Breeding, Rearing, and Feeding Horses, Cattle, and Sheep. 89 
a farmer can rear horses is by having' a few well-bred mares 
forming a proportion of the agricultural horses on the farm, 
and arranging the work so as to be able to rear a foal annually 
for every two pair of horses kept on the farm." Mr. Charles 
Howard says that " the breeding of good agricultural horses 
pays." Mr. George A. May, speaking of the Tamworth district, 
says, " the entire horses that travel about here are not' good, 
and I think the difficulty of getting a good one hinders^ many 
farmers from breeding." 
Referring to Forfarshire, Mr. Goodlet, Bolshan, very truly 
remarks, " we have no great choice of good stallions, and such 
as travel to serve mares get too much to do. Again, most 
farmers who are in the habit of breeding and rearing young 
horses are not very particular as to the kind of mares they breed 
from, and the consequence is an inferior progeny." From 
Mr. Lawrence Drew we have the following : — " I think cart 
stallions serve too many mares as a rule ; about a hundred is- 
quite common ; I think sixty is a sufficient quantity, as I believe 
there would be more foals from the sixty mares than from a 
hundred, and the horse would last longer." I would also invite 
attention to Mr. John Wilson's remarks on horse-breeding 
(p. 13). 
Farmers are not nearly so careful as they should be about the 
descent and soundness of the mares from which they breed. 
In too many instances stallions are put to mares with hereditary 
and other defects, thus producing stock of an unsound and 
unsatisfactory character. Nor are farmers fastidious enough in 
the selection of stallions. They have not hitherto had great 
choice in many parts of the country, for the stallions that travel 
have neither been very good nor very numerous ; many of them 
are unsound, and more of them get by far too much to do. As 
Mr. Drew says, it is quite a common thing for a horse to 
travel through a great range of country and serve over a hundred 
mares in the course of three months. I have known instances of 
horses serving 150 and even 180 mares in a season. Little but 
disappointment could result from such a course. How could any 
one expect many foals, or how could any man expect his horse 
to last long with such usage? It is a short-sighted policy for 
the owners of the stallions, and results in dissatisfaction, if not 
loss, to the owners of the mares. I know of one large Border 
farmer who last season depended on the ordinary travelling 
horses of the district for the service of twenty-two mares. The 
result is that he only expects two foals. Had he, in company 
with perhaps a few of his neighbours, purchased a good stallion, 
the chances are that he would have had at least one foal fov 
every two mares, or perhaps two foals for every three mares. If 
