HINTS TO HORSE-KEEPERS. 



CHAPTER I. 



HOW TO BREED A HORSE CHOICE OF STALLION. 



NATIONAL VALUE OB' THE HORSE— THE BETTER CLASS OF HORSES THE 

 CHEAPEST FOR ALL PURPOSES— WHAT CONSTITUTES EXCELLENCE?— 

 *' BLOOD ;" WHAT IT GIVES — SHOULD BE ON THE SIDE OF THE SIRE — 

 BREED UP, NOT DOWN —DISEASES AND DEFECTS HEREDITARY — GENERAL 

 RULES, 



To enter into an argument at this day of the nineteenth 

 century, to show that the horse stock of any country is a 

 material item in the account of the national wealth, 

 strength and greatness, would be to admit the arguer him- 

 self an ass, or at least to show that he believed himself to 

 be addressing an audience of asses. In no country in the 

 world, perhaps, is such an argument less needed than in 

 our own, where, certainly, the keeping of horses for the 

 purposes of pleasure as well as of utility is more largely 

 disseminated among persons of all classes than in any other, 

 and where the desire and ability both to keep and breed 

 horses of a high grade is - daily gaining ground, both in 

 town and country. Among farmers the desire to raise val- 

 uable stock is, at least, increasing proportionally to the 

 increase of the profit to be derived from them, which is 



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