32 NOTES ON FIELDS AND CATTLE. 



mind, from parents of first-rate stamp ; or, if bought, 

 judiciously selected. Their sale will then be inevi- 

 tably as great a source of profit as any branch of the 

 farming business. I do not propose to enter upon a 

 discussion of the respective excellences of the various 

 breeds, or treat of any but cart-horses. 



Most counties have a useful stamp of their own 

 fitted to their purpose. The chesnut Suffolk, the 

 roan Berkshire, the black or dapple-grey Lincoln, 

 the bay Clydesdale, all have their special and ex- 

 ceeding merit ; and last, though not least, the smart, 

 rounded, roomy Welsh mare, somewhat coblike in 

 the pony district, but swelled to grandeur without 

 losing her hardihood, fashion, or spirit in the vale, 

 and as you get nearer to the borders of Brecon and 

 Cheshire. If you breed at all, you should have an 

 unmistakeably good mare, and put her to a clean- 

 limbed, muscular, sound horse, whose points you 

 may consider best adapted to suit hers. A really 

 good mare, unhappily, you will have some difficulty 

 in finding, and then probably at only a high figure. 

 At railway contractors' sales they occur, where the 

 stock goes occasionally cheap, as it is sold without 

 reserve, the job being ended ; or at iron-works, for in 

 such hands you find the noblest-shaped animals, 

 seeing that the proprietors stand at no price to 

 match a gallant team, and accident often renders 

 comparatively worthless to them an animal which 

 may be invaluable to you. 



Anyhow, if you propose to breed, get the best 

 materials you can to start with, or your labour will 

 be thrown away. Doing things by halves does not 



