214 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mat 



a strange sort of organization, who is not sensi- 

 ble to the melody of the feathered nations ; and 

 can people have a relish for the music of those 

 beautiful warblers, and not a curiosity to look in- 

 to their history ; not a desire to know their make, 

 their instincts and their economy ; the knowl- 

 edge of which is both profitable and entertaining? 

 The variety of their abodes, habits and instincts, 

 their various make, music and embellishments, 

 are matters of the most delightful amusement. 

 Nor are the preying, the mule or the unmusical 

 part of them unprovided with matter of very no- 

 ble and very useful contemplation," What writer 

 in modern times, has so earnestly and enthusias- 

 tically set forth the claims of birds upon our at- 

 tention, as did this old author, more than a cen- 

 tury and a quarter ago ? 

 Danversport, Feb. 3, 1859. 



NINTH LEGISLATIVE AQKICULTUKAL 



MEETING. 

 [Reported by Johs C. Moore, foe the N. E. Farmer.) 



The attendance at the Legislative Agricultural 

 Society's weekly meeting, on Monday evening 

 last, was not so large as is usual. The subject 

 for discussion was — ^'Horses: the best method of 

 breeding, ivith a view to the special interest oj 

 New England farmers ." 



Mr. Sanford Howard, of the Cxdtivator, pre- 

 sided. In opening the discussion, he stated that 

 it had been arranged that the question as to breed 

 should be confined to the purposes of the imme- 

 diate locality. But no single kind of horses 

 could be recommended to breeders in this local- 

 ity, as three kinds were prominently required 

 among us — the heavy cart horse, the coach horse 

 and the roadster. The heavy draft horse, owing 

 somewhat to the disqualification of soil in this 

 Commonwealth, could be more profitably bred 

 in a more southern and western situation. The 

 draft horses, in this country, he might remark, 

 were not so strong or perfect as the Clydesdale 

 breed in Scotland, and the Suffolk Punches of 

 England. The latter were much hardier and 

 stouter, and less liable to leg ailments. The 

 coach horse, also, could not be profitably bred in 

 this section. With the roadster, however, it was 

 different. Our Morgans, especially those with a 

 dash of the Black Hawk blood, were superior to 

 any that could be found in Europe. 



With regard to breeding, a standard of merit 

 should first be fixed ; and if material was not to 

 be found which would come up to that ideal 

 standard, here or elsewhere, the improvement 

 would have to go on with what material we had 

 on hand. The joadster should never be bred 

 from the race horse, as the properties of the com- 

 mon roadster and the racer were very different. 

 The hunter, which was a cross with the racer, in 

 mechanical conformation, was not adapted to the 

 ises to which the common roadster was put. 



The special point of value in the hunter was a 

 reat power in the hind legs, which enabled him 

 to take extraordinary leaps ; whereas the quali- 

 ties of the trotter, to be perfect, demanded a prop- 

 er and equal distribution of muscular power over 

 the whole body of the animal. Mr. H. read sev- 

 eral authorities to prove his position, and to show 

 that a racing animal, or crosses from such, in 

 equal properties of blood, would never make trot- 

 ters. The mode of breeding adopted — according 

 to Lawrence, and the author of "British Rural 

 Sports" — with the greater success, was the 

 coupling of the hackney mare and stallion, both 

 of which have been bred as roadsters. These 

 authorities, however, gave all the praise to Amer- 

 ican trotting horses — as being so greatly superior 

 to all similar descriptions to be found in Europe 

 as to be considered nonpareil. Further, they 

 upheld that the less racing found in a roadster 

 the better. Englishmen advocated bringing their 

 breeding stock from America ; and absolutely 

 laughed in their sleeves at the idea of Americans 

 going to England for animals to improve their 

 roadster stock. This was to be looked on as a 

 very high compliment, and showed decidedly that 

 we had all the materials of improvement among 

 ourselves. There had been no cross of the Eng- 

 lish Norfolk roadsters with the racer, during the 

 past twenty years, and none was certainly de- 

 manded here among us, where perfection had so 

 eminently excelled that arrived at in England. 

 Mr. Howard combatted the idea that the impor- 

 tation of thorough-bred blood into our breed of 

 roadsters would give greater uniformity in sym- 

 metry and color. The racer was made up of a 

 medley of bloods, many of them very different 

 in the representation of physical characteristics ; 

 and such assurance as had been argued in favor 

 of racer blood could not be relied on. The prop- 

 erties of the racer were peculiar to the animal, 

 and were of no value whatever if imparted to 

 animals designed for different purposes ; therefore 

 let us cultivate our own breed of roadsters, as we 

 have them among us. 



Dr. Wood, of Boston, was called on to speak, 

 and stated that he was not of the belief that 

 racer blood was an improper element to impart 

 to the roadster. Experience had said so. In 

 1791 old Messenger was imported into N. Y., 

 and his blood is generally diffused there among 

 the best trotting stock. From that horse came 

 Lady Suffolk, Trustee, Hector, Ajax, Celeste, and 

 a great number of others ; and many other no- 

 ble animals came directly from racing blood — 

 among them the late Black Hawk, which came 

 from a thorough-bred mare brought into this 

 State from Canada. It was, therefore, plain that 

 the racing blood was an important element in 

 our best roadster stock. The very best the coun- 



