Cross-Brccding in Horses. 149 



tlie horse, more particularly the saddle-horse, and I hope to illus- 

 trate this branch of the subject with equally strong examples, 

 Among-st the points I sought to establish were the following : — 

 That the influence of the male or female parent is not capri- 

 cious ; but yet not always alike : in the majority of instances 

 the male parent governs the size and external shape of the 

 offspring (particularly in the back and hind-quarters), whilst the 

 female influences the constitution, the nervous system, and often 

 the head and fore-quarters— the case being, however, occasionally 

 reversed. That this combination, which may be more of a 

 mechanical than a chemical union, by no means implies such 

 an equal division of influence, as the mingling of two fluids, in 

 which case the offspring would be unlike either parent, but a 



juste milieu between the two, and there could be no handing 

 down of type from one generation to another. It is rather such 

 a fusion of two bodies into one that both defects and high quali- 

 fications are passed on from parent to offspring with a sort of 

 regular irregularity, resembling the waves of the sea — each parent 

 having the remarkable power of propagating ancestral pecu- 

 liarities, though latent in itself. Thus it is that strong cha- 

 racteristics are handed from one generation to another ; so that 

 if we seek by careful selection to remove a defect or propagate 

 a good qualit}', we may calculate that a large number, perhaps 

 the majority of the offspring, will meet our wishes, and by weed- 

 ing out the remainder and pursuing this course for several gene- 

 rations we may accomplish our design. This view will further 

 explain how it is that defects not seen in the first cross, being 

 kept down as it were by the superior influence of the improving 

 parent, re-appear in the next generation, and serve to deter timid 

 breeders from continuing the experiment, or arm the opponents 

 of crossing with strong but fallacious arguments against going 

 beyond the first cross. 



I pointed out that, owing to the superior influence of the 



. male parent, the effect of the first cross in sheep was very con- 

 siderable, bringing greater size, often longer wool, earlier matu- 

 rity, and a propensity to fatten ; or, in other cases, superior 

 quality of mutton. Many persons who go thus far are deterred 

 from going any farther by the very numerous failures which 

 result from pairing together animals of the first cross, and con- 

 sider that pure breeds only should be perpetuated ; I adduced, 

 however, various examples to show that crossing might be carried 

 much farther, even to the extent of establishing altogether a new 

 breed, possessing qualifications which, although derived from 

 them, yet neither of the parent breeds alone exhibited. I 

 instanced the cases of the Improved Hampshire, the New Oxford- 

 shire, and the Shropshire, and more particularly the flocks of 



