54 BREEDING. 



an act of consistency to evade so palpable a 

 chance of disappointment, by forming an 

 union of propriety apparently calculated 

 (from every external appearance) to transmit 

 such original purity to their produce. 



To effect this, the mare having been ob- 

 tained corresponding in size, frame, bone, 

 and strength, with the wish of the breeder, 

 and found upon accurate examination to be 

 perfectly free from the blemishes and defects 

 so frequently mentioned, the choice of a 

 stallion becomes the object of serious atten- 

 tion; in him should be accumulated all the 

 points and good qualities it -is possible for a 

 single object to possess, upon a proof exceed- 

 ing all speculation (and this every observant 

 naturalist will allow), that the produce, whe- 

 ther male or female, much more frequently 

 acquires and retains the shape, make, marks, 

 and disposition of the sire than the dam ; and 

 although such assertion may not obtain im- 

 mediate credit with many, yet rigid obser- 

 vation has long since demonstrated the fact, 

 and justifies the great consistency of rejecting 

 stallions with the least appearance of disease, 

 blemish, or bodily defect, indicating even the 



