Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/88

78 diſſected a horſe of 5 feet 9 inches height, French meaſure, equal to 6 feet 1.7 Engliſh. This is near 6 inches higher than any horſe I have ſeen: and could it be ſuppoſed that I had ſeen the largeſt horſes in America, the concluſion would be, that ours have diminiſhed, or that we have bred from a ſmaller ſtock. In Connecticut and Rhode Iſland, where the climate is favorable to the production of graſs, bullocks have been ſlaughtered which weighed 2500, 2200, and 2100lb. nett; and thoſe of 1800lb. have been frequent. 1 have ſeen a hog weigh 1050lb. after the blood, bowels, and hair had been taken from him. Before he was ki i l led, an attempt was made to weigh him with a pair of ſteel-yards, graduated to 1200lb. but he weighed more. Yet this hog was probably not within fifty generations of the European ſtock. I am well informed of another which weighed 1100lb. groſs. Aſſes have been ſtill more neglected than any other domeſtic animal in America. They are neither fed nor houſed in the moſt rigoro n u s ſeaſon of the year. Yet they are larger than thoſe meaſured by Mons. D'Aubenton, of 3 feet 7 and quarter inches, 3 feet 4 inches, and 3 feet 2 inches and half, the latter weighing only 215.8lb. Theſe ſizes, I ſuppoſe, have been produced by the ſame negligence in Europe, which has produced a like diminution here. Where care has been taken of them on that ſ t i de of the water, they have been raiſed to a ſize bordering on that of the horſe; not by the heat and dryneſs of the climate, but by good food and ſhelter. Goats have been alſo much neglected in America.