THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



329 



mingham. Foaled in 1854, he was got by Sir 

 Hercules, out of Snowdrop, by Heron, her dam 

 Fairy, by Filho da Futa, out of Britannia, by 

 Orvilie, 



Sir Hercules, born in Ireland in 1827, was by 

 Whalebone, out of Peri, by Wanderer, her dam 

 Thalestris, by Alexander, out of Rival, by Sir 

 Peter. Like his son. Sir Hercules never had fair 

 play as a race-horse, and there is little doubt but 

 that he was made safe for the St. Leger, though he 

 still ran third in a field of nineteen to such good 

 horses as Rowton and Voltaire. But it is as a 

 stallion that Sir Hercules is especially lamous, and 

 well do we remember when old Weatherley (by no 

 means to be confounded witli the Messrs. Wea- 

 therley) was descanting over his budding honours. 

 When we saw the hope of the family, the then 

 home-trained Coronation, win his maiden race at 

 O.xford, and a brown filly hauling away at " the 

 Vicar," in a lilac jacket and red sleeves, we were 

 wont to watch vt'itli all the eager anxiety of hope 

 and youth. And the promise duly developed with 

 the Hydra, the Corsair, Cruiskeen, Birdcatcher, 

 Faugh-a-Ballagh, Hyllus, Robert de Gorham, that 

 wonderful horse over a country. Discount, and no 

 end of an et cmtera in England and Ireland — 

 Gunboat and Gem.ma di Vergy being the two 

 strongest props of his old age. Sir Hercules died 

 in 1855. 



Snowdrop, bred by Mr. Fowler in 1843, never 

 ran, having met with an accident when in training; 

 nor, with the exception of Lurley and Gemma di 

 Vergy, have any of her numerous family done very 

 much upon the turf. She dropped a colt foal this 

 spring to Stockwell, that died when two days old ; 

 and the mare has since been served by Ethelbert. 

 She is still in the possession of Mr. Taylor, who 

 sold Gemma di Vergy, a few days after he was 

 dropped, to Palmer for 200 gs., the latter at the 

 same time entering into an agreement to take all 

 the mare's produce. Although now quite a dowa- 

 ger. Snowdrop is said to be looking wonderfully 

 fresh and well. 



Vv'halebone— and Orviile — Sir Peter— and Heron, 

 a son of Buzzard, by Castrel — the more we study 

 Gemma di Vergy's pedigree, the more we like the 

 good staying blood in it, while he himself was a 

 rare gams horse, with a fine turn of speed to back his 

 stoutness. But it is not as a race-horse that Gemma 

 di Vergy's name will live, for in our mind's eye he 

 has already proved his worth as a stallion. Never 

 have we seen such a lot of foals by the same horse 

 as we did in our morning stroll through the 

 Mamhead Paddocks a week or two since. There 

 was no need of M'Kairnan at our elbow, for you 

 could mark dov.'n every one of them. Let the 

 mare be what she might, the pi'oduce came with 

 the same good lean head and brown muzzle, the 

 grand quarters, fine thighs, and big clean hocks. 

 In fact, so far they all throw to him ; while the 

 chief anxiety at the time of our visit was as to 

 what would come from Prioress, with her time 

 nearly up, or over. This game bit of stuff is now 

 dropping a little to her leg, but in other respects 

 she has the same wiry, over-worked look as when 

 in training. The two other mares purchased by 

 ir Lydston of Mr. Ten Broeck have foaled— The 



Belle, a filly already christened "The Belle of the 

 Season," and Olympias, a colt. They are great, 

 fine, roomy mares ; but the young people are 

 striking likenesses of their sire, and it is hard to 

 choose between them, Ihey are both so good. Like 

 another Pharaoh, Mr. Ten Broeck by the condi- 

 tions of the deal claims them as " the first-born," 

 and we can well congratulate him on his bargain. 

 Then Madame Clicquot, another great banging 

 mare, whose short pasterns hardly answer for the 

 speed she showed, has a foal with all the Sir 

 Hercules points, and especially noticeable for its 

 immense bone; while Botany, herself the best- 

 looking dame of the Haras, has thrown such a filly 

 as is alone well worth the journey down, or up 

 afterwards to the Brick House Farm. Such style 

 and such power — the bloodlike head — the fine 

 shoulders — and again and again, ever better still 

 the next time you see them — those rare quarters, 

 thighs, and hocks. Her action, too, is superb, and 

 barring accidents this filly must grow into " some- 

 thing." Great care, however, is necessary, for the 

 mare is very wild, and, when we saw her, could 

 not be trusted out of her box or the farmyard. 

 We, though, have more liberty, and so let us get 

 back again to those fresh well-watered paddocks 

 where the grass comes green and thick when it 

 will not grow even in other parts hereabouts, 

 where the tall firs have been turned to " available" 

 purposes in building the best of sheds and boxes, 

 and where in one short revolving year a really per- 

 fect breeding establishment has been completed 

 and furnished. The mares, now numbering some- 

 where about twenty-five, include, beyond those 

 already referred to, a Teddington mare out of 

 Canary by liirdcatcher, with a filly at her foot ; 

 the blind Deceptive, by Venison, the dam of 

 Weatherbound, with a colt foal, a little "off" when 

 we saw him ; a great powerful Melbourne mare, 

 better known as Ralpho's dam, with a colt taking 

 all after the horse, and consequently with far 

 more style than the mother; and Columbine, a 

 coarsish cross-bred Irish mare, with a very fine 

 filly that luckily again bears strongly the impri- 

 matur of Gemma di Vergy, who answers for the 

 produce of the four. Then, by right of seniority, 

 there should come Repartee (the dam of Bon-mot), 

 now nineteen years old, v;ith her sweet head and 

 bloodlike character ; but, unfortunately, she broke 

 last season to the brown, and her foal is by Masa- 

 niello. Little Marie Wilton has also thrown her 

 first foal to the chesnut horse, and it is only fair to 

 say that he promises to be better than either of his 

 parents. A very geod-looking mare. Petticoat, by 

 Pantaloon out of Rifleman's dam, bought in Ire- 

 land last summer, has missed to Artillery; but 

 she has a yearling by the same horse, that, if not 

 fit for better things, is of the very stamp of a first- 

 flight Leicestershire hunter. The neat Sneer has 

 a colt by King Tom, bearing about him a strong 

 taste of the Harkaway; and the yet "prettier" 

 Medal, a clever colt to Loup Garou; while Comedy's 

 ever breeding begins to look hopeless, and Lady 

 Blanche, by Epirus, has unluckily slipped her foal 

 to Gemma di Vergy. Mainstay has had an acci- 

 dent, and we did not see her ; and Margaret, an 

 "odd" lot, " away on the hill/' was scarcely worth 



c c 2 



