GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 31 



geldings. The more quality the mare possesses, the 

 more marked must be the expression of her sex. The 

 charm of feminity, if I may say so, ought to pervade 

 her whole appearance. 



To enumerate every possible rock on which the purchaser of 

 brood mares may get wrecked is almost impossible. It requires 

 the practical eye of the breeder, experienced in all the difficul- 

 ties besetting his calling, to detect them and to protect him 

 from its danger. 



I do not venture even approximately to determine at what 

 age the brood N mare attains the climax of her propagating 

 power. The most celebrated of their kind exhibit in this re- 

 spect the greatest varieties, although a certain distrust against 

 the produce of very old mares may appear justified. But even 

 here exceptions are not wanting : for instance, Araucaria, dam 

 of Stephanotis, Wellingtonia, Catalpa, Camelia, Chamant, and 

 Rayon d'Or, was bred in Pocahontas, her dam's twenty-fifth 

 year, whereas Pocahontas was Marpessa's first foal, the latter 

 also being the first foal of Clare. On the other hand, it is sur- 

 prising that of the winners of the four classic races few were 

 first foals ; of the Derby during a century only three 1795, 

 Spread Eagle ; 1852, Daniel o'Rourke ; and 1855, Wild Day- 

 rell. A singular fact, also, is that the Two Thousand Guineas 

 in 1823 was won by one of twins, Nicolo, by Selim. 



Of all the celebrated matrons in the Stud Book, Queen Mary 

 and Haricot, her daughter, stand forth as descended from dams 

 of the most tender age. The mare by Plenipotentiary out of 

 Myrrha, by Whalebone, foaled in 1840, was covered when not 

 more than two years old, and bred in 1843 the famous Queen 

 Mary, who, after running but once as a two-year-old, was dis- 

 abled by an accident. She was covered when three years of 

 age, and bred in the year following Haricot. In those two 

 mares, Queen Mary and her dam, early impregnation seems to 

 have been attended with unusual individual potency. 



In general, let the breeder of thoroughbreds never adopt the 

 principle that quantity better than quality will succeed. 



