168 AGRICULTUEAL REPORT. 



A singular phenomenon, and one which should be much more widely known, 

 is the lasting influence conferred upon the mare by her first stallion. The 

 greatest care should be taken that the first horse that serves a fine mare be 

 perfectly unexceptional in blood and breed, for all her colts thereafter are cer- 

 tain to resemble him in one way or another. Every one who has bred dogs 

 knows that if the purest bitch in the world has her first litter by a mongrel 

 cur, the purest dbg of her own breed can never get a litter from her that will 

 not contain at least one pup of mongrel character and appearance. A notable 

 instance of this occurred in New Jersey some time since. A beautiful black 

 and tan terrier bitch had her first litter by a mixed-blood dogAvith some Scotch 

 terrier characteristics. Soon after her owner procured a tliorough-bred black 

 and tan for her, but all her subsequent litters contained pups bearing a marked 

 resemblance to the Scotch breed. 



Imagination is evidently a quality not confined to the "genus liomor All 

 animals are gifted with it, and in individuals it is sometimes exhibited very 

 prominently. May not the imagination of the female, be she canine, equine, 

 or whatever, be excited to the degree of producing practical results by the first 

 male that approaches her thus, and any other subsequent similar circumstances 

 of excitement bring back the recollection of her first love with force? 



In the human race physiological phenomena of this sort are abundantly 

 recorded. There are hundreds of instances where a widow, marrying a second 

 time, has reproduced in her children extraordinary likenesses of her deceased 

 husband ; and of ladies who, having been thinking of their near relatives very 

 anxiously, as in cases of dangerous illness, the chances of battle, or other 

 troubles, have given birth to children precisely resembling the person thought 

 of. This is exhibited most frequently in the resemblance of a child to its 

 mother's parents. 



The infant of two extremely plain and unprepossessing people who have had 

 other children as homely as themselves, has been known to come into the 

 world possessed of great physical beauty, due simply to a beautiful portrait 

 placed where the mother saw it every morning on awakening. In the same 

 way all surrounding circumstances produce their results upon "the child 

 unborn," and the necessity for a tranquil, gentle, and undisturbed existence on 

 the part of the mother should be held above all other considerations. There 

 are too many horrible examples of the effect of alarm or anxiety, as shown in 

 hideous deformities, like the "deer man," the "bear man," &c., who have been 

 exhibited at various times by showmen, and iu strange birth-marks resembling 

 fruits or vegetables. 



Thus much for the influence of imagination. The mysterious and delicate 

 connexion between the mind, or soul and the body, is so abstruse and impalpa- 

 ble a subject that it baffles the researches of the acutest reason. By whatever 

 process the offspring's physical organization may be affected, through the 

 mental condition of the parent, it is certain that it is affected, and no care or 

 pains on this account can be too great. 



In the breeding of animals, then, it seems strange that so little attention 

 should have been paid by breeders generally in this country to the condition 

 of their ])roducing stock. Frequently, when an ordinary mare has a colt by a 

 blood stallion, the owner is astonished to find it full of defects, when the first 

 off"s}»ring of the mare may have been the get of a donkey. It is known that 

 the zebra (an animal of peculiar individuality and temper, and therefore liable 

 to produce a very decided impression upon the imaginative instincts of the 

 female) marks with his stripes all the foals of any mare who has her first by 

 him. Iiif the south mares arc set apart for the breeding of mules, and are not 

 considered fit for anything else, and a good horse has been known to get a 

 mulish looking colt simply from the effect upon the mare of the sight of a 

 jackass. 



