The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1874-07-07

"Our views aud opinions have been shap.
ed by the teachings Of more than gen.
Grafton. On all sides the cry from our
most eminent teachers has been Breed
up breed up We have seen the
breeders of Short. Horns, Devious, Chester
Whites, Spanish MeriDos and, indeed, in
every department Of domestic animals
responding by breeding up with the
most happy results. The breeders of the
trotting horse, too, have responded to the
cry aud bred up to the thoroughbred
with results not quite so happy as will
be seen above. Whatever may have been
the Improvement in the spirit, quality
and endurance of the animals in breeding
up to the pure blood race.horsc, the fail
ure to produce the trottor is not only pal.
pablo but overwhelming With the facts
before us that cannot be gainsaid or over.
thrown, it therefore behooves us to con.
slider carefully what there is in the phil.
osophy of breeding the trotting horse
that differs from the philosophy Of breeing
the Short-llorns or the Spanish Merinos."
One Of the strongest advocates Of
breeding to the thoroughbred sire-or
breeding up" as Nj. Wallace has it
was the late Henry William Herbert,
more familiarity known as Frank For.
roster whose elaborate and, for the time
being, leading work entitled The Horse
of America" was ono of the first books
from which | sought instruction upon
the subject Of horse breeding | have
not the means at hand of giving his exact
words, but it was his theory that TO i'm.
prove any kind Of live stock, including
the troting horse, all success rested upon
the fundamental principal that the sire
must be Of the hiehes; type, and that
thoroughbred being Of higher type than
trotting- bred, true success lay only in the
the channel of coupling the trotting mare
with the thoroughbred sire. His theory
Of making the sire always the highest
type, for which he claimed universal sane.
ton in all stock. breeding departments,
| accepted at the time as philosophicaly
correct, but from the first it struck me
that Mr.. Wallace had made mistaken
application Of it, to the subject Of breed
ing fast trotting horses.
The first question that arises, after
accepting the correctness of the theory is
which is the highest type for the pur.
pose in question ? Is it the thoroughbred
sire, or the trotting sire ? NIr. Herbert's
answer was the thoroughbred mine was
the trotter What was wanted was trot-
ting speed. That was the grand element
in the construction. Without it, all the
beauty, stamina, endurance, finish and
intelligence that could be combined would
not make a trotter. | thought then and
maintain now that, Notwithstanding Mr.
Herbert's theory Of breeding up" he
/ virtually taught breeding down." al.
ways bearing in mind what the objec,
was. Had stamina, courage, beauty, in.
teligencc (?) or endurance been the lead.
ing object sought, Mr.. Herbcrt's appli.
cation would have been right.
When the cattle breeder wishes to i'm.
prove the dcsh.producing capacity of hi,
herd, he does not consider it breeding
up" to select sire simply because he
has the attributes Of deep-milkug stock
When the Merino breeder wishes to i'm.
prove the shearing capacity of his flock
he would not think it breeding up" tc
select q South Down sire, simply because
he had great iat'enlug properties. Their
how was Mr.. Herbert breeding up il
trotting quality by selecting sire FOL
attributes Of endurance, stamina and
beauty, which sire had no marked trot.
ting quality. either by education
or Inheritance Did he not allow him
self, on the contrary, to be mised by the
old song that the thoroughbred is the
highest type Of the horse true enough il
some senses, and untrue in others
With this view OF the case, then, /.
there any essential difference so far a.
breeding up" is concerncd-in the phil
osophy Of breeding the trotting horse
from that of breeding the Short. Horn Of
the Spanish Merine?
t the breeding up" philosophy ha
any essential bearing upon the case, ha
Mr.. Wallace really sought in the proper
quarter in which to discover the true in
Auence Of thorough blood in the trottipl
horse ? Thus the subject opens up al
enormous field for consideration no singl,
part Of which with the remainder I'm
answered, is satisfactory.
HARK CoMsToCK.