IMPROVING THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 1 7 1 
is fit for nothing after the trial is over. The race is his only 
sphere; he is not required to serve any other purpose. No 
matter how useless or helpless he is in other respects, so long 
as he wins his race he is highly 7 prized. But no longer. For, 
whenever he falls lame or is crippled, which is but too often the 
case, he becomes of no value, being fit for nothing. Whereas 
the really serviceable horse in point of breed is to the end fit for 
some purpose or another. 
In order to preserve the purity of the blood of the race-horse, 
or even to benefit by crossing it, like must be coupled with like, 
or there must be some approach of breed or propinquity of blood 
to insure success. Crossing without reference to this fails in pro- 
ducing any thing but bastard nondescripts, neither one thing nor 
the other. Nor does one kind of animal thrive and do well in 
a country the same as another. One might just as well expect 
vegetables of all kinds to live and thrive in all parts of the globe 
as animals. Neither is unity of blood nor climate the only 
thing to be considered ; for the produce of such artificial stock 
as racers are are found to be delicate and difficult to rear, requir- 
ing, like their parents, more than ordinary care, and incurring 
expenses which are not found to repay their breeders, save in the 
case of the pure indigenous blood for the especial purpose of 
racing. 
Having submitted our thoughts on the principles we have 
deduced from extensive observation, let us look back and see 
how far they have, in past events, been realised. 
For twenty vears Alsace possessed a stallion of pure blood, 
purchased in England He was got by Orville, and was called 
Fulford. He was taken into the province of the Bas-Rhin, 
a part of the country where he was expected to propagate his 
blood with the happiest results. His produce, which we have 
observed in various localities, possessed generally plenty of 
courage, but were difficult to break in. Almost all of them 
were irritable, and often proved vicious. Fulford, who himself 
was tricky and dangerous, transmitted his vices, hereditarily, to 
most of his progeny. We ourselves had one of his get, who, 
like all his brothers, lacked regularity and harmony in his form, 
and was very troublesome either to dress or to mount. Further- 
more, he possessed none of the characters of a cavalry horse, 
though admittedly one of Fulford’s best get. We sold him for 
the moderate sum of 300 francs (£12..10,?.). And, notwith- 
standing the great character he bore, Fulford, who died in 1831, 
at the age of nineteen, left behind no traces of amelioration in 
the light portion of his owner’s stud, as might indeed have been 
easily foreseen. 
Breeders of race-horses for the purpose of the turf are far 
