84 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



ure, and other high qualities, if inherent in families, may be 

 continued by careful selection. 



The question then arises, What available race is there, that, 

 bred through long generations, is so established, that it is 

 unfailing in its power of reproducing its qualities ? We know 

 that the horse of the East is the type, and that his is the 

 parent race ; and we know that the Eastern horse, Arab, 

 Barb, or Turk, was the founder of the present race of English 

 thoroughbreds ; and it is the experience of the world, that 

 the Anglo-Arab, nourished, trained, and tested for two cen- 

 turies by the best horsemen in the world, is the unfailing 

 fountain to which they must recur. 



On the Continent of Europe this question is so settled, 

 that there is not an argument to the contrary. The govern- 

 ment breeding studs of every nation are supplied with sires 

 from "the tight little island." Every important sale held 

 in England has competitors from the Continent ; and, when 

 the horse Blair Athol was brought to the hammer, an English 

 breeding company was compelled to pay fifteen thousand 

 guineas to retain him in England. 



So great has been the drain, that the English are alarmed ; 

 and the warning cry is raised, that they are being depleted of 

 their supply. 



In every city of the Continent, even to the south of Spain, 

 the traveller sees in each magnificent equipage the blood 

 that has been so long the glory and pride of England. We 

 are fortunate in having a long-established branch of that 

 family in this country, in some respects superior to their 

 English congeners. The soil and climate of Kentucky, that 

 State, as my old friend Dr. Weldon says, " of short-horned 

 cattle and long-horned whiskey," has proved their kindly 

 nurse, and put foward horses that even dare to cross the 

 water, and challenge English sportsmen on their own turf. 



And now I come to the assertion, founded on the facts of 

 general experience, that, if we are to breed for profit and 

 credit, we must come forward with the rest of the world 

 and employ the services of selected thoroughbreds. I say 

 "selected," because I am well aware that there is a vast 

 range of choice in thoroughbreds. I have sometimes been 

 almost persuaded that half or three-quarters bred horses 

 from strong stock would best answer the purpose. Justin 



