196 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



we want mere race horses we should be compelled to procure 

 the thoroughhrcds or Arabians. If simply carriage horses, the 

 coach liorse of England. If trotters alone, we should be driven 

 to the Black Hawks or Messengers ; and if only the perfect dray 

 horse, the Conestoga, or heavy-limbed horse of Pennsylvania. 

 But we want one horse, and that a horse that will plough and 

 trot well and carry a buggy in shape, and, in fact, change from 

 one employment to another with all ease. 



And so our horses have some Morgan and some Black Hawk 

 and some ]\ressenger, and in fact a mixture of all sorts, good 

 and bad, but still we have such as we have, and must make the 

 best of them. The only way left for us is to improve, if possi- 

 ble, on what we have got. There are questions in the matter 

 of breeding that we do not propose to touch. For instance, 

 " which lias the greatest influence on the colt, the dam or the 

 sire " when they are both of equal blood ? Able horse men 

 have been found to defend each side. In the summing up of 

 all their arguments we have come to the conclusion that col- 

 lateral circumstances have very much to do with the whole 

 matter ; so much so that no positive rule can be laid down. 

 Sometimes the sire has more vital power and nervous strength 

 than the dam, and his peculiarities will predominate. Then 

 again the dam, from youth and peculiar vigor, will take the 

 lead. But when you come to animals of different degrees of 

 blood, we can come to a safer conclusion. It is now a recognized 

 fact among breeders that whichever of the two animals is of the 

 purer race, the peculiarities of that one will be transmitted in 

 the greater degree. The Devons, among bovines, are a very 

 -striking example of this trait. No matter what kind of cows 

 you have, the Devon sire invariably produces a red calf with a 

 whitish tuft to its tail. So that farmers may come to the con- 

 clusion that the procuring of the liest blood in the sire will 

 increase the value of their stock. No scrub, no mongrel, no 

 Goarse-blooded male of any kind should be employed, if a pure 

 or nearly pure blood can be procured. The little difference of 

 the cost of the services of a good animal ought not to weigh a 

 moment in their minds. 



There is one point in breeding that is not universally known, 

 which we should state at the very threshold of our remarks on 

 the breeding of colts. That is, that there is a lasting influence 



