82 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



that time when the fineness of things appears charming to 

 us, when the beauty of loveliness is being apprehended and 

 craved. The first thing, therefore, for which I breed, is 

 beauty. I can always get five hundred dollars for a colt that 

 has a beautiful color, a beautiful neck, beautiful limbs, and a 

 beautiful carriage. The second thing I breed for is docility. 

 The third thing is speed. Beauty, first ; docility, next ; 

 speed, last. If I can get the first two in a large degree, and 

 the third in a fair degree, I know I can make a sale, and I 

 know I can get my money back, and get it back early, too, 

 which is a great point with a breeder. If I have a speedy 

 colt, on the other hand, I have to keep him until he is devel- 

 oped, and then I have to put him into a gambler's hands, 

 perhaps, to get my money back. I must wait two, three or 

 five years ; and one of the secrets of making money in breed- 

 ing, as in other business, is in getting rid of things. Some of 

 you have found that out, I guess ! 



In regard to this matter of crossing, many ask, "Is thor- 

 oughbred running stock necessary for a cross, in order to get 

 beauty and docility?" Well, friends, there is a popular 

 error touching this matter of beauty in thoroughbred running 

 stock. Thoroughbreds are not all beautiful. Take " Mes- 

 senger." He was a great 16^-hand, round-shouldered, big- 

 uecked, coarse-headed, thick-legged horse. That was your 

 imported " Messenger " 1 His sou " Marabrino " was a thick- 

 uecked, strong-legged horse. His sou "Abdallah" had a 

 head as big as a small flour-barrel ; was a dirty roan as to 

 color, with a rat's tail, which he stuck straight out ! That 

 was "Abdallah." The tremendous ugliness of some of our 

 Abdallah and Hambletonian stock is accounted for by the fact 

 that they have come through "Abdallah," "Mambrino," and 

 imported " Messenger." The idea that the English thorough- 

 bred and the American thoroughbred have always small 

 limbs, small feet, a fine head, and small, arched neck, clean- 

 cut jowls, and a coat like satin, is a fallacy. While these 

 things are the law, there are noted exceptions. I have stood 

 and looked at thirty brood mares, in the veins of many of 

 which not a taint of low blood ran, and I give you my 

 opinion, as an eye-witness of their merits, and rejoicing in 

 their merits, that I could have gone into Vermont, twenty 



