THE HORSE BREEDING. 537 



and reliable, yet the taint of impurity is never wholly eliminated. 

 The value of records is recognized by all men engaged in breed- 

 ing and improving any of our domestic animals. . The fact that 

 the compilation of stud-books is subject to the influence of 

 human ignorance and dishonesty does not prevail more against 

 them than against any other class of writing made by man. 

 They are all imperfect, yet we can not do without records of 

 knowledge, though they are mingled with error. 



The Earliest Records. The breeder of thorough-bred 

 horses has an unbroken record back to the time of James I. 

 The Arabs took great pains to preserve their breed of horses 

 pure, and have the credit of first establishing pedigrees ; but as 

 these were traditional, they are not so reliable as those of the 

 English race-horse, nor to be compared with the faithful records 

 now made of the American trotter, the Percheron, Clydesdale, 

 and others. Breeders of all pure-bred animals are beginning to 

 appreciate the value of well-kept records, and have generally 

 formed associations for that purpose. Secretaries and commit- 

 tees are employed to inspect all pedigrees offered for record. 

 Their accumulated and fast increasing knowledge is leading to 

 wonderful skill and accuracy in the work. Well-kept records 

 of every noted breed of horses, cattle, and swine are so well 

 established, that there is no longer any excuse for negligence or 

 ignorance in the matter of breeding of any family used in the 

 herd. 



The value of pedigree, or knowledge of ancestral lines, was 

 recognized as far back as the time of Augustus, when Virgil 

 wrote : 



' ' The brave begotten are by the brave and good ; 

 There is in steers', there is in horses' blood 

 The virtue of their sires. No timid dove 

 Springs from the coupled eagles' furious blood." 



High Breeding more than Appearance. " On the turf," 

 says Stonehenge, " high breeding is of more consequence than ex- 

 ternal shape, and that of two horses, one perfect in shape, but 

 of an inferior strain of blood, and the other of the most winning 

 blood, but not so well-formed in shape, the latter will be the 



