588 GENERAL PRINCIPLES OP BREEDING. 



be vigorous. In view of these truths, and they are axioms upon 

 which physiologists are in accord, the breeder must bear in mind 

 the age of the animals which he desires to have reproduce them- 

 selves. One at least of the animals should be fully matured, and 

 better if both be of mature age. If the mare is young, the horse 

 should not be less than six or eight years. The mare should not be 

 less than three years old. The following citations from sketches of 

 the great American trotting horses will be found of interest here: 



MAUD S., by Harold, at nine years, out of Miss Russell, at nine 

 years. 



TRINKET, by Princeps, at four years, out of Ouida, at ten years. 



LUCY, by Patchen, at six, out of a dam, age not recorded. 



GOLDSMITH MAID, by Edsall's Hambletonian, at four years, out 

 of a dam of eight or nine. 



LADY KEENE, by Mambrino Chief, at eleven years, out of a dam 

 whose record is not complete. 



DEXTER, out of Rysdyk's Hambletonian, at eight years, out of 

 a dam of ten. 



RYSDYK'S HAMBLETONIAN, by Abdallah, at twenty-three years, 

 out of the Kent mare, age not stated. 



Dangers of Coupling Young- Animals It has been 

 definitely ascertained that animals which are very young will trans- 

 mit to their offspring a tendency to disability which only requires 

 slight cause for its development, and those which are old, or whose 

 constitutions have been weakened by overwork or ill-treatment, will 

 transmit the like infirmities to their get. These effects may be dor- 

 mant or unexpressed for a whole generation, but it may certainly 

 be expected to reappear in the next, while if the coupling so hazard- 

 ously undertaken be continued, disastrous results cannot be avoided. 



Transmission of Diseases The close observer of live- 

 stock will have noticed the regularity with which certain abnormal 

 conditions are inherited, especially as concerns diseases. This is 

 particularly true in diseases which are constitutional, but its truth 

 is apt to be overlooked in cases where ancestral defect is apparently 

 disconnected with the structure of the beast. All hereditary dis- 

 eases are not evident at birth, and may only appear after a lapse of 

 years; but for all that, they are none the less hereditary, and con- 

 nected with the being of the animal ; although it is said in the latter 

 case that a predisposition to disease has been received, and in the 

 former it is called a weakness born with the animal. Manifestly, 

 however, there is no real distinction between the two. Scrofulous 

 affections, tuberculosis, water-on-the-brain, glanders, are especi- 

 ally virulent and frequently appear in horses, cattle, sheep and 

 hogs. Tendency to consumption is often indicated by certain well- 

 marked signs. In cattle the most obvious of these are a thin and 

 apparently long carcass, narrow loins and chest, flat ribs, hollow 

 flanks, extreme thinness and fineness of the neck and withers, hol- 

 lowness behind the ears, fullness under the jaws, small, narrow 



