Road, Track, and Stable. By H. C. Merwin. (Little, Brown,
and Co., Boaton.)—Of course, the most important type of horse to the American is the trotting-horse, and it is the one distinct typo which the Americans have produced. The chief ancestor of the trotting families was 'Messenger,' an English thoroughbred, himself descended from the " Darby " and "Godolphin" Arabians. It is necessary, says Mr. Merwin, for the trotter to have Arabian blood in his veins, otherwise he could not develop the nervous energy which enables a horse to make a supreme effort at times. Mr. Merwin's remarks on "Stable Management" one would recom- mend to every one ; he claims that his countrymen train and break their horses with more consistent kindness than we do ; and with well-bred horses in good hands this is no doubt the ease. The English gentleman very often exercises no control over the treat- ment of his horses by his grooms ; a protest from an outsider is as often as not the first intimation he receives that they are being ill-treated. The whole tenour of Mr. Morwin's book is one of affection for the horse, and whatever subject he is writing upon, horse-keeping, saddle-horses, or the treatment of old horses, he never forgets to urge consideration for the animal ho finds so useful, on the reader. It is this quality that makes Road, Track, and Stable interestitg reading.
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