850 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 



a wagon." And a great deal was said about a Per- 

 cheron stallion, which weighed nearly two thousand 

 pounds, and could trot a mile in less than three 

 minutes. 



It was during the repeated and prolonged sessions 

 and intricate debates which attended the early life of 

 the New-England Agricultural Society that an informal 

 assembly of its members found itself brought together, 

 more by accident than design, at the residence of one 

 of the friends of the association. There was no special 

 arrangement about the proceedings. Some one pres- 

 ent, remembering that our old friend Mr. Alcott never 

 opened one of his charming mystical conversations 

 without calling on his audience to "come to some 

 order," had secured just organization enough to bring 

 the meeting to a working-capacity. The discussion 

 was not systematic ; perhaps not as well defined and 

 well sustained as it should have been. The delibera- 

 tions were of that fragmentary description which so 

 often follows long and earnest debate, and precedes 

 "the conclusion of the whole matter." Every branch 

 of agricultural investigation and of an agricultural ex- 

 hibition had been carefully explored, when the chair- 

 man casually remarked that he thought the Horse 

 should receive the devoted attention of the best men 

 of the society. "Our exhibitions must be made attrac- 

 tive," said he; "and the profits to be derived from a 

 judicious and intelligent breeding of horses are so great, 

 that we must endeavor to bring forward the horse as 



