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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



the graadam of Teddington, bad good speed, and, like 

 Vulture, won several races, but ber performances were 

 confined to short courses ; and the great grandam of 

 Teddington made but one essay to carry a silk jacket, to 

 which she did no credit. Without going further with 

 the dry matter of detail, many others of the best 

 horses on the turf and in the stud inherit very little of 

 their racing distinction, but most essentially the powers 

 of endurance, from their female ancestors ; and in this 

 category stand most prominent Sir Hercules, Hero, 

 Stockwell, his brother Rataplan, and Fisherman. As a 

 contrast, with the exception of Arachne, the dam of 

 Industry, more recently of Beeswing, the dam of Ne^- 

 minster, Alice Hawthorn, the dam of Thormanby, and 

 a very few others, from the earliest period of racing to 

 the present time, scarcely any mares that have evinced a 

 great share of lasting qualities or endurance, whose 

 turf career has extended for any length of time, have 

 transmitted good properties to their offspring or their 

 descendants equivalent to their own. When it was the 

 custom to run half-bred horses, those by thorough-bred 

 sires, from mares having a flaw in their pedigrees, were 

 found to be greatly superior to those in which the stain 

 was reversed ; affording another example of the influence 

 of the males as relates to the powers of endurance. 



If an argument is to be founded upon the habits, cus- 

 toms, condition, and qualities of animals in a state of 

 nature, it implies that a vast amount of time, study, 

 labour, and capital have been expended to no good pur- 

 pose. But it is not so ; man is permitted to improve 

 the propensities and characters of domestic animals for 

 specific purposes — the horse, for his speed, powers of 

 endurance, and docility ; the dog, for the different uses 

 for which he is employed j and the feeding properties of 

 cattle, or their adaptation to the dairy, as the peculiari- 

 ties of the farm may require. The different attributes 

 or qualities must be cultivated by different means. The 

 effects of incestuous or in-breeding are known to occa- 

 sion precositj', a listless inactive temperament ; conse- 

 quently a disposition to fatten — good qualities for feed- 

 ing-stock ; but if this system be carried too far, the con- 

 stitution being enfeebled, the early development of the 

 frame will result in attenuated emaciation. Impotence 

 is another failing interposed to prevent great excesses 

 of incestuous intercourse; and I think Stonehenge's re- 

 mark tends to prove just the reverse of the argument he 

 holds — " That breeding in-and-in prevails extensively in 

 a state of nature with all gregarious animals, among 

 whom the strongest male retains his daughters and 

 grand-daughters until deprived of his harem by younger 

 and stronger rivals." This affords a most striking and 

 convincing proof of the intention and wise dispensation 

 of Providence, by instilling, at certain periods, a belli- 

 gerent propensity in the males, which excites them to 

 mortal combat, whereby the aged, infirm, and weak are 

 driven away maimed or destroyed. As it is a well known 

 fact that animals produced from incestuous intercourses 

 are the weakest and least capable of enduring hardship, 

 they are by this very act of nature the first to fall a 

 sacrifice to the more robust of their species ; and, 

 although it is not entirely prevented, incest or continu- 



ous in-breeding is thereby limited. The habits of the 

 stag afford a suitable illustration of these propensities, 

 and the most experienced park-keepers are well aware 

 of the degeneracy which takes place among deer, unless 

 males are occasionally introduced from other herds. 



The terms "incestuous" and " in-and-in bred " are 

 not uncommonly associated. Incestuous, as properly 

 understood, implies an intercourse between brother and 

 sister, or half-brother and sister, father and daughter, or 

 grand-daughter, son and mother or grandmother. 

 The next degree of consanguinity implies the union 

 between first cousins; then that of second cousins, which 

 does not appear to entail objectionable results, if not re- 

 peated too frequently. In many instances the term in- 

 and-in is applied where the pedigree on both sides runs 

 back to the same ancestor several generations back ; but, 

 taking such a wide range as that, it is contrary to estab- 

 lished facts to denounce the admissibility of such remote 

 consanguinity. 



In bringing forward some heterogeneous quotations 

 from '•' Stonehenge," errors have crept in which that in- 

 dustrious writer, with a great leaning to in-and-in 

 breeding, never committed. One of them is the de- 

 claration that Matilda, a winner of a St. Leger, was the 

 produce of first cousins, °a degree of consanguinity which 

 thestud-bookdoes not confirm. "Stonehenge, "however, 

 makes a slight mistake when he mentions that Juliana 

 the dam of Matilda was the pro 3 'ice of "brother and 

 sister :" she was the produce of b 'i f -brother and sister, 

 consanguinity too nearly connected ; but Matilda's per- 

 formances on the turf, and her subsequent quality as a 

 brood mare, do not entitle her to be respected as an ex- 

 ample. It is mentioned that Touchstone and Verbena, 

 sire and dam of Ithuriel, were second cousins. This is 

 suggestive of further investigation into that pedigree. 

 Rosalba the dam of Verbena was by Milo ; that horse 

 by Sir Peter Teazle out of Wren. Sir Peter Teazle and 

 Wren were half-brother and sister, both out of Papil- 

 lon, the one by Highflyer, the other by Woodpecker. 

 It is notorious that Milo's descendants were very often 

 afflicted with roaring, and on that account to be most 

 scrupulously avoided ; but fortunately there is not much 

 of the blood in existence. When the Flying Dutchman 

 is paraded as an example of a stallion eminently 

 successful, it is natural to enquire, for what purpose ? 

 Forracing, he is the sire of half-milers,deficientin powers, 

 and as the great object of racing ought to be the pro- 

 duction and maintenance of a breed calculated to pro- 

 duce horses for general purposes, he is as little entitled 

 to the character of eminence as can possibly be con- 

 ceived. Indeed, all the descendants of Bay Middleton 

 are totally worthless as the progenitors of hunters or 

 riding horses of any kind, in consequence of the defective 

 quality of fore-legs which they inherit, and which they 

 almost invariably transmit. The stamp of animal to be 

 recommended for that purpose descends from Venison, 

 Sir Hercules, Birdcatcher, Heron (very scarce). Stock- 

 well, Rataplan, King Tom, Kingston, and such animals 

 as possess sound limbs with pedigrees free from too much 

 consanguinity. 



Touching the canine race, I presume to know nothing 



