ON PEDIGREE STOCK RECORDS. 425 
(1) Is it possible to make satisfactory photographs under standard con- 
ditions amid the hurry and under the necessary restrictions of a great 
Show? (2) If so, could they be made at a reasonable cost? (3) Is there 
any likelihood of such a system being self-supporting ¢ 
The desired experiment was permitted to be made, in response to a 
request of the Committee, by the Royal Commissioners on Horse-breeding 
at their Show held last March at the Royal Agricultural Hall. On this 
occasion 29 premium stallions were selected for service throughout England 
during the current season, who will become the sires of some 800 foals 
within the present twelvemonth. The Committee desire to express their 
grateful thanks to the Royal Commissioners for the assistance thus cor- 
dially given to them. The results were most satisfactory ; they will be 
found in an Appendix to the Blue Book (C.—9487. Price 25d.) just issued 
by the Royal Commission. Reference should be made to this by those 
persons who desire fuller information than is given in this Report. Twenty- 
eight out of the 29 premium horses were photographed at the average rate of 
six minutes to each horse. Considered merely as portraits, they were very 
satisfactory, and they were of a size that gave, roughly, 2 inches or 50 milli- 
metres for the height at the withers, being a little less than 1 millimetre to 
1 inch of real height. Measurements made on them gave results that, in 
three-quarters of the cases, did not differ more than } inch from those made 
by two veterinaries on the animals themselves. In the remaining quarter 
of the cases in which the differences ranged up to a siigle instance of 
24 inches, it seemed from internal evidences and other considerations that 
the photographic method was the more trustworthy of the two, The 
experiment further showed that the cost of photography did not exceed 
what might be wholly or in part recouped by the sale of prints, and there 
was reason to believe that a highly skilled photographer might consent to 
take the photographs under standard conditions, at his sole charge, if he 
were permitted to sell authorised copies to newspapers and to private 
persons under such reasonable restrictions as might be thought proper by 
the authorities. : 
Should this hope be hereafter realised, it seems difficult to imagine 
that any serious difficulty would stand in the way of causing the photo- 
graphy of prize-winners to become a permanent feature in the larger 
Shows of Pedigree Stock. Of course, the uncertainties of weather have 
_to be reckoned with, and the Shows held during the darker period of the 
year, in the smoky atmosphere of large towns, should be left out of con- 
sideration, unless artificial light could be used. But the more valuable 
animals are usually exhibited more than once, so that an occasional photo- 
graphic mishap might be subsequently remedied. 
Details relating to what has been said will now be given; they will 
be found stated at greater length in the Appendix to the Blue Book men- 
tioned above. 
Standard Conditions.—The arrangements now suggested are slight 
improvements on those under which the experiment was conducted. A 
wall, or solid vertical screen, is required for a background, and a hard and 
level pathway of 6 feet in width running alongside the wall for the horse 
to stand on. Two lines are to be made across the pathway at 2 feet 
apart, between which the fore-feet of the horse must stand while he is 
being photographed, his body being at the same time as nearly in the line ~ 
of the pathway as possible, both of his hind feet being, at all events, 
upon it. The pathway should be rather light in colour, to show the feet 
