CHOIC# OF SIRE AND DAM. 149 
wishes to alter in any important particular the qualities possessed by his 
mare, he must select a horse which is either better bred or some of whose 
lines will coalesce with those of the dam’s which it is desired to per- 
petuate. Thus, supposing a mare to be made up of four lines, two of 
which are decidedly bad, and one which is so good as to attract the notice 
of her owner, then let him look around and select some horse in whose 
pedigree is to be found a similar strain, taking care that the relationship 
is not so close as to lead to disappointment on the score of the bad effects 
attributable to in-breeding. But there are many brood mares not in the 
Stud-book, whose pedigrees are not ascertainable, and in their case this 
rule will not apply. Here a different plan must be pursued, and a horse 
must be chosen whose shape, action, or temper coincides with the particular 
quality which it is desired to perpetuate. I am strongly inclined to 
believe that it is comparatively of little use to look about for sires who 
possess those qualities in which the dam is deficient. Such a course of 
proceeding has so constantly ended in disappointment, within my own 
knowledge, that I believe I am justified in condemning it. A stallion 
(whether horse or greyhound, the same is observable) is known to have 
been very fast, or very stout, as the case may be, and having obtained the 
one character or the other, breeders have supposed that they have only to 
send mares deficient in either quality, and they would insure its develop- 
ment in the produce. If the mare or bitch happens to possess among her 
ancestry stout or fast lines of blood, the produce will display the one or 
the other, if she is put to a horse possessing them ; but, on the contrary, 
if the lines of the dam are all fast, or all stout, no first cross with a sire 
possessing the opposite qualities will be likely to have any effect, though 
no doubt there are some few exceptions to this, as to all other rules. The 
instances in support of this position are so numerous within my own 
knowledge, that I should scarcely be able to make a beginning, and every 
one who draws upon his own experience, or who will examine the “ Stud- 
book” and the “Coursing Calendar,” will find examples without end 
throughout every volume of each. It would be invidious to seleet any 
stallion now in this country, but among those which have been well tried 
here in the stud, and are here no longer, may be mentioned the Flying 
Dutchman. This horse was well known to have been himself not only 
fast, but stout, and, as a consequence, even those breeders who are aware 
of the necessity for regarding both of these qualities were induced to 
breed from him, expecting that the result would be to give them similar 
stock in the next generation. The contrary, however, was the case. In 
many cases speed was developed, but in almost every instance, without an 
exception, that speed was not allied with staying power. The unlooked- 
for result has been attributed to his sire, Bay Middleton, whose stock have 
been notoriously flashy; but if the pedigree of Darbelle, his dam, is care- 
fully examined, a still stronger reason may be assigned. If her lines are 
traced back five generations, it will be seen that out of her thirty-two 
progenitors in that remove fourteen are descended from Herod or his sire, 
Tartar, and these in addition to the already overflowing quantum of the same 
blood in Bay Middleton himself. Now I am a great admirer of the blood 
of Herod, and I believe him to be one of the chief foundations of the high 
form of our modern horses ; but its peculiar characteristic is speed, not 
stoutness, and it requires a combination with the stouter blood of Eclipse, 
or some other horse of that strain, to make the possessor capable of 
staying a distance. With these fast lines the produce of Barbelle has 
always been fast, but it can scarcely occasion surprise that her stoutest 
