BREEDING. 55 



I now made up my mind to take no more 

 trouble in the bufinefs, but leave the reft to 

 chance ; in a very few months fhe was vifi- 

 bly in foal ; and produced mc an exceeding 

 handfome colt, that I difpofed of at a high 

 price to a gentleman in Norfolk, when rifing 

 two years eld. 



This circumftance 1 have related, to efta- 

 blifh by proof the confiftency of adopting 

 the alternative, when the feafon is fo far 

 advanced as to hazard the lofs of the year by 

 longer delay ; for my own part, (and it is 

 clear I fpeak experimentally) I fhould never 

 hefitate to cover a mare in this way, if ftie 

 continued to rcfufe the horfe till the laft week 

 in May^ or the firft week in June, much 

 rather chafing to ravijh the mafk of delicacy 

 from her difpofition, than lofe her contribu- 

 tion to the ftock for that year, or have a colt 

 fall fix weeks or two months too late in the 

 feafon. 



It will become perfectly applicable here to 

 introduce a few words refpeclmg tht^xa^ pe- 

 riod oi geftation in mares, upon which I never 

 remember to have heard or read any thing 



E 4 di(5la- 



