THE AMERICAN RACE HORSE. 101 



years old might have been bred to Dotterel and produced a filly 

 in 1769. This filly at two years old might have been bred to 

 Aristotle and produced a filly in 1772. This filly, at two years 

 old, might have bred to Evans' Stirling (or Starling), and pro- 

 duced the colt Centaur in 1775 but he was foaled in 1767. Not 

 once in a million times would this succession of possibilities 

 occur, but if they did occur in this case the pedigree of Centaur 

 still remains absolutely impossible, for four generations of horses 

 cannot be crowded into five years. This exhibit fairly illustrates 

 the character of Mr. Edgar's work, and being right on the border 

 line between the "native" race horse and the modern "thorough- 

 bred"we see just how they compressed the breeding of eight gener- 

 ations into the space of fifteen or sixteen years. If we were to 

 compare the English with the American methods of manufactur- 

 ing pedigrees, it would be hard to determine which was the more 

 shamefully dishonest. Mr. Edgar was fiercely dissatisfied with 

 the indifference of horsemen to his enterprise, and with the lack 

 of support which they rendered him. He went forward with his 

 second volume and professed to have completed it, but announced 

 that it should never be put in type until the horsemen of the 

 country should assist and support him. In the event of their 

 failing to do so he threatened to sink his manuscript twenty feet 

 deep in the center of the Dismal Swamp, where no mortal would 

 ever find it. The second volume never appeared, and it is to be 

 hoped he carried out his threat. 



For the second attempt at compiling a stud book of American 

 Race Horses I must, myself, plead guilty. Some time in the "fif- 

 ties" I came into posssesion of a number of volumes of the "old" 

 Spirit of the Times, Skinner's American Turf Register, three 

 or four volumes of the "English Stud Book" and a large number of 

 volumes of the English Sporting Magazine. As I was then dab- 

 bling slightly around the edges of "'horse literature," I found 

 this little nucleus of a library very convenient, but very unsatis- 

 factory in answering questions that came to me, and which an 

 official position seemed to require that I should be able to answer. 

 When asked for the pedigrees of other domestic animals I could 

 take down the Herd Books of the different leading breeds and 

 give precise information, but when asked about the pedigree of a 

 horse, unless he was greatly distinguished as a racer, days of solid 

 labor might be expended on the one question and then not dis- 

 cover the information sought. It was, perhaps, ten years after 



