94 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



stand it ; but I know some few facts about it. The impres- 

 sion is, that the character of the first horse put to a mare 

 influences all her future progeny. A gentleman who lives 

 in the town adjoining mine had a mare that he put the first 

 time to a black stallion, and afterwards put her to all kinds 

 of stallions ; but every one of her colts was black. I don't 

 pretend to say that there is any thing in that : I only state 

 the fact. As I said before, I think we should be always 

 sure to breed from a perfect horse. I am a great admirer 

 of the Morgan breed, although I do not think they have a 

 great deal of the original blood in them : of course, it is 

 greatly diluted ; but still I think that there is no horse that 

 will do our work under all circumstances, and keep his 

 looks, so well as a Morgan horse. If we could get some 

 of the original blood, and keep it, we should have a very 

 desirable breed of horses. There is very little of it that 

 crops out now, even in the Vermont Morgans, as we used to 

 call this breed. 



I have here a little extract, taken from " The Contempo- 

 rary Review " of London, in regard to the expense of breed- 

 ing racing-horses in England ; and perhaps it may be in- 

 teresting to you. It shows that the amount invested in race- 

 horses in all departments — breeding, training, &c. — is 

 1,723,000 guineas. The interest on that, at five per cent, is 

 £90,450 per annum, or $452,250. The interest sunk is but 

 a small part of the expense. The annual expense of keeping 

 a race-horse is <£250, or $1,250, including training and all 

 expenses. The whole amount is as follows : — 



Interest on capital invested . . ^G 90,450 

 Annual keeping and training . . 583,500 



X673,950 ($3,369,750) 



This is the expense of keeping and training horses for the 

 turf in England ; and the same thing is true in regard to 

 the expense involved in the business in this country. I 

 was well pleased with the remarks of the gentleman on 

 that subject, and nobody can gainsay them, although, un- 

 doubtedly, there is a great variety of opinion here on that 

 subject. 



Dr. Hunt of Waltham. I must say that I have been 



