116 THE HOUSE 



but when it is carried on with dams of unknown parentage, it is 

 ten times' more so than it need be. Were I to commence the 

 establishment of a breeding stud, whether of cart or carriage 

 horses, hacks or hunters, I would never introduce a single mare 

 whose- dam and grand-dam as well as the sire and grand-sire would 

 not be produceable as good specimens of their respective kinds. 

 Beyond the second remove there would always be some difficulty in 

 going with the lower-bred mares, but I would certainly go as far 

 as this in all cases. If the sire and dam, grand-sire and grand- 

 dam, were, on the whole, of desirable form and performances, I 

 would choose the produce as a brood mare, but not otherwise; and 

 though, of course, I should be obliged to pass over some important 

 defects in individuals, I would not do so if they were common to 

 all, or nearly all, of the four. In this way I should expect to do 

 more than by simply choosing " a great roomy mare" without' 

 knowing her pedigree, in the belief that she would be sure to re- 

 produce her likeness. 



THE KIND OF HORSE MOST PROFITABLE FOR THE BREEDER 

 TO CHOOSE. 



When a person makes up his mind to bestow his attention on 

 the breeding of horses as a speculation, it behooves him to consider 

 what kind is best suited to the nature of his land and the length 

 of his purse, as well as to his own knowledge of horses. Unless 

 he has plenty of fine upland grass and a command of money, it is 

 quite useless for him to think of the race-horse ; nor will he do 

 well, without these concomitants, to dabble in hunters. Cart-horses, 

 now-a-days, pay well when there is work for them to do up to their 

 third or fourth year ; and carriage-horses are likewisea good specu- 

 lation, when the land is suitable to their development. No one, 

 however, should turn his attention to the breeding of hacks on a 

 large scale, since they will almost inevitably cost more than they 

 will fetch at five years old. The farmer who keeps one or two " nag " 

 mares is the only person who can be said to rear hacks without 

 loss ; and he only does so, because he begins to use them for his own 

 slow work as soon as they are three years old. Even in his case, 

 however, I much doubt whether the same food which "has been 

 given the colts would not have been turned to greater profit if given 

 to horned cattle ; and the only thing which can be said in favor of 

 the former is, that they eat coarse grass which the latter will refuse. 

 To make the breeding of the horse turn out profitably, the hack 

 and inferior kind of harness-horse ought to be the culls from a lot 

 of colts. intended for the hunting-field, and then, the one with the 

 other, they may be made to pay. 



