268 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



and kindness should be the word and the act. Impatience and 

 harshness to the colt, will give us restiveness and viciousness in 

 the mature horse. 



We of Middlesex cannot compete with Vermont, in the 

 business of raising horses. But the manifest interest shown in 

 our county, by the exhibition of so many fine breeding mares, 

 and so many justly noted stallions, with their progeny, from the 

 colt to the mature horse, each and all with their peculiar 

 niceties, bear ample testimony that the breeding and rearing of 

 God's noble animals, are receiving judicious and merited atten- 

 tion, and in some instances afford a satisfactory remuneration. 



S. H. Rhoades, Chairman. 



WOECESTER NORTH. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



Colts. — The committee feel compelled to say that there is 

 among breeders of horses, great evidence of inattention to the 

 stock from which colts are raised. Some of the colts presented 

 for our inspection were large and well formed, but logy and with- 

 out spirit, and gave evidence of an unfortunate cross of sire 

 and dam. A pure blooded horse should always be selected as 

 a sire, if he can be found, and the cross breeds or scrub races 

 should be avoided as much as possible. The purity of the 

 blood of the dam is also very important; and it should be 

 borne in mind that the size and beauty of a mare is not always 

 so sure«a guaranty of her bearing good colts, as her own purity 

 or predominance of stock. It is a law of generation, abun- 

 dantly proved in the raising of horses, that the highest and 

 most intensified vitality will bestow a preponderating character 

 upon the offspring. Tliis law should be observed and obeyed 

 in breeding horses. Those animals whose vitality has been 

 enfeebled by frequent crossings, and who possess no pure marks 

 of any valuable breed, ought to be withheld from generating. 

 This is a very important subject, and we would urge it upon 

 the society as greatly conducive to the pecuniary interest of 

 breeders. A poor colt is poor property, while a good colt, of a 

 pure blood, is the most profitable kind of stock to be raised by 



