AGRIOULTURAL ORaANIZATIONS AND INDUSTRIAL FAIRS. 25 



Bocieties in the State. We now have State, County and National 

 Societies. I have had the privilege of attending one fair in New 

 York, one in Ohio, and also a United States Fair, and I have 

 marked everywhere the advantage of these exhibitions. 



It occurred to me, while our friend Martin was speaking, that 

 while we had the ornamental, it would be well if we could add 

 something of the useful. I think prizes should be given for brood 

 mares kept for breeding purposes. In England prizes are given 

 to the racers, and English writers say they have no other way of 

 testing the quality oi the best horses except by »race, and that is 

 true. Have we any other test for our brood mares or our stal- 

 lions, than by their actual performances ? In England, large 

 prizes have been given to racers for years, perhaps for centuries. 

 In that way, they test the power of their horses. Twenty-two 

 hundred horses go on to the English turf in a year, and the quali- 

 ties of those horses are tested at the county and national races. 

 That horse which has the strength of limb, soundness of wind and 

 power of endurance to win, is the horse for breeding. So when 

 Mr. Alexander of Kentucky, went to England to procure a horse 

 to improve the American stock, what horse did he select ? He 

 selected "Scythian." And what was "Scythian?" Although 

 but five years old, he had won $27,000 (fn the English turf. His 

 sire was "Orlando," who was sired by "Touchstone." That 

 was the guide he had, and the only guide he had. His ancestors 

 had desirable qualities, and the horse himself had these qualities, 

 and he was purchased at a vei^ large price and -brought to Ken- 

 tucky. 



Again, let me remark that I regard the horse interest as an im- 

 portant one in Maine. The farmer can breed horses, and if he can 

 produce good horses, it is an advantage to him. We raise them 

 to make money, and we find that men in the cities will pay well 

 for a good horse. We know they will go pretty deep into their 

 pockets for a first-class horse. 



So far, therefore, as the agricultural interests of the State are 

 concerned, it is well to ' improve the race of horses. What has 

 Vermont done by united action and effort? She succeeded in 

 raising the "Morgan," and secured for that breed a world-wide 

 reputation. What did she do with the " Black Hawk ?" She has 

 given that a reputation almost as wide. 



It is already admitted that Maine horses are superior in bottom 

 to any other horses in the United States, from some cause. The 



