HINTS TO HORSE-KEEPERS, 



CHAPTER I. 



now TO BREED A HORSE CHOICE OF STAILION. 



KATIONAL VALfB OF THE HORSE — THE BETTER CLASS OP HORSES TEH 

 CHEAPEST FOR ALL PURPOSES — WHAT CONSTITUTES EXCELLENCE? — 

 " BLOOD ;'■ WHAT IT GIVES — SHOULD BE ON THE SIDE OF THE SIHE — 

 BREED UP, NOT DO WN —DISEASES AND DEFECTS HEREDITARY — GENERAL 

 RULES, ' 



To enter into an argument at ttis day of the nineteenth 

 century, to show that the horse stock of any country Ls a 

 material item in the account of the national wealth, 

 strength and greatness, would be to admit the arguer him- 

 self an ass, or at Jeast to show that he believed himself to 

 be addressing an audience of asses. In no country in the 

 world, perhaps, is such an argument less needed than in 

 our own, where, certainly, the keeping of horses for the 

 purposes of pleasure as well as of utility is more largely 

 disseminated among persons of all classes than in any otlier, 

 and where the desire and ability both to keep and breed 

 horses of a high grade is daily gaining ground, both in 

 town and country. Among farmers the desire to raise val- 

 a'xble stock is, at least, increasing proportionally to the 

 increase of the profit to be derived from them, which is 



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