188 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



As we look back over the list of the Board of Agriculture 

 of Massachusetts, and note the names of those who, as 

 breeders and as improvers upon the different lines of agri- 

 culture, have been benefactors of their country, it is a 

 source of satisfaction and pride to us. The wild rose of a 

 few years ago has been developed into marvelous forms of 

 beauty. The roadside aster, which I think finds its natural 

 home in Worcester County, has been developed into the 

 many-hued flowers of that variety which now adorn our 

 gardens and give pleasure to multitudes. In the line of the 

 horse, the speed of the trotting horse, as has been suggested 

 by the lecturer, has been increased from a mile in three 

 or four minutes to a mile in two minutes and eight and 

 three-quarters seconds. In neat stock the improvement is 

 something wonderful. So that the true principles of breed- 

 ing are very important indeed, especially with reference to 

 the subject which we are considering to-day ; for I believe 

 horse breeding is a valuable industry to the New England 

 farriier, and therefore I expect there will be very many 

 questions asked and answered. But first we would like to 

 hear what Dr. Twitchell has to say upon the subject. 



Dr. Twitchell. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, you bore 

 with me so patiently yesterday that I do not feel that I 

 ought to inflict myself upon you to-day ; but I would say a 

 word upon this question, because it is one in which I am 

 intensely interested, and relates to a line of work in which 

 I have been engaged for several years, not in breeding or 

 selling horses, but in trying to assist others in breeding 

 choice stock. 



I never knew a bright man or a bright horse that did not 

 have a good mother. Take that home with you as a good 

 maxim, and in your breeding, I care not in what line, be 

 sure that you have a good mother. That little mare that 

 was spoken of that came upon the track almost unknown to 

 any of us we found afterwards had a mother of real worth, 

 although she did not come from any popular strain of blood, 

 and that mother gave to the colt the power of endurance 

 and success. I believe to-day in horse breeding, and I want 

 to commend and endorse every statement of the lecturer. 

 I think he has given you something real and substantial, 



