168 State Board of Aguicultuke, &c. 



ters and gentlemen's drivers, standing; from fifteen to fifteen 

 and one-lialf hands liigli, and weighinglrom nine Imndred to ten 

 hnndred and fifty pounds, have not been so successfully pro- 

 duced elsewhere, as in the invigorating climate and upon 

 the sweet feed of the green hills of Northern New Eng- 

 land. These are the horses for which there is the o-reatest 

 demand, and for which the highest prices are paid, and this 

 is the size that nature has associated with the most perfect 

 physical organization, that is, the medium size, or, in the 

 words of Linsley : 



" We believe it is a fixed and unyielding law of animal 

 life, that in medium size we shall find the greatest activity 

 the best constitutions, the greatest power of endurance and 

 the most courage and vital energy. 



" In the human race how strikingly is this law illustrated! 

 It is the men of close, compact figures and medium height 

 that possess the best constitutions and are most active and 

 enduring. The athletes of the amphitheatre are men of 

 medium size, with close, compact, nuiscular figures. Mark 

 the men who live to the age of ninety or one hundred 

 years. They too are of medium stature, with swelling 

 chests and close knit, vigorous forms. 



"Large cattle are slow in their movements, and the heavy 

 Durham or Herefordshire cannot compete with the low, 

 compact and hardy Devon in action, speed and endurance. 

 The largest varieties of the dog are quickly conquered by 

 the small, 'out active and vigorous terrier. And the tall, 

 heavy Cliinese fowls are speedily overpowered by the 

 smaller, but nimble and high tempered gamebird. 



" The horse is not an exception to this general law ; and 



