DETERIORATION OF THE HORSE IN ENGLAND 41 



the turf that the blood of the thoroughbred has been 

 kept uncontaminated. 



Then a statement of Mr. Adye's is quoted that 

 ' not a hunter . . . but owes the best of his quaHties 

 to some one or other of the pure-bred sires with 

 which the Stud-Book teems.' 



The first of these statements does not put exactly 

 Mr. Adye's words ; the second is, of course, the 

 writer's statement, and not Mr. Adye's ; but alto- 

 gether these statements do not quite precisely 

 represent Mr. Adye's views. Mr. Adye's state- 

 ment is that the influence of the turf has been 

 beneficial as regards the improvement, not because 

 of the horse-racing simply, but entirely because of 

 the introduction of Eastern horses, several of which 

 he names. Further, Mr. Adye's reference to pure 

 stallions in the Stud-Book appears to me to refer 

 to the pure Arabs imported, and not to the general 

 pure-bred English thoroughbreds, as the newspaper 

 account might lead the reader to suppose. 



I refer to this newspaper statement because if, in 

 such a leading paper, it would seem to appear that 

 the writer has misapprehended what Mr. Adye 

 really says, so that what he says of the Arab reads 

 in favour of the English-bred horse, how much 

 more likely is it that dandies, jockey-boys, and fair 

 forms, excited by the gambling demon, should be 

 mistaken ! 



Mr. Adye bears strong witness to deterioration. 

 He says that ' nine-tenths of English horses are 



