94 Sup2)li/ of Horses adapted to the Enr/lish Arrmj. 
supposed difference between the real value of the horse supplied 
and the 36?. which he costs, affords a base for the arguments in 
favour of Government breeding-establishments, and against the 
present system of remounting. 
This question, which has engaged the attention of military 
men and others from time to time, has led to the framing 
of many well-considered schemes ; but they have failed to carry 
with them the conviction that such a course would be better for 
the Government or the army than to have, as at present, the 
whole agricultural interest in the United Kingdom as an open 
market. At the same time we think it not impossible that some 
plan might be discovered by which the farmer would be better 
remunerated, and the troops as well, if not better, mounted. 
The horse, as well as other animals, has been much improved 
by judicious crossing ; but as every race has a natural tendency 
to return to its primeval type, constant attention is required on 
the part of breeders to prevent degeneration. Wonderful im- 
provements in conformation, speed, and strength, have been 
accomplished in some classes. We may instance as specimens 
the statue opposite Apsley House (lohen seen on the (jround) 
and that in Pall Mall East. Both these we have reason to believe 
were taken from life. But, alas ! the majority of breeders pay 
very little attention to symmetry and power. Sometimes they 
do not appear to have any purpose in breeding beyond the getting 
of a foal of any sort. Some are so prejudiced that they will 
breed from a mare when old and worn out, simply because she 
once carried her owner through a very long journey, or performed 
some other unusual feat ; entirely disregarding the fact that she 
may have a large head, ewe neck, upright shoulders, calf knees, 
long crooked pasterns, long slack back, weasel waist, short 
drooping quarters, short thighs, curby or coav hocks, with dish- 
ing speedy cutting, or slouching action. 
The selection of the sire will likewise be mainly determined 
by the small cost of service or a long pedigree ; though to the 
intrinsic merits of his race, he may exhibit no personal claim 
v/hatever. A mongrel offspring is the result, and the breeder is 
led to the exercise of his British prerogative, and grumbles, not | 
at his own mismanagement, but at what he calls capricious 
nature, which drops a valuable foal in a neighbour's paddock on 
the other side of his boundary fence. 
The farmer will not breed expressly for the army, but aim at 
getting either a weight-carrying hunter or a carriage-horse, with 
the further chance of receiving from 30/. to 36/. for his colt at 
four years old, for military service — no very bad alternative. 
When we take into consideration the wonders achieved of late 
years in our improved races of cattle, sheep, and pigs — their 
