o 



9 



scrupled to spend money on its improvement ; 

 money which, if brought together, would amount to 

 a sum of not thousands, but many, many millions 

 of pounds. At the first blush this estimate of 

 millions will appear to be large, but when it is 

 remembered the many ways in which money has been 

 expended in this direction — -notably, in breeding 

 for the turf alone — it will be realized. 



In the 1 6th and 17th centuries, commissioners 

 were specially sent to all parts of the world to select 

 the best horses of each country for importation into 

 England, and the importance of this subject at those 

 particular epochs is frequently referred to by 

 numerous contemporary authors. 



At the present time, it may be accepted that 

 many of the agricultural horses used upon the 

 farm are a composite production descended from 

 stock which was common in the United Kingdom 

 centuries ago, improved and built up from the 

 Arabian and other Eastern horses imported into 

 England. 



The Agricultural Horse now varies in size, 

 according to the climate and soil of our different 

 counties ; even the heavy horses bred on the low rich 

 fen lands will lose their size and hair when bred 

 on upland (chalk, gravel, or what is called mixed 

 soil), but they will retain that grand quality of flat 

 bone which is found only in the breeds known to 

 have possessed fine silky hair. 



It is well to remark that where there is silky 



