166 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



arriving at the goal amid the deafening plaudits of an enthusiastic throng; the 

 winning horse wet, fbam-fieckcd, exhausted, but proud and fearless, sharing 

 with his rider the pleasure and the pride, intelligently anxious for his repu- 

 tation, and splendid in his victory. All this is a true enjoyment, which can- 

 not debase that part of our nature which craves rapid and tumultuous sensa- 

 tions. When, as in England, the bright eyes and comely toilets of ladies, high- 

 born and lovely, illuminate the scene in elegant equijjnges or mounted on slen- 

 der, satin-skinned thorough-breds, hardly less beautiful than those upon the 

 course, the charm of the spectacle is vastly greater. He who has once tasted 

 the delights of the race as it exists in England, and should exist here, will 

 never lose his admiration of so wholesome and innocent an excitement. 



It has been pretty fully shown in the foregoing remarks that thorough-bred 

 horses are a necessity with any nation that desires its armies complete in the 

 department of the mounted service, and, further, that these horses are only to 

 be obtained by a liberal patronage of the institution of racing. It may now be 

 necessary and proper to examine into the various methods of breeding horses, 

 for the colt must give promise if the horse is to realize success. Racing is 

 training ; it developes whatever qualities, good or bad, the animal may possess, 

 but it can hardly make thorough-bred out of mongrels. 



In-and-in breeding may be resorted to for some generations to produce fine 

 bred stallions, but great care and judgment should be exercised in the experi- 

 ment. The aristocracy of Spain, "tlw san^re azi/J," is a sad example of long 

 intermarriage between relatives, and nature revolts at its perpetration. The 

 result of this in the horse, as in the human species, is to inaugurate a scrofu- 

 lous tendency, with the usual train of dire evils. It is not so prompt, however, 

 with the animal as with the man, because the life of the latter is more artificial 

 and unwholesome in all particulars. In-and-in breeding makes the foal deli- 

 cate, slender, and mettlesome, and intensities all the prominent characteristics 

 of the stock. This may be a highly valuable process in some cases, but if 

 continued too long the blood must inevitably become tainted. The test of 

 racing should be constantly and regularly employed, that the breeder may 

 judge wheu he has exhausted the capabilities for improvement that this sys- 

 tem ofiers. So soon as the foal exhibits a thickeni g of the jaw-bone and en- 

 largement of the glands — an incipient scrofulous symptom — in-breeding should 

 be stopped, for a continuance of it would surely destroy the blood of the stock. 



It must be remembered, in this connexion, that the most sought and suc- 

 cessful stallions in the history of the turf were in-bred. The most remarkable 

 racers, perhaps, have been an out-cross from in-bred stock ; but it is noticeable 

 that these have rarely, if ever, sired valuable colts, except from mares of their 

 dam's lineage. 



From these facts, gleaned from unquestionable sources, we must decide that 

 in-and-in breeding is an absolute necessity to the production of thorough-bred 

 stock, and when employed with judgment and intelligence, capable of the hap- 

 piest results. The same laws appear to govern all inferior animals in this 

 particular. The pigeon is a singular example among birds. The rapidity 

 with which it reproduces is favorable to the experiment, and breeders have 

 taken advantage of it to obtain some very singular results. 



Another striking example may be foimd in the Devons. It matters not 

 what sort of cow be employed, the Devon bull invariably produces a red calf 

 with a whiteish tuft to its tail. The Devon stock is the oldest and purest of 

 all the bovine race, and has acquired the mysterious poAver of reproducing 

 itself more literally, in detail, than any other. It is now almost a recognized 

 fact among breeders, that, whichever animal of the two parents is the purer in 

 race will liave the most influence in making the otispring ; and it is further 

 understood by those versed in these mattei's, that for improvement we should 

 breed to a thorough-bred stock, on one side at least. 



