404 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 



drive for early speed, you must expect to lose a large 

 part of the ultimate value of your horse, — a few years 

 of life, a few seconds of speed on the track. Precocity 

 is a poor thing : that alone endures which ripens slowly. 

 The wisdom of human maturity is the best wisdom, — 

 that maturity which comes from the steady and legiti- 

 mate development of all human powers. That speed 

 and endurance are the greatest which are not called 

 for until the horse is in full possession of all his facul- 

 ties. An American man, dependent on himself for all 

 he is and is to be, fit for all the duties which may de- 

 volve upon him, will not grow up in a day. An Amer- 

 ican horse of all work, destined to toil like a locomo- 

 tive, and expected to travel like one, wants time to 

 develop himself for his tremendous service. It takes a 

 great while to make a man, a trotting-horse, and an 

 Ayrshire cow. Spruce-wood, Short-horn beef. Western, 

 corn-fed horse-flesh, all grow apace ; but they do not 

 stand high in the scale, and they do not endure unto 

 the end. 



But, sir, the folly of bad feeding is no greater than 

 the folly of bad stabling. The practice of providing 

 warm and tightly-built stables for young colts is as in- 

 jurious to them as forcing their growth by heavy 

 feed. A colt requires fresh air ; and, if he is furnished 

 with an opportunity, he will be sure to get it. His lungs 

 are the largest part of his internal organs; and he will 

 provide for them, if there is any way to do it. Give 

 him the best and warmest box in the world, and he will 



