through the fub- ftance of the brain, enters the liver, and makes feveral con- volutions there ; hence it pafies in a ftrait line to the heart, which it alfo enters and pafles through, and thence makes its way immediately to the anus, the orifice of which has its rim befet with feveral pyramidal points, and its inner part with feveral glands, of which two are particularly diftinguifhable ; they are of the fhape of an almond, and ftand one on each fide; thefe difcharge a glutinous liquor. The ovaries of this creature are always found empty in fummer, and full in win- ter, the eggs being always laid in the fpring for the production of the young progeny, and the internal copulation of the parts of both fexes not furnifhing others till toward autumn. Mem. Acad. Par. 17 ro.
HoR&E-Tail, in botany. See the article Equisetum.
Horse-^ottw, in natural hiftory, a fpecies or fly-worm produ- ced of eggs depofited by a two-winged fly of the fhape and ftze of the humble-bee, in the interlines of Horfes.
It
