11 



I could point to many instances where the raising of 

 horses has been a source of considerable profit to the breed- 

 ers, and I suppose the majority of farmers in some counties 

 of Maine, if they kept accurate accounts, would find that 

 they have derived more profit from the sale of colts than 

 from any other one thing. Why not let the boy raise a 

 colt? I may raise a storm about my ears for malving such 

 a suggestion to a Society that has been so recently, and so 

 often congratulated upon its parity from all taint of horse 

 flesh, except before a plow or a market wagon. Why, I 

 repeat, should not the boy have the pleasure that will sure- 

 ly result, and the profit tliat may result, from breeding a 

 good colt from a good mare and a good horse ? I suppose 

 for fear that he may trot some day in 2.10, and bring ruin 

 and disgrace upon the whole family by being sold for 

 $20,000. Now, while I do not advocate horse-racing as a 

 branch of this Society's exhibition, I see no reason why a 

 proper place should not be afforded in which to show the 

 gait of a horse, and I fail to see the sin in encouraging 

 driving faster than a three minute gait. 



I have just retuined from a visit to the State of Maine, 

 during which I attended the Fair of the New England 

 Agricultural Society, at Bangor, and where 1 met you, Mr. 

 President, and many other officers and members of this 

 Society whom I see here to-day, and you will no doubt, 

 corroborate my statement that a majority of the horse- 

 breeders who exhibited the best animals at that Fair, than 

 wiiich better were seldom seen together, were honorable, 

 straightforward men, as jealous of their reputation as are 

 those in any other profession and as thoroughly to be relied 



