GOVERNMENT PREMIUMS. 149 



manner I have directed, will never need this pluvial min- 

 istration. It is agreed upon by both advocates and op- 

 ponents of the Arabian horse, that his feet are always good, 

 the dry climate and the scorching sands showing that 

 water is not essential to his well-doing. The knife and 

 rasp do the mischief, which no soaking can repair. 



PUPIL. This weather is truly enjoyable, and I will try 

 and keep it in remembrance when inclined to repine at 

 that which is less favorable. I was reading an article last 

 night, that has filled me with "vast ideas" which I am 

 anxious to disclose to you for criticism or commendation. 

 It was an editorial from the Spirit, advocating the appro- 

 priation by the General Government of one hundred 

 thousand dollars a year, to be applied in purses for races, 

 and distributed equally among the States. It struck me 

 that if the measure was carried out, the benefit to the 

 whole country would be immense, and the outlay would 

 return to the treasury a hundred fold increased, through 

 channels opened by this appropriation. The plan pro- 

 posed was to give the amount into the hands of the 

 respective governors, who should select a central place 

 where it could be run for under such conditions as Con- 

 gress might impose. What an impetus it would give to 

 breeding a better class of horses in States, now wofully 

 deficient in those adapted for either pleasure or service ! 

 There is no country in the world, of the same extent, so 

 well calculated for breeding good horses as the whole of 

 the United States. The extremes, both North and South, 

 require that more care be taken than in that portion fa- 

 vored by a more equal temperature j the South not being 

 so favorable for the culture of the grasses and small ce- 

 reals, and the North requiring a greater outlay for warm 

 stables, and a larger supply of fodder and grain. But 

 neither is a bar to profitable breeding and rearing ; and 

 the stimulus given by this contemplated movement would 



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