126 THE HORSE. 



It is well to select animals of a medium age to breed 

 from. They generally produce a more vigorous, heal- 

 thy, and thriving offspring than those who are either 

 very young or very old. This rule, however, does not 

 always hold good, as there are some noted exceptions 

 to it ; for example, the Ugly Buck, winner of the two- 

 thousand-guinea stakes, was foaled when his dam was 

 only three years' old, and he was the best foal she ever 

 produced. Cressida had Priam when she was twenty 

 years of age, and Crucifix was foaled when her dam 

 was twenty-two ; Marske was thirteen when he got 

 Eclipse ; Orville twenty when he got Emilius ; Voltaire 

 twenty when he got Voltigeur ; Pot-8-os sixteen when 

 he got Waxy ; "Waxy sixteen Avhen he got Whalebone, 

 and twenty-one when he got Whisker; Whalebone 

 fourteen when he got Camel, and eighteen when he got 

 Sir Hercules ; Sir Hercules fourteen when he got 

 Faugh-a-ballagh, and twenty-seven when he got Gem- 

 ma-di-Vergy ; and Touchstone is still a favourite stal- 

 lion, at twenty-seven years of age. 



There is not the slightest foundation for the strong 

 prejudice which exists in the public mind against in- 

 and-in breeding. On the contrary, Mr. Smith -has 

 plainly estabUshed that, within certain limits, this plan is 

 highly advantageous. Many of the best horses, as well 

 as the best short-horned cattle, we have ever had, were 

 very much and closely in-bred. To a certain extent 

 this was unavoidable, when the studs and herds were 



