APPENDIX. 415 



any one who ylioulJ now propose to infuse into our great trotting 

 families a now cross of the Canadian, Norman, Pecheron, or so- 

 called Norfolk trotters, would be regarded as out of his wits. It 

 is, then, my earnest conviction, that as long as the legs will stand 

 to carry tlie trotting horse through the many years of hard service 

 which commonly precede his attainment of the highest excellence, 

 his form cannot too closely resemble that of the powerful thorough- 

 bred. The point for the breeder to keep in constant view — the very 

 compass of his course and bearing — is this, strength and sound- 

 ness in the legs and feet are even more necessary for the trotting 

 horse than for the runner, because the former must last so many 

 years longer to be of much account. It is true enough, that by 

 seldom being put to speed with a rider on his back, the legs of the 

 trotter are somewhat favored; but this is more than counterbal- 

 anced by the fact, tliat the courses upon which his work is done, 

 and his races are made, are always harder than the running tracks. 

 There has not been of late years any sensible diminution in the 

 weight of trotting vehicles so as to increase speed upon the course, 

 and it is not easy to see that there can be any. Nor has there 

 been any considerable improvement in the best trotting tracks. 

 The elliptic shape for the course and the method of construction 

 published in The Spirit of the Times, upwards of fourteen years 

 ago, are still recognised as the best, and always followed where the 

 nature of the ground is such as to permit of it. But there has 

 been a great improvement in two other matters, which do ulti- 

 mately affect the time of trotting horses even on the turf. First, 

 tlie roads all over the country are now good and dry for a longer 

 time each year than they ever Avere before, and there are many 

 more public roads, good and safe for speedy horses, than there 

 formerly were. Second, the makers of light road trotting wagons, 

 and of trotting harness, have attained an excellence which pro- 

 duces a sensible effect. If any man will call at such establish- 

 ments as those of W. D. Rogers & Co., of Philadelphia, and J. B. 

 Brewster & Co., and Miller, Morrison & Co., of New Yck and 



