Journal of Agriculture . [lo Aug., 1910. 



of bone and quantity of hair ; that they grow up less vigorous and sappv. 

 and so on. I opine that tlie Australian native of the first or second, or 

 even third generation, is not going to admit that he is deficient in physique 

 as compared with his New Zealand compatriot. I know that the Victorian 

 Shorthorn and Hereford cattle and Victorian long woolled sheep (breeds of 

 sheep and cattle corresponding respectively to the draught horse) have not 

 suffered in weight, frame, or robust characteristics as compared with the 

 same breeds in New Zealand. Furthermore, if there was anything in the 

 argument, it would follow that in the milder climate of England the 

 draught horses would be less weighty and lighter in bone and hair than 

 those bred in the more rigorous climate of Scotland, whereas, in point of 

 fact, it is the lighter-bodied, lighter-boned, and lighter-haired Clydesdale 

 that has its home amongst the snow-clad hills of Scotland, and the 

 weightier, bigger-boned and coarse-haired Shire horse that is bred to such 

 perfection in the low flat lands of the English midlands. 



Discarding then climate as the reason, at all events in the sense that 

 it is u.sually put forward as an excuse. I am inclined to attach much more 

 importance to three factors that do prevail here, and which I will name in 

 inverse order of their importance as bearing on the subject, viz. : — Disloyal 

 Fashion, Faulty Methods of Rearing, and Haphazard or Zhiscientific 

 Breeding. 



\. Fashion. 



Regarding the first of these causes, it is unfortunate that hor.se breeders 

 do not follow the example so well shown by Australians in respect of 

 Australian products generally. The farmer who pins his faith to Ballarat 

 woollens and who would scorn to wear an imported hat or boots, metaphori- 

 cally kneels down before the horse that has IMP. in brackets after its 

 name. Thoroughbred breeders are as guilty as draught horse men in this 

 regard. At the 1909 Sydney Yearling Sales, over 50 per cent, of the 

 yearlings sold were by imi)orted sires, and that despite the fame of 

 Maltster ; also that there is always available for breeders a number of 

 winners of such races as the Melbourne Cup, the winning of which, those 

 same breeders claim, stamps a horse as amongst the world's best. But no ! 

 they prefer to patronize the latest importation even though, as recently 

 proclaimed in a leading article in a prominent weekly journal, the only 

 thoroughbreds as a rule that can be bought within the price of the Aus- 

 tralian stud master are those rejected by English stud masters because of 

 "roaring" or some such defect: — "Bill of Portland," "Grafton," and 

 "Traquair." are mentioned as instances in the article referred to. 



Returning to draught hor.ses — if owners of mares would not so readily 

 succumb to the magic suffix " (Imp.)." but would use their judgment and 

 patronize the often-times superior locally-bred horse, stallion owners, in 

 their turn, would not so readilv tumble over one another to give the prices 

 they do for .some of the low class New Zealanders. For let it be known 

 far and wide, not all the horses that come from New Zealand are high 

 class : only a percentage of them are better than our own ; and .some are 

 such as it would not be profitable to pay the freight on were it not for the 

 craze of all and sundry for an imported horse no matter how low the price. 



IL Rearing Methods. 

 I have jilaced " Faulty Rearing Methods" as the second cause; and 

 after what I have previously said it may be regarded as paradoxical that 1 

 should now say that the climate is responsible for the fact that draught 



