154 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



HOUSES. 



WORCESTER. 



From the Report of the Committee on Brood Mares. 



Horse-breeding as a pursuit, in New England, is usually 

 pronounced a failure. It is held not to pay, in a money point 

 of view ; and the stock bred has not been, of late years, a 

 credit to the breeders. The reasons for this lack of success 

 seern to be, — want of knowledge of the business, and misdi- 

 rectiou of energy. Breeders have groped in the dark, with 

 no standard of excellence, knowing no law of selection. 

 Instead of breeding with a clearly defined purpose, a horse 

 for cart, or saddle, or carriage, a quick-maturing, well-sized, 

 fine-tempered animal, "a farmer's colt, and a rich man's 

 horse," they have had vague dreams of Dexters and Gold- 

 smith Maids to be got by breeding worn-out and usually 

 unsound mares to horses with a track record, or often to 

 horses only related in blood to some that have had track 

 records. Is it strange that such ill-founded expectations have 

 ended in disappointment and disgust ?' 



Such has not always been the story of New England horse- 

 breeding. 



We had, in the last generation, a family of horses of wide 

 renown for beauty of form, docility of temper, high courage 

 and endurance. The Morgan family not only brought money 

 but also honor to the farmers of Vermont. These excellent 

 horses were, according to their various grades, light carriage- 

 horses, elegant, good-sized coach-horses, and the best stock 

 for rapid draught, that ever bore a resolute and nervous 

 shoulder against the collar. 



In the later days of stage-coaching, the various Eastern 

 lines were horsed from this admirable family. 



In 1837, during the Canadian Rebellion, the First Dragoon 

 Guards came out from England dismounted ; horses for them 



