942 
THE BREEDING OF STOCK. 
opposite sex. This was well shown by the Alderney bull, 
which was as important as the cow in transmitting rich 
milking qualities. Mr. Spooner thought, however, that it 
was rather to be regretted that in giving premiums for cattle 
more attention had not been paid to the milking qualifica- 
tions, but the purposes of the butcher had alone been regarded. 
Thus, while some of the old milking breeds have almost died 
out, their places have been supplied by cross-bred and 
mongrel animals to a very large extent, it being considered 
in many instances that for dairy purposes pure-bred animals 
were not so profitable, more particularly on moderate 
pastures. 
With regard to horses, all must agree that the difficulty of 
suitably mounting a welter weight is greater than ever, and 
it is also an acknowledged fact that it is more difficult than 
ever to provide remounts for the cavalry and artillery. Why 
should this be the case, when it is well known that a good 
animal costs no more to keep or to rear than a bad one, and 
that such vast sums have been expended in breeding from 
thorough-bred horses ? He well remembered the horses that 
used to be cast and sold out of the cavalry and artillery some 
thirty years ago, and how immeasurably inferior were the cast 
horses of the present day. He had occasion to look over a 
lot of horses thus cast a very few years since, and there was 
not one in twenty but what was faulty in structure, or had 
some hereditary defects. Why was this the case, but because 
it had become at first the convenience, and then the custom, 
to use broken-down race horses alone for stallions for getting 
saddle horses, which fashion the Royal and other agricultural 
societies instead of opposing had done their utmost to encou- 
rage. A certain few had set themselves up as law makers in 
this respect, and in total abnegation of the principles of 
science and physiology, except such as were derived from the 
training stable, they have ventured to proclaim certain dogmas 
which others have been weak enough to regard like the laws 
of the Medes and Persians. These dogmas were — that pure 
blood must be had one side, and that side the male, and that 
thorough-bred horses alone possessed it. But to this he 
replied, 1st, that by using thorough-bred horses for successive 
years, in the course of ten generations they would have only 
about one thousandth part of the original breed left, from 
which they derived their bone and substance, their consti- 
tution and digestive organs. 2nd. That the female was as 
important as the male in breeding. 3rd. That principles that 
had proved so successful with sheep and other animals, would 
prove equally successful with horses. Thus after trying to 
