4 
Thoroughbred StalUms at Nottingham. 247 
that if an almost barren country, such as France was in 1825, I 
can make a horse-supply in forty years, England could replenish | 
her stock in a fourth of that time with the advantages which ; 
she has at command. , 
It is not a Government movement that has come to the aid | 
of England in this extremity ; but a wave of agricultural de- 
pression has brought the public mind into a state of anxiety to 
make the most of all our natural resources. Enough has been 
seen, if the policy of France in the past is alone taken, to show 
what can be done by the development of a horse industry in 
England through the very materials that have enriched other 
nations. To judge such materials as others have judged them 
may not be the worst policy to pursue, and to adopt some 
of the methods of neighbouring countries may be equally wise. ' 
A national stud is not to be thought of at present ; but the past ' 
year has seen the nearest approach of Government support to i 
the cause, through almost accidental circumstances. The Royal 
Agricultural Society took up the subject to meet a requirement 
of the day, and the bestowal of a premium of 200/. to each of 
five stallions last year at Newcastle was so much appreciated by 
the owners of horses, and met with such general approval, as to 
set others thinking about a speedy advancement of the scheme. 
The accidental part of the question now comes in, as it ^ 
so happens that racing has altered so much in its character i 
during the last few years as to make stakes that once appeared 
valuable look exceedingly paltry. It would have been out of all \ 
question to have touched a Queen's Plate ten years ago, as old- j 
fashioned time-honoured meetings like Odiham and Egham : 
quite depended on such events. A change has quickly come. ■ 
over the scene, as the old race-gatherings have collapsed 
altogether in the face of gate-money meetings, and stakes of 
100/. or 300/. have been dwarfed by a new kind of liberality, 
bestowed on the principle that money makes money. An op- i 
portunity was offered, therefore, to divert the Queen's Plates, 
that originated in years past for the encouragement of horse- 
breeding, from the old lines of racing, to the system adopted 
by the Royal Agricultural Society and the Hunters' Improve- 
ment Society. There was practically no opposition to the pro- i 
posal from either the magnates of the turf or other quarters, 
and hence this small State grant has become the nucleus of a 
movement which may achieve most of the objects of a national 
stud. 
The appointment of a Royal Commission was the first step, 
to inquire into the special requirements for the grant, and to 
be the trustees, in fact, of the fund. The Master of the Horse, 
in whom has been vested the direction of the Queen's Platea 
