222 HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN, AND 



oxen are almost always kept for the heaviest work of the farm ; 

 and there seems to be no good reason why there, at least, the 

 breeding of horses, such as we have described, may not be suc- 

 cessfully and profitably pursued. 



In order to success in this, as in every other business, there 

 must be care and good management. Three things, particu- 

 larly, seem to be of great importance, if we would make any 

 valuable and permanent improvement. In the first place, there 

 should be good Mood. The value of this is obvious, and need 

 not be enlarged upon. If any one is in doubt on this point, 

 and wishes to know the truth, we can recommend nothing bet- 

 ter, than that he should try an infusion of the blood of some 

 notedly good breed, with our common stock, so as to satisfy 

 himself from personal observation. We are confident, that the 

 result would be a solution of his doubts, and a confirmation of 

 the truth of our remark. Next to good blood, if, indeed, not 

 before it, comes a sound constitution. Want of attention to 

 this, has been, and still is, we believe, a fruitful source of 

 feebleness and disease amongst our horses. That like produces 

 like, seems to be a law holding good throughout the animal 

 and vegetable creation, and subject, perhaps, to as few excep- 

 tions as any other law, of so general application. The various 

 and wonderful improvements made of late, in the cultivation 

 of fruits, flowers, vegetables, the cereal grains, and also in the 

 breeding of all kinds of domestic animals, are founded in a re- 

 gard to this law, and without it, could not be sustained. It 

 should be remembered, that it is a law holding good with 

 regard to feebleness of constitution, if not actual disease, many 

 times, as well as to form, color, and disposition. It is not un- 

 common, to see a mare that has done good service in her 

 younger days, and was looked upon as too valuable for a 

 -breeder, when broken down in a measure by age, and perhaps 

 disease, put to the raising of colts, because, at a former time, 

 she had been a valuable animal. If a course so at vari- 

 ance with nature and common sense, were persisted in, it would 

 produce, in the end, nothing but disappointment and vexation. 

 One of the committee recollects an instance, within his personal 

 observation, in which a colt, after having been kept two years, 



