GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 13 



The thoroughbred is in a much lesser degree the produce of 

 any particular locality than the cart-horse or even the half- 

 bred ; it is rather one of an artificial nature, better able to 

 withstand external influences, and capable of being trans- 

 planted to all parts of the globe and continued without es- 

 sential deterioration as long as the elementary principle is not 

 lost sight of that is to say, as long as its capabilities are tried 

 in public, and as long as the best-tried animals are in prefer- 

 ence used for reproduction. The thoroughbred stands to the 

 half-bred in the same position as the plantation tree to the wild 

 tree of the forest : the former thrives in any locality where trees 

 grow ; the latter feels at home only where it first struck root, 

 for, having never been transplanted, it wants those fibres by 

 means of which to take hold of and draw sustenance from the 

 new soil. 



I do not, however, mean to say that thoroughbred mares are 

 in no way influenced by translocation to other countries and 

 climates ; on the contrary, I am of opinion that greater safety 

 will be insured by breeding from mares bred at home than 

 from imported ones. I merely assert that in the thoroughbred 

 the power of resistance to local and climatic influences is in- 

 finitely higher than in the half-bred, etc. 



For this reason the establishment of a stud for thoroughbreds 

 in Germany is less difficult than one intended for the baser 

 breed, provided the locality be adapted to the purpose and the 

 requisite means available. I do not mean to say that faultless 

 brood-mares of the first class are easily obtainable in England ; 

 but since the price of such mares is eventually almost unlimited 

 in comparison to what half-bred brood-mares will command in 

 the market, and as, in numerous instances, owners of eminent 

 mares which did them good service on the turf prefer breeding 

 from them in public establishments to selling them to the more 

 extensive breeder, in England the fluctuation in the thorough- 

 bred material is influenced in a higher degree by the change of 

 circumstances than that in our half-breds. The chances of a 

 foreigner making a favorable investment, therefore, rise in pro- 

 portion, provided he is at home in the Racing Calendar, the 



