50 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



he acts as if he did, for experience has taught hira. The 

 English breeder, on the other hand, values his Btallion. He 

 cultivates speed, and he finds that the sire gives the locomo- 

 tive organs ; consequently his value, juat the reverse of the 

 Arab ; his mare is easily got at, but his stalliou is priceless." 

 This distinction, if a real one, properly cornea within the law 

 of limitations formerly spoken of, and forms an additional 

 article of it ; and, it may be remarked, that while talent is 

 notoriously often hereditary in the male line, it has often been 

 observed of individuals who have risen to distinction, either by 

 their /lower of intellect or force of character, they have owed 

 their pre-eminence to their mother. I cannot leave this part 

 of the subject without acknowledging how much I have been 

 indebted to Dr. Harvey's pamphlet, and to Dr. Vv''. B. Car- 

 penter, whose works on physiology are the admiration of all 

 scientific men, and are monuments not only of their author's 

 research, but of his power of arranging and elucidating 

 phenomena. 



The effect of in-and-in breeding is best manifested in 

 racehorses; or rather, I ought to say, in consequence of the 

 wide publicity given to the pedigree and performances of such 

 as become celebrated winners, it is better known iu such ani- 

 mals than it is in sheep and cattle, although it is with the 

 latter that we are more especially concerned. I have the high 

 authority of a celebrated sporting writer, Dr. Walsh, better 

 known under his pseudonym of " Stonehenge," in favour of 

 this system. In his Britisli Rural Sports he says, " Breeding 

 in-and-in prevails extensively in a state of nature with all gre- 

 garious animals, among whom the strongest male retains his 

 daughters and granddaughters until deprived of his harem by 

 younger and stronger rivals. Hence, in those of our domestic 

 animals which ar« naturally gregarious it is reasonable to con- 

 clude that breeding in-and-in is not prejudicial, because it is in 

 conformity with their natural instincts, if not carried farther 

 by art than nature teaches by her example." He then says, 

 " By a careful examination of the pedigrees of our most re- 

 markable horses, it will be seen that in all cases there is some 

 in-breeding ; and in the greater part of the most successful a 

 very considerable infusion of it." The early racehorses of the 

 eighteenth century were notoriously in- bred, and we have 

 numerous convincing examples. The two Childers, Eclipse, 

 Kanthos, Whiskey, Anvil, Boudrow, and, in fact, almost all 

 the horses of that day, were much in-bred ; sometimes, as in 

 the dam of the famous Leedes, to an incestuous degree. Mr 

 Smith, in his book on breeding, instances the Herod and 

 Eclipse blood as having " hit" in a great number of horses, 

 such as Whiskey, Waxy, Coriander, Precipitate, Calomel, 

 Overton, Gohanna, and Beninborough, who were all out of 

 Herod mares by sons of Eclipse. But it must also be remem- 

 bered that Eclipse and Herod are both descended from the 

 Darley Arabian, one on the sire's side, and the other on that 

 of the dam. Among the horses of the preaeiit century the 

 following remarkable instances will illustrate this position :— 

 Priam is an example of success by in-breeding after a series of 

 failures in crossing. Cressida, his dam, was put to Walton, 

 Haphazard, OrviUe, Wildfire, Woful, Phantom, Scud, Partisan,' 

 Little John, and Waterloo, without success. At last, being 

 served by her cousin Erailiua (a son of OrviUe, who had pre- 

 viously failed, not being related to her), she produced Priam. 

 This horse and Plenipotentiary were both sons of Emilius, the 

 latter being the result of as direct a cross as is often seen j 

 but the former was in-bred to Whiskey, who was sire of 

 his dam, Cressida, and also great grandsire of Emilius. 

