THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



411 



uers have been dams of good race-horsea. Beyond this roomy 

 frame necessary as the eggshell of the foal, the mare only re- 

 quires such a shape and make as is well adapted for the pecu- 

 liar purpose she is intended for. It is better to breed from 

 animals of a medium size of their kind, whether male or fe- 

 male, not too big, uor too small." To ensure the mare being 

 stinted she should be perfectly healthy, and living as much as 

 possible iu a state of nature; not overfed with corn, but rather 

 have cooling diet, unless she is poor. Fattened animals often 

 prove barren. The best time for covering is when the heat 

 commences. If convenient it is often recommended to do so 

 a second time when the heat passes off. " Like the brood 

 mare," says Stonehenge, " the stallion requires several 

 essentials, commencing also, like her, 1st with his blood ; 

 2ndly, his individual shape ; 3rdly, his health ; 4thly, his 

 temper. But there is this difficulty in selecting the stallion, 

 that he must not only be suitable, but he must also be adapted 

 to the particular mare which he is to serve. Thus it will be 

 manifest that the task is more difficult than the fixing upon 

 a brood mare, because (leaving out of consideration all other 

 points but blood) in the one case a mare only has to be chosen, 

 which is of good blood, for her particular work ; while in the 

 other there must be the same attention paid to this particular, 

 and also to the stallion's suitability to the mare, or to " hit" 

 with her blood. The rock upon which most men split is a 

 bigoted favouritism for some particular horse ; thus one puts 

 all his mares to Birkenhead, another to Hunting Horn, al- 

 though they may every one be of different blood and form. 

 Now this cannot possibly be right, if there is any principle 

 whatever in breeding ; and however good a horse may be, he 

 cannot be suited to all mares. Some say that any sound 

 thorough-bred horse will do for a thorough-bred mare of the 

 same kind, and that all is a lottery ; but I hope you now per- 

 ceive that there is some science required to enable the breeder 

 to draw many prizes. That the system generally followed of 

 late is a bad oae, I am satisfied, and with the usual and con- 

 stant crosaiug and recrossing it is almost a lottery ; but upon 

 proper principles and careful management, there would be 

 fewer blanks than at present. We cannot expect to find a 

 perfect mare nor a perfect horse ; there is some " if this," or 

 " but that" in them all. The breeder, however, must be par- 

 ticularly careful that both should not be faulty in the same 

 place — that both should not have the same objection — and 

 whereon one is deticieut the other must be unusually de- 

 veloped. In thus matching his mares the judgment of the 

 breeder is proved, that they may " hit" well. The same rule 

 of course applies to all animals. Mr. Bell well observes, that 

 " the importance of the influence of the sire in breeding 

 horses is in no point more clearly proved than by the fact 

 that the progeny of the most celebrated racehorses have gene- 

 rally sustained the reputation of their sires. Thus the de- 

 scendants of Eclipse numbered no less than 364 winners, and 

 those of Matchem, Highflyer, and other celebrated horses have 

 partaken of the same inherited excellence. Sultan, the pro- 

 perty of the Duke of Beaufort, which covered at £30 a mare 

 after he was 20 years old. Snap of the House, General, and 

 Admiral of Ludlow, and not forgetting Sir Sampson, were 

 celebrated stallions in this country 20 and 30 years ago ; and 

 though they are long since dead, yet they now live, and are 

 well known in their descendants. It is a remarkable fact 

 that the first male put to a female, especially if he be potent, 

 influences more or less the progeny of that female by subse- 

 quent males. A striking case of this kind was first published 

 in the Philosophical Transactions. A splendid mare, seven- 

 eighths Arab, had a mule by a quagga, in the year 1816, the 

 mule bearing the unmistakable marks and stripes of the 



quagga. In the years 1817, 1818, and 1823, this mare again 

 foaled, and althouf,'h she had not seen the quagga since 1816 

 her three foals were all maiked with the curious quagga 

 marks. Nor i.s this by any means au isolated case. Meckel 

 observed similar results in the crossing of a wild boar with a 

 domestic sow. Mr. Orton verified this fact in the case of 

 dogs, and poultry. Mr. Merrick, in the Veterinarian, records 

 the experience of his groom, who has had the management of 

 stallions for 14 years, " that he has frequently noticed that 

 well-bred mares, which had been diflicult to stiut with 

 thorough-bred horses, have bred to au inferior, and subse- 

 quently to a thorough-bred stallion ; but her stock by the 

 latter has frequently showed traces of inferior blood, not to have 

 been expected from the breed of either the sire or dam. You 

 will, therefore, bear in mind that it is especially important 

 that the first male given to a female should be well bred. I 

 know that there is a foolish notion with some people about 

 dogs, that the first litter is not likely to be good, therefore 

 they allow the bitch for the first time to go about with any 

 and every dog, little thinking the bad efi'ect such treatment 

 has upon future litters. In explanation of this phenomenon 

 that eminent physiologist. Professor Carpenter, in his cele- 

 brated work upon " Human Physiology," writes : " Some of 

 these cases appear referable to the strong mental impressions 

 left by the first male parent upon the female ; but there are 

 others which seem to render it more likely that the blood of 

 the female has imbibed from that of the fcetus, through the 

 placental circulation, some of the attributes which the latter 

 has derived from its male parent; and that the female may 

 communicate these, with those proper to herself, to the subse- 

 quent offspring of a different male parentage." The 

 same author also writes : " There seems good reason 

 to believe that the attributes of the germ are iu 

 great degree dependent not merely upon the habitual 

 condition of the parents, which have furnished its original 

 components, but even upon the condition in which those 

 parents may be at the time of sexual congress. Of this we 

 have a remarkable proof in the phenomenon well known to 

 breeders of horses, that a strong mental impression, made 

 upon the female by a particular male, will give the offspring a 

 resemblance to him, even though she had no sexual intercourse 

 with him. In conclusion, allow me to say that agricultural 

 societies are to be blamed very much for the little attention 

 they pay to horses as compared with other stock, especially 

 poultry. They ought to give liberal prizes to the best brood 

 mares and stallions of all breeds, and pay as much attention 

 to them — they deserve more — as to cattle, &c. The best 

 stallion should have to travel within the district of the society 

 during next season, and not to receive the prize until the end 

 of that time. I must add that our great landlords generally 

 overlook the interest of their tenants, and consequently their 

 own also, in not keeping good thorough-bred stallions, of 

 different breeds, for the use of their tenants at a nominal 

 charge. Farmers themselves also overlook their own interest 

 too often by being " penny wise and pound foolish," in looking 

 more at the fee of the horse, when they engage him, than at 

 his shape. 



The Chairman said : I beg to congratulate Mr. Evans on 

 his very able lecture, and I am sure, gentlemen, you will agree 

 with me that our best thanks are due to Mr. Evans for the 

 pains and trouble he must have taken to produce such an in- 

 teresting and instructive lecture, I sympathize with Mr. 

 Evans in his feelings of regret at the low ebb in which the 

 breed of horses how stand in Shropshire. Before coming to 

 reside in this county I had heard much of the celebrity of 

 Shropshire for their breeds of animals ; and I fondly hoped 



