130 State Board or Agkicui.ture, &c. 



arnoiuit of every day work for years, that will soon use up 

 and render unsound the average thoroughbred. Blood will 

 tell, no doubt, and I should fear, if I bred to a thorough- 

 bred stallion, with long, round, unsound legs, a high-strung, 

 irritable, vicious disposition, 1 should find I had a colt that 

 was skittish, that, after I had got him harnessed, would not 

 want to wait until I was ready to g©, and, after I had got 

 ready, would look around at me with an assurance that he 

 was not then ready, and, if I had mucli of a load for him 

 to draw, would not be ready, anyhow ; for drawing loads, 

 and such like useful work, was not what he was made for ; 

 and, if I persisted in exacting it of him, he would break 

 down, as his illustrious ancestors had done before him. To 

 expect a horse, useful for all work, to result from breeding 

 to one bred and used for ages for the one special purpose of 

 runrilng a mile, or even four miles in a very short time, 

 and at a gait almost never used in every day, useful life, is 

 about as sensible as to. expect a mastiff to spring from the 

 loins of a rat-and-tan terrier. 



In England, if they want a horse to take his master over 

 fields, hedges, fences and ditches, to endure the fatigue and 

 perils of the hunt, they do not take the unmixed thorough- 

 bred, but cross him out on to something with more sub- 

 stance and strength. Blood will tell, no doubt, but is it not 

 more sensible to make it tell in perpetuating good, useful 

 qualities, instead of handing down useless, or worse than 

 useless characteristics ? The great value of blood cannot 

 be disputed successfully, but it may prove a curse rather 

 than a blessing ; it certainly will if it is not used with cau- 

 tion and judgment. And here we find the great value of 



