830 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



stature liad been little enlarged. Such an 

 institution should ever be at work preparing 

 smaller animals by means of trials, and con- 

 tinued selection, for being crossed when re- 

 quired with that enlarged portion of its stock 

 which from time to time became deteriorated. 

 The smaller animals, until wanted, should be 

 kept in a state of nature as nearly as possible. 

 They would thus retain their vigour while 

 acquiring all the advantage derivable from 

 continued selection ; they could be maintained 

 at the least possible expence; at one which 

 the sale of the annual draughts would nearly 

 or wholly repay. 



If a new race were to be formed, under the 

 system we have now recommended, capable 

 of running long distances, and carrying con- 

 siderable weight without distress, premiums 

 might be aofain g-ranted to the winners of cer- 

 tain tasks upon the turf. To attempt to make 

 modern racers run longer distances, or carry 

 more weight than at present, would be both 

 cruel and useless. A National Establishment 

 undertaking to form a new race of foreign 

 Horses could not be said to succeed, unless it 

 supplied the country with Horses as swift, 

 stout, and powerful as the earlier racers. 

 Knowing accurately the powers of the new 

 race, it could point out the nature of the run- 

 ning for which premiums might properly be 

 granted ; and great tasks might again be per- 

 formed on the Turf, without any of the cruelty 

 which attends the present running. How far 

 bounties can in future be made to influence 

 the proceedings of the Turf, by competing 

 successfully with heavy stakes, can only be 

 ascertained by experience. 



The stallions whose stature had been 

 adequately enlarged in the Establishment for 

 supplying the demand of the farmers in the 



great breeding counties sho(dd be let out 

 under strict regulations, or rnaintamed by the 

 Establishment in those counties in a condition 

 best calculated to preserve their vigour. 

 Mucilaginous food and other expedients had 

 recourse to by private individuals to make the 

 animals very fat, should not be resorted to ; 

 the stallions of a National Establishment should 

 make their way to public favor by the good- 

 ness of their stock. No Horse should leave 

 the Establishment as a stallion labouring 

 under any essential defect. If a public Estab- 

 lishment supplied the breeding counties with 

 the best class of stallions at a cheap rate — bred 

 within its own precincts — a limited number of 

 the best class Horses for different purposes, 

 allowing the parents and their offspring to be 

 freely inspected, the public would be enlight- 

 ened by example ; and, becoming gradually 

 accustomed to see the best forms, would no 

 longer be satisfied with bad ones. 



In determining on the utility of some such 

 plan as that proposed, the reader will do well 

 to ask himself the following questions. Is 

 there a strong disposition in every fine race of 

 the Horse, whose structure has been enlarged 

 by unnaturally lich food, to become either 

 coarse or weedy ? Are the means adopted on 

 the Turf to prevent coarseness more than 

 palliative 1 And are not some of them ob- 

 jectionable? Is it not better to recur to nature, 

 when art has disposed a domesticated race of 

 Horses to coarseness, than to such a palliative 

 as that of breeding on one side from old 

 parents ? Is not this substituting weediness 

 for coarseness ? If we adopt a system under 

 which both coarseness and weediness are 

 avoided, by recurring when necessary to fresh 

 blood, we sho ild be able to rear and work 

 Horses at the least possible expence. Under 



