192 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



blood and bone. Man makes the animal out of his own 

 intelligence and skill, by directing, controlling and building 

 it up through education. I hope that the time will come 

 when that word "break" will disappear from our vocabu- 

 lary, and we shall insert the word " educate." 



A word as to the value of skim-milk. If I was feeding a 

 weanling colt four quarts of oats, with a good hay ration, I 

 would rather reduce that four quarts to two, and put in two 

 quarts of skim-milk, than continue the four quarts of oats. 

 There is no animal to which you can feed skim-milk and 

 find better returns than in feeding it to weanlings ; and the 

 growers of horses in my own State are finding the best 

 results in a liberal ration of this valuable by-product. 



I wish it were possible to lead the horse Nelson up on the 

 platform, — the " king of the turf" to-day in this country, 

 — that you might see him, if you have not. What a magnif- 

 icent exhibition of power there is in that horse ! He has 

 an eye that looks straight into yours, expressive, full, large, 

 round ; a nostril that tells the story of health and vitality in 

 and of itself; a head that is broad and full of intelligence ; a 

 neck that is shapely ; an oblique shoulder ; a straight fore- 

 arm, and a flat, flinty cannon bone; an oblique pastern; a 

 body that is perhaps a little long, yet as you study the horse 

 }'ou will find in muscular development he is here a tower 

 of strength. His garters are superb, and his hind leg 

 symmetrical and strong. In fact, he has all the character- 

 istics of a first-class horse ; and when he moves he is the 

 embodiment of a machine in motion, with a heart and soul 

 that loves to go. If he was standing there before you, you 

 would at once recognize that you were looking at a perfect 

 horse. I speak of him because he is to-day the highest type 

 of the horse that we have in the State of Maine. That is 

 just the class of horse we should be reaching after, and 

 we can secure it in our breeding by studying carefully the 

 formation and temperament of the brood mare and the horse 

 that we desire to couple with her, so that we may avoid 

 extremes. Then, having secured a colt, begin at once to 

 grow and educate for highest perfection at maturity ; and, 

 whenever the first offer comes that is satisfactory, that will 

 give you a good return, soil it, even though the colt be only 



