Writers in the past bear testimony to this fact, and cite instances and describe the processes that have been adopted in their attempts to improve present or establish new breeds. Clive, " On the good effects of crossing", writes: " We are told that the great improvement in the breed of horses in England arose from the crossing with those diminutive stallions, Barbs and Arabians, and the introduction of mares from Flanders into this country was the source of improvement in the breed of cart-horses.

" When the Asiatic horses were mated with native-bred English mares, there was size on one side and superior quality on the other, the mare exhibiting size and greater development of bone and muscle, but lacking that 'density of fibre' and vital energy which was possessed by the Barb in an eminent degree. From such combination it might be anticipated that the offspring would grow to greater size than the sire, and would show as it arrived at maturity a good proportion of the Eastern horse's quality. And this is exactly what did take place. Animals of size and quality were obtained from the first crosses, and from the Stuart epoch to the present day our race-horses have, decade by decade, increased in height. In 1730 the Oriental horse was denounced, and it was the opinion of sportsmen at this date that the immediate uncrossed descendants of Eastern horses had of late years, almost without exception, proved so deficient that breeders would no more have recourse to them than the farmer would to the natural oat, which is little better than a weed, to produce a sample that should rival that of his neighbours in the market. Were the finest Eastern horse that could be procured brought to the starting-post at Newmarket, with the advantage of English training to boot, he would have no chance at any weight or for any distance with even a second-rate English race-horse." From this quotation we learn that the cross-bred English racer was a gustier racer on the turf than the pure-bred Barb or Arabian, proving how great had been the influence of the incorporation of the old English blood with that of the Eastern horse. The celebrated horses, the Darley and Godolphin Arabians, impressed upon the British racing stock a vigour, a power, and a physical development which has been handed down through succeeding generations " from sire to son". The great Eastern horse, to which we owe so much, has preserved through thousands of years a distinct line of descent from the days when Ninus, King of Assyria (2227 B.C.), marshalled his chariots and horses in battle and Pharaoh pursued the Israelites to the Red Sea (1401 B.C.). This breed of horses, whose existence at the above dates is recorded, were the primogenitors of the Barb and Arabian, who have through countless ages improved the various indigenous species of the world; and at the present day the quality, whenever noticed in foreign horses, has always been obtained directly from the Arab or indirectly from the British thorough-bred, which has impressed his likeness on all our existing breeds from the cob to the cart-horse, to which the American trotter is indebted for much of his excellence, and which, into whatever country he enters, is acknowledged to be king of the equine race.