COLTS OF DIIJGENCK. 301 



try, and as he is a very sure foal-getter, he must have produced 

 at least four hundred colts ; and as I have never yet heard of a 

 colt of his that would not readily bring one hundred dollars, 

 and many of them much higher prices, you can judge of the 

 benefit which has accrued from his services. I have yet to learn 

 that he has produced one worthless colt, nor have I lieard of 

 one that is spavined, curbed, ringboned, or has any of those de- 

 fects which render utterly useless so large a number of the tine- 

 bred colts of the present day. The opinion of good judges here 

 is, that we have never had, in this part of the country at least, 

 so valuable a stock of horses for farming purposes ; and further 

 that no horse that ever stood in this section of the country has 

 produced tlie same number of colts whoso aggregate value has 

 been equal to that of the colts of Diligence ; for the reason 

 that, although there may have been individuals among them 

 which would command a much higher price than any of those 

 of Diligence, yet the number of blemished and indifferent colts 

 has been so great, as quite to turn the scale in his favor. 



^ " In reply to your queries, I would say to the first, that 

 Diligence has not been crossed at all with thoroughbred mares 

 —such a thing is almost unknown here at the present day ; but 

 those mares the nearest approaching to it have produced the 

 cleanest, neatest, and handsomest colts, though hardly large 

 enough to command the best prices. Those I know of that 

 cross are excellent performers. 



" 2. The style of mares with which Diligence breeds best, ap- 

 pears to me to be the mare which you would choose to breed 

 carriage-liorses from, with a good length of neck, and tail com- 

 ing out on a line with the back, to correct the two prominent 

 faults in form of the breed, the short neck and steep rump. 



" 3. What is the result of the cross with different styles as 



regards size and shape ? — ^This may be answered in a general 

 way by stating, the size will depend somewhat upon the size 

 of the mare, with due allowance for casting after back stock, 

 which will be well understood by breeders. As regards shape, 

 you may depend upon the predominance of the form of the 

 horse in nine cases out of ten ; indeed, I have only seen one of 

 his colts that I could not instantly recognize from the form. 

 The reason will occur to you from what I have said of the extreme 