 Now, the above-mentioned two horses were both extraordi- 

 nary runners; but, whilst Plenipotentiary has scarcely had an 

 average success as a stallion, Priam, considering the short 



time that he remained in England, has achieved au imperish- 

 able fame. For there are two points in which breeding is to 

 be viewed ; first, as producing successful runners ; secondly, 

 good stallions and brood mares; but, though it seems to 

 answer in both cases, it is in the latter point of view that it is 

 most interesting to this society, and in which it is chiefly to 

 be recommended. Cotherstone, winner of the Derby, and 

 Mowerina, dam of West Australian, also a winner of the 

 Derby, are the produce of first cousins. Touchstone and 

 Verbena, sire and dam of Ithuriel, were second cousins, taken 

 from Selim and his sister. Matilda, winner of the St. Leger, 

 was the produce of first cousins, and her mother, Juliana, was 

 the produce of brother and sister. Bay Middleton was the 

 produce of second cousins, and his son, Andover, winner of 

 the Derby, is the produce of cousins. Stockwell and Rataplan 

 are remarkable as being descended in the same degree from 

 Whalebone, Whisker, and Web, the very same two brothers, 

 as in Andover's case. Orlando, winner of the Derby, has a 

 still stronger impression of inbred blood (the Selim blood), 

 his dam being a grand-daughter of that horse and great grand- 

 daughter of Castrel (brother to Selim), whilst Touchstone, hia 

 sire, is a great grandson of the last-named horse. Here, then, 

 inbreeding has been carried out to its fullest extent. Vulture 

 (Orlando's dam) having been the produce of first cousins, and 

 being put to a second cousin, derived through the same strain, 

 and the result has been, as is well known, the most remarkable 

 stallion of the day. An instance of the comparative value of 

 two stallions, one more inbred than the other, may be seen in 

 Van Tromp and the Flying Dutchman, both out of Barbelle. 

 These horses are both inbred to Buzzard, but the Dutchman is 

 also descended from Selim, son of Buzzard, on the side of both 

 dam and sire. Now, it will not be questioned that at present 

 Van Tromp is comparatively a failure, and that the Dutchman 

 is eminently successful. Wild Dayreli, winner of the Derby, 

 and the best horse of his year, by long odds, speedy as he 

 was, traced his wonderful powers to a re-union of the blood of 

 Velocipede, which exists on the side of both sire and dam, and 

 also to his descent from Selim and Rubens, own brothers, who 

 are respectively his paternal and maternal great grandsirea. 

 Melbourne (aire of West Australian, Blink Bonny, and a num- 

 ber of first-rate horses of the present day) is the produce of 

 third cousins, both his sire (Humphrey Clinker) and dam 

 (Cervantes' mare) being descended from Highflyer. Pyrrhus 

 Ist, Safeguard, Vainhope (the celebrated steeple-chaser). The 

 Saddler, Chatham, Sweetmeat, Knight of St. George, are also 

 examples of the success of inbreeding. " Stonehenge " con- 

 cluded his chapte'r on inbreeding by challenging the breeder 

 to "ask what horses have been the_ most remarkable of late 

 years, and with very few exceptions he will find they were 

 considerably inbred." The following thirty of the most 

 immediately successful stallions of late years are given by 

 " Stonehenge " for the sake of comparison : 



Inbred. 



1. Priam. 



2. Bay Middleton. 



3. Melbourne. 



4. Cotherstone. 



5. Pyrrhus Ist. 



6. The Baron. 



7. Orlando. 



8. Ithuriel. 



9. Cowl. 



10. The Saddler. 



11. Sweetmeat. 



12. Chatham. 



13. Flying Dutchman. 



14. Sir Tatton SyKes. 



15. Chanticleer. 



Cross-bred. 



1. Partisan. 



2. Emilius. 



3. Touchstone. 



4. Eirdcatcher. 



5. Sir Hercules. 



6. Voltaire. 



7. Plenipotentiary. 



8. Pantaloon. 



9. Lanercoat. 



10. Venison. 



11. Alarm. 



12. Ion. 



13. Harkaway. 



14. Velocipede. 



15. Hctmau Platoff. 



