BREEDING. 199 



mares will only breed alternate years, some if they 

 intermit at all are prone to prove barren altogether 

 after. The only plan is to keep them in fair condi- 

 tion, above all things not too high ; let them be, if 

 possible, at grass, and send them to the horse by 

 which they have been used to breed : as they are 

 stated by authorities to be fanciful in this respect 

 when they advance in years. 



There is little profit to be looked for when either 

 sire or dam are in too high condition, or too fat. You 

 could count poor old Crown Prince's ribs, every one. 

 A mare forced for exhibition seldom stands to the 

 horse that year : and the disappointment that arises 

 from prize ewes most enthusiasts have had to lament. 

 Mr. Jonas Webb, we were lately told, soon gave up ex- 

 hibiting the female. Animals that will not breed in one 

 man's hands, will often prove prolific under the care 

 and treatment of another. One or two now eminent 

 shorthorn breeders are recorded to have begun by buy- 

 ing a number of barren but good shaped and well 

 descended cows at the various sales from year to year. 

 The price was seldom great, and the occasional 

 reward of a calf enabled them gradually to creep up 

 to a valuable herd, at a comparatively small figure. 



One breeder has a farm for this purpose by the 

 seaside. There, dashed by the spray, and inhaling 

 the salt breeze as they feed along the cliff-side, many 

 a famous cow has recovered from her reproach, and 

 rewarded her trusting owner by produce of incalcu- 

 lable value. Heaps of horses are bred annually, the 

 majority of them brutes, and consequently of little or 

 no value when brought into the market, entirely 



