HORSES. 375 



months' old colt, sired by Black Hawk, selling for $1,000, and 

 a yearling for 12,000. The farmer, it is repeated, knows his 

 interest, and will not be slow in taking advantage from the 

 exhibition just closed ; and we cannot better finish this article 

 than by using the words of a writer in the Boston Transcript, 

 who says : " On the comparatively unproductive soils of New 

 England, mere farming is the least remunerative of the different 

 classes of occupations into which the community is divided. It 

 is impossible for the majority of farmers to make more than a 

 bare living from the tillage of the earth. Some means of profit 

 must be superadded, perhaps not exactly included in the general 

 term of agriculture. Horse-breeding is one of these. We 

 suppose it will not be denied that the hills and moors of New 

 England are better adapted to grazing, and consequently the 

 maintenance of the equine family, than to other agricultural 

 purposes. Any thing that turns the attention of all farmers to 

 this subject, is, then, of direct importance to these busy pro- 

 ducers. 



"The mind of the agriculturist being directed to the raising 

 of horses, it is of the last necessity that he should be acquainted 

 with the best varieties, — those of the highest money value 

 because of their fleetness, as well as the species that are the 

 most valuable for immediate practical uses, draught, &c. Cer- 

 tainly no easier or cheaper way for the diffusion of this sort of 

 knowledge can be devised, than by the exhibition of the finest 

 blood horses in one grand collection, where the spectator can 

 have before him, at one glance, all the country can boast in the 

 equine department. 



" But there is one controlling consideration why horse fairs 

 should become an institution in our land, arising from the fact 

 that our people are blessed with too few periods of relaxation 

 and repose. As a consequence, the population wear themselves 

 out in one-third less time than would suffice, were it not for the 

 unceasing activity and constant restlessness that prevail. If by 

 making these displays of the noblest of the domesticated tribe, 

 of annual or periodical occurrence, any increase whatever can 

 be added to the list of holidays, who will not favor them ? " 



Samuel C. Oliver, Chairman. 



