506 
Waste Hill Lands : 
nevertheless such an article as the present would not have been 
complete without a short reference to them. 
The Highland pony differs altogether from those I have 
previously described, and plainly shows his Norwegian origin. 
No doubt he is a useful beast for harness and to carry home 
deer from the hills, but I never saw one of them yet that I 
would ride, as long as I was able to walk. The Shetlands, and 
those from the island generally, are so small that they are of little 
use, except for harness and to carry children. 
Having given a slight history of the different breeds of ponies 
now to be found in England, I must turn to the way that in my 
opinion they could be utilised, so as to make our waste hill lands 
profitable, and in doing this, I propose to take into consideration 
the immense rise that has of late years (especially since the 
introduction of the game of Polo) taken place in the value of 
all ponies of good blood and superior shape and make, com- 
bined with action. In fact I may say that at the present time 
no animal of the horse kind commands such a ready sale or 
relatively such a high price as a good cob or pony. Get a pair 
of cobs well matched that can step, and you may ask nearly your 
own price for them, and get it too. The other day a coster- 
monger asked me thirty guineas for one he had drawing his 
truck. Then comes the question, Why should we not try to pro- 
duce such an article ? Up to the present time I believe I am 
correct in saying that most superior cobs and Galloways are 
" chance bred." And on my once asking the late Mr. Milward 
where he principally procured his, he told me " from all sources ; 
when I see one likely to suit me I buy it." And in the same 
conversation he said that he believed few people tried especially 
to breed ponies. One of his, I know, was bred for the turf in 
France, and I believe had won a race as a two-year-old, while 
others came from all kinds of odd corners. 
Given a man to be in possession, either by rent or purchase, of 
a certain amount of hill land or mountain, the question is, could 
he not stock it more profitably with ponies than anything else? 
And I may ask, would not this style of farming open a pleasur- 
able occupation to many young gentlemen, younger sons and 
so forth, who have some little capital and do not know what to 
do with it ; some who are leading idle lives, others going in for 
emigration and so forth. Men who would never settle down 
to the routine of every-day farming occupations, but with a 
large tract of land of this sort, and the right of sporting over 
it, may thus combine business and pleasure, and employ their 
time and capital profitably. A large proportion of this class 
are capital judges of horses, and thoroughly understand their 
