162 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



The expense of establishing fine studs and running stables may have been 

 alarming to the practical, bu^y nature of her people, and government patron- 

 age will be necessary to allay their fears, perhaps, concerning a loss of their 

 commercial reputation. Malicious persons also might say that they object to 

 racing, as Macauley says the early Puritans objected to bear-baiting, " not 

 because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the specta- 

 tors." 



Undoubtedly, the practice of betting is intimately associated with the turf; 

 but so it also is with elections. Could any sane man object to the electoral 

 privileges because unjmncipled persons invariably make it an occasion for 

 •wagers ] 



Another reason, perhaps, why the racing of horses has been somewhat held 

 in disfavor is the unsettled and loose state of our social condition. Many called. 

 " respectable families" have not felt sure enough of their own position to min- 

 gle with those who were considered questionable on the point of morality, and 

 have sought to render themselves secure by an ultra degree of virtue, that, 

 while it approached very nearly to pharisaism, left nothing for prying neighbors 

 to inveigh against. Surely, if racing should be prohibited because gamblers 

 bet upon the issue, railroads might be abolished on account of the bulls and 

 bears who " operate" dishonestly in stock. 



For these causes the people of the north have been far too indifferent to the 

 improvement of their horses, and it is hardly too strong a statement to say 

 that this fatal indifference has indirectly cost us thousands of lives upon the 

 battle-field and millions of dollars during the progress of the present war. 



Hereafter, however the issue may be decided, a strong standing army will 

 be requisite, and a goodly proportion must be mounted. The best annies the 

 world has seen have been largely composed of cavalry, and, instead of the 

 proportion being only about one-tenth, as is now unfortunately the case, we 

 shall probably need not fewer than one-fourth of the whole army mounted. 



Of what vast and vital importance, then, is the raising of a good and true 

 stock of horses, pure in blood, and possessing the qualities of speed, courage, 

 and endurance, without which the animal is merely an encumbrance to the 

 Cftvalryman. 



The greatest cavalry charge of which modem history takes cognizance, and 

 one Avliich has been nobly celebrated in imnjortal verse by the poet laureate of 

 Great Britain, Alfred Tennyson, was that of the fiimous " light brigade" at 

 Balaklava. It is a note-worthy fact that the animals ridden on that occasion 

 by the fearless heroes who followed "the last of the Cardigans" were all three- 

 quarters bred, and each one cost three hundi'ed pounds sterling. 



And not only does the well-bred horse signalize himself by his swiftness 

 and power of endurance, but his intelligence renders him more fit for the duties 

 of military service than the horse of ordinary breeding. 



The cavalry drill requires more practice than any other for the very simple 

 reason that each movement must be performed by two individual beings — man 

 and horse. It is requisite, therefore, for the man to have more intelligence 

 than the one who can carry a knapsack and walk straight, and for the horse 

 to have finer instincts than the poor brute that drags a plough or a cart from 

 morn till night. Instances of superior instinct displayed by Avell-bred animals 

 of all kinds are too numerous to leave room for any doubt whatever upon the 

 question. 



All the agricultural societies of Great Britain have recently determined not 

 to give a certificate for any stallion as a breeder of hunters — the best of cav- 

 alry horses — without satisfactory evidence of pure blood and a record of suc- 

 cesses upon the race course. 



It is not every one who knows the meaning of the term thorough-bred as 

 applied CO the horse. Originally in Arabia the horse was a member of the 



