354 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



colts from unsound stock. But be not deceived by such state- 

 ments. The principles of breeding are fixed and immutable ; 

 " like will produce like ; " and although a sound foal may 

 occasionally be dropped from an unsound mare, yet the unsound- 

 ness is born in his flesh and is lurking in his veins, and sooner 

 or later will start out and claim its victim. Where one escapes 

 a hundred fall. Breed from sound stock, and nothing else. 



In regard to the class of horses that command the highest 

 prices in the market there can be but one opinion. It is un- 

 questionably the class of fast-trotting horses ; and in support 

 of this assertion I have only to say that there are at this mo- 

 ment, within four miles of Boston, three horses, whose respec- 

 tive prices are three thousand, five thousand, and seven thou- 

 sand dollars. I refer to the "Black Hawk Maid," "Know 

 Nothing," and " Ethan Allen," all of which are colts of the Ver- 

 mont "Black Hawk," which, take him for all in all, the world 

 never produced his equal. He has proved himself the horse 

 of horses, the ne plus ultra of the equine race. Breeders 

 who are raising colts of his get out of sound, fast, well-formed 

 and good-blooded mares, may rest assured that they have ani- 

 mals of no ordinary value. 



We are now living in the age of steam and electricity. It 

 is emphatically a fast age. The days of slowcoaches are past 

 and gone ; and the stubborn man who still persists in driving 

 his own slow team is left to experience chagrin and mortifica- 

 tion when he finds himself distanced and doubly distanced by 

 the fast nags that shoot in ahead of him. There is most un- 

 questionably a growing demand throughout the country, by all 

 classes, for elegant and fleet horses. Time was when the 

 demand came only from the fancy and sporting circles: but it 

 is not so now. It is no uncommon thing for merchants and 

 professional men in our large cities to pay a thousand dollars 

 for a horse ; and the demand is more than equal to the supply, 

 even at such prices. 



Years ago, when railroads were first going into operation, 

 we were told that there would be no more call for roadsters; 

 but, from that time to the present, no man has ever seen the 

 day when the supply of licet roadsters was equal to the de- 

 mand. Unlike almost every thing else, a good horse can 



