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XVII. — On the Breeding of Horses — a Letter addressed to the Right 
Honourable John Evelyn Denison. By W. Dickenson. 
My dear Sir, 
You have asked me to give you an outline of my expe- 
rience in breeding horses, with special reference to my success 
with the cart stallion I imported from France, to the intent that 
it may be published in the Royal Agricultural Society's Journal. 
If you think anything I can state will be interesting to the 
members of the Society, I shall have great pleasure in complying 
with your request. I have been engaged with every class of horse 
from the winner of the St. Leger to the hoi'se walking in the cart, 
and purpose to make mention of them all, except the race- 
horse, which I shall merely notice so far as he exerts a general 
influence for good or for bad upon our horses at large. 
And first permit me to address some general remarks to those 
members of the Royal Agricultural Society who have had less 
experience than myself, and beg the indulgence of readers who 
may think that I enter too much into the detail of a subject with 
which they are well acquainted. 
It is necessary to consider, before beginning to breed horses, 
whether the land designed for it is fit for the purpose of breeding 
sound, healthy animals. If it is, the starting-point is right — you 
have reason to hope for success ; if it is not, it is far wiser not 
to make the attempt, but to buy in and sell out as quickly as 
is convenient. It is thoroughly well known that sheep bred upon 
wet, undrained, boggy soils, have defective constitutions ; they 
have diseased livers, decayed feet, and inferior wool, and are so 
tlioroughly unsound in many instances that they die in great 
numbers without remedy. Horse-breeding may be attended with 
similar risks, which should be steadily kept in view. 
Horses should be bred upon a dry subsoil to make them sound 
in constitution, sound in wind, and sound in colour, by which 
I mean that whatever be the horse's colour, it should be a deep, 
not a faint one. The surface, moreover, should be fertile, abound- 
ing in carbonate and phosphate of lime, to grow horses of full 
size, with plenty of bone and muscle. Upon this subsoil and 
this surface, you may expect sound, full-sized, healthy animals. 
A wet, spongy, clay soil produces delicate constitutions, defective 
wind, pale colours, and large flat feet. If your land is not dry 
naturally, perhaps it can be made so by effective drainage ; if it 
cannot, do not attempt to breed horses — every kind of disap- 
pointment will follow such a course. Neither are a very dry 
subsoil and very dry surface desirable, for these produce small 
animals with narrow, contracted feet. 
VOL. XXIV. S 
