414 THE HORSE. 



in America, by the necessity that race-horse proprietors must, 

 almost as a sine quanon, be country gentlemen, as opposed to 

 the dwellers of cities ; which is not at present usually the case 

 with the wealthiest, except in the Southern States, 



The proiits derivable from the mere service of stallions are 

 BO small, and the comparative want of use for mares and fillies 

 of thorough-blood, except for turf-purposes and for becoming 

 the progenitrixes of racers, renders them so unsalable for gen- 

 eral objects, that no one would dream of keeping blood-stock, 

 wdilch he would necessarily do at a loss, were he not allowed 

 to remunerate himself, either by his winnings, or — what is the 

 same thing — his hopes of winning on the turf, or by the plea- 

 sure and pride he takes in the performances and triumphs of 

 his animals. 



This he can do only by means of racing and race-courses. 

 And it is idle to talk of any considerable number of men of 

 wealtli, incurring great expenses, involving considerable per- 

 sonal trouble, from purely patriotic motives, in order to confer 

 benefits on a country which does not appreciate those motives, 

 and on a population which does all in its powder to discourage 

 their pursuit, and to thwart their efforts. 



In times of public peril and emergency, men will often make 

 heavy sacrifices, and devote even life itself for the public good — 

 althougli, even in such cases, it may be doubted whether the 

 craving for renown be not as much the incentive to the deed 

 as the desire of promoting the common weal. But it is, I pre- 

 sume, unheard of, that any large class of persons, under no ur- 

 gency of state requirements, has ever, from mere prospective mo- 

 tives of patriotic well-doing to future generations, largely ex- 

 pended their means, their time and their talents, in order to 

 produce results which they can never hope to see, and which, 

 if they could, by no possibility could repay to them a tithe 

 or a hundredth of their outlay. 



The alternative, therefore, is indisputably this. Either race- 

 courses and established racing, or no blood stables and thorough- 

 bred stock in the land. 



The question. Shall there be race-courses, or shall they be 

 proscribed as nuisances ? must be answered, then, according to 

 the degree of utility which can be shown to be derivable from 



