IMPROVEMENT OP AGRICULTURAL HORSES. 
49 
Monstrous as it may sound, we have heard it seriously stated 
that it answers better commercially to work the horses 
a out’ J than to take any extra trouble for their preservation. 
The exact meaning to be attached to the expression te working 
out” involves a serious reflection on humanity; the practice, 
we happen to know, is by no means uncommon, although 
happily among agriculturists the spirit of competition and 
speculation has not reached so far or descended so low. We 
have to complain of a want of consideration very frequently, 
but nothing worse. 
The general routine of the stable will depend upon 
a variety of circumstances; it would therefore be useless to 
attempt to lay down a particular system relating to the time 
of feeding, division of work, methods of ventilation, lighting, 
and drainage; so that all these points receive due considera¬ 
tion, the details may be left to individual judgment. We 
would stipulate that the horse should be well fed, fairly 
worked, as frequently as convenient subjected to proper 
grooming, his legs and feet receiving particular attention for 
reasons already assigned. 
Under an appropriate system of management we may 
expect that the beneficial effects of breeding from well- 
selected parents will be considerably extended, 
and consequently our next selection of parents will be made 
with still more scrupulous regard to the requisites before 
insisted on; and thus, by successive combinations of two 
systems, artificial selection and careful regulation of the 
external conditions of existence, we may hope to reap all the 
advantages which result from the application of scientific 
principles to the practice of breeding. 
Journeys of observation, with any special object in view, 
generally result in discoveries; and certainly, since our 
attention has been specially directed to the subject of draught 
horses, we have obtained some curious evidence. What has 
particularly struck us in reference to cart-horses in ordinary 
is the singular absence of any definite character among them ; 
doubtless, this is consequent upon indiscriminate crossing, 
in which the English horse has had an uncommon share. 
Now and then a decided trace of the Clydesdale is apparent 
in the black colour and the somewhat hollow back contrasted 
with the suddenly drooping Flemish hind quarters; but at 
the same time we notice a large angular head and hairy legs, 
indicating the English element. Again, we perceive the 
contour of the Suffolk Punch is associated with the colour 
and some of the distinctive traits of the English horse. 
More often the animal we meet with is indescribable; appa- 
nxxvii. 4 
