As regards their market value, the following letter from Mr. W. J. C. Moens, a most energetic member of the Council of the Association, gives the best idea. “At the last Ringwood Fair, December 11th, 1897, there was a larger outside demand for suckers than ever experienced; buyers coming from Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Essex, Somersetshire and Dorsetshire. The prices ran from £4 to £6 10s.; the larger dealers buying about fifty to sixty each, which they trucked (25 to 30 in a truck) away by rail. One lot of about 55 were sold at once by auction at Brighton, and realised £6, £7 and £8 each, one fetching £10. The foals improve enormously on good keep. Our Forest feed is hardly good enough; on richer lands the ponies grow nearly a hand higher and get more substance. Since our Association has improved the breed, of late years, very many have gone to the Kent Marshes, where they are highly thought of, very much more so than the Dartmoor ponies. Yearlings at last Lyndhurst Pony Fair, in August, fetched £5 to £8, but the average was spoiled by two large sales by auction of ‘lane haunters’—old mares and other cast-offs—which realised small prices.... I have seen some of our improved ponies at Hastings and elsewhere, broken in, and about five years old. They are much valued and sell for about £25.... The general improvement since 1889 or 1890 is very marked; and, though there was some opposition to the idea of bettering ‘the real Forester’ at first, now all admit the benefit of the work.” For the information of those interested in this breed, the following description, furnished to the Polo Pony Society for their Stud Book (vol. v.) by the New Forest Local Committee, may be quoted: _For the New Forest pony it is difficult to give any exact description, but the best class of them are from 12 hands to 13 hands 2 inches high according to the portion of the Forest on which they are reared. If taken off the Forest when they are weaned and well kept during the first two winters, they are said very often to attain the size of 14 hands 1 inch. There is sometimes an apparent deficiency of bone, but what there is should be of the very best quality. The feet are wide and well formed. They are often considered goose-rumped, but their hocks should be all that could be desired. In colour they may be said to range through every variety, though there are not many duns, and few if any piebalds left. The flea-bitten greys which are still very numerous on the Forest show strong traces of an Arab cross. The shoulders, though not always what might be desired in point of depth, are almost invariably fine and well laid. It is a great characteristic of the New Forest pony to be always gay and alert, and, though they are extremely good-tempered and docile when fairly broken, they are quite indomitable until they are completely cornered. The true Forester is never sulky._ [Illustration: