174 AGRlCtTLTURAL REPORT. 



Tlio government slionlfl be ready to purchase colts of a given excellence and 

 size, at a given price, for the cavalry service ; not the price of the present day, 

 for a vastly better animal is needed before our cavalry can be worthy of the 

 name. The English mounted regiments have a certain sum appropriated them 

 annually for horses. I'he colonels expend this sum in yearling thorough-breds, 

 which are immediately put out to be raised expressly for the service. This is, 

 perhaps, expensive, but so are all military operations ; and one result of the 

 generous English plan was that the six hundred of the Light Brigade charged 

 straight through five thousand Russians, and some of them lived to return, 

 hewing their gory way back again, 'Ihe English cavalry horse of the very 

 best type is precisely the same as the English huuter, and his improvement 

 may be judged from t^e fact that, while a hundred years ago it was not uncom- 

 mon to run a fox from daylight until dark, and then, unearthing him next 

 morning, to run him all that day. In these times the run never lasts more 

 than four hours, and in general only an hour or two. The fox has remained 

 the same, or, if anything, has become more wily, while the horse and the 

 hound, by training and testing, have vastly improved upon their former degree 

 of excellence. 



It may be thought that England has received a somewhat extravagant 

 amount of credit in the course of these remarks. She deserves it, and it is 

 better to tell the truth and follow its teachings than to garble facts in favor of 

 a false and selfish idea of patriotism. In giving her saddle horses the first 

 place of honor, we only do what France, Austria, Prussia, and Ilussia have 

 done in purchasing them for their cavalry, and what American turfmen have 

 done in acknowledging decisive defeat of some of our best horses when fairly 

 tried against those of England. 



The portraits which accompany this paper are those of Slasher and Tai 

 Bioeck's Eclipse. The former an American bred horse by Childe Harold, out 

 of Sarah Washington. 



PEDIGREE OF SLASHER. 



Slasher is a bay, 16| hands, foaled 1854, by Childe Harold, by Imported 

 Sovereij;n by Emilius, out of Sarah Washington, the celebrated dam of In- 

 spector, Sue Washington, Fanny Washington, Bouita, &c., &c. Slasher's 

 numerous races, at every distance, but especially his four-mile victories at 

 Ashland, Petersburg, and New York, are too recent to requii-e more mention. 



The dam of Slasher, Sarah Washington, has been very remarkable for the 

 production of very superior colts. She brought nothing but celebrated racers, 

 with one exception, when the foal was injured by a fall w hile very young. 



Arguing from the facts and principles laid down in the foregoing article, we 

 may conclude with all safety that Slasher, with such a pedigree, must possess 

 in an eminent degree the power of nicking and reproducing his own best quali- 

 ties in his offspring. So far his colts give every evidence of verifying this 

 conclusion, although none of them have as yet made a debut iipon the turf. 

 In appearance Slasher, as may be seen, is a handsome horse; color bright bay, 

 black mane, tail, and legs, and stands sixteen hands high. As a racer he was 

 a winner at all distances against the best horses of the day. He is a good 

 trotter, and might to the superficial observer pass for a coach-horse of the 

 highest type. 



PEDIGREE OF ECLIPSE. 



Eclipse, imported to this country by Mr. Ten Broeck, is a dark bay, 16,^ 

 hands, foaled 1856, by Orlando, out of Gaze by Bay Middleton. He was 

 imported from England after winning the Clcarwell stakes, the stakes at 



