he has produced above four hundred foals—that he has never heard of one fetching less than one hundred dollars, and many much higher prices, and that he has never heard of his having produced one worthless colt, or one that is spavined, curbed, ringboned, or has any of those defects which render utterly useless so large a number of fine-bred colts of the present day.
We cannot close this chapter without stating our belief that, in the present state of American breeding, more good can be attained, though the process is slower, by importing the best Norman and Cleveland-bay mares, and breeding them and their progeny—gelding all the males—for two or more generations to select thorough-bred horses, than by importing stallions of these very breeds in an endeavor to work a regeneration on our weedy country mares, or to raise valuable stock out of thorough-bred mares, which is hopeless. "We fully believe that a breeding farm started with a dozen such mares, six of each breed, well chosen, and bred year after year to the best and best selected thorough-breds, would in a very few years realize a large fortune to the breeder.
