JOURNAL 
OF  THE 
ROYAL  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY 
OF  ENGLAND.  ' 
I. — Half-bred  Horses  for  Field  or  Road : their  Breeding 
and  Management.  By  Earl  Cathcart. 
General  Introduction. 
Froai  an  agricultural  point  of  view  that  thoroughly  English 
production,  a sound  and  shapely  thoroughbred  horse,  is  not  a 
mere  galloping  dice-box,  but  he  is  one  of  God’s  precious  gifts 
to  the  nation ; a noble  animal,  certain,  in  great  measure,  to 
beget  in  his  own  similitude  admirable  creatures,  to  be  thank- 
fully used  in  our  service — for  our  comfort  and  pleasure  in  peace, 
for  our  credit  and  advantage  in  commerce,  and  for  our  indi 
vidual  efficiency,  and  it  may  be  for  the  national  safeguard  in 
war.  Horses,  as  old  Fuller  says,  are  men’s  wings.  I have,  in 
short,  the  good  fortune  to  treat  on  a subject  that  comes  home 
to  the  bosom  and  business  of  almost  every  Englishman. 
It  is  only  with  a view  to  scientific  accuracy  that  it  is 
necessary  to  define  the  term  Half-bred — which  is  not  rendered 
literally.  In  the  language  of  horsemen  that  term  implies  only 
some  stain  in  the  traceable  pedigree  hardly  to  be  detected : 
in  appearance  and  qualities  a horse  may  be,  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  thoroughbred,  yet,  from  some  slight  stain  in  the 
pedigree,  unqualified  for  entry  in  the  Stud-book. 
I am  not  the  parent  of  this  Paper,  I am  not  its  sponsor,  not 
even  the  literary  accoucheur.  I may  be  likened  to  a connoisseur, 
who  takes  pleasure  in  ticketing  and  in  duly  arranging  the 
valuable  contributions  which,  by  the  favour  of  many  friends,  he 
has  acquired  for  his  collection. 
It  came  to  pass  in  the  routine  business  of  the  Journal  Com- 
mittee that  on  this  subject  a Paper  was  wanted  ; and  in  the  har- 
monious division  of  labour  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  seek  for  a suitable 
writer  to  entrust  with  a difficult  and  important,  perhaps  too 
VOL.  XIX. — S.  S.  B 
