478 THE HORSE OF AMERICA. 



collection of statistics so vast, so accurate and so valuable as is 

 there to be found, touching the question we are considering. 



While the heredity of acquired characters and instincts is thus 

 clearly and fully established, there is another truth intimately 

 connected with it that should not be forgotten. In an inherit- 

 ance springing from recent acquisitions there seems to be less of 

 adhesive strength than in one .that has come down through many 

 generations. This being true, it follows that whether the lines 

 of inheritance be long or short there must be an intelligent and 

 constant exercise of good judgment in strengthening them 

 by bringing the best and strongest together and uniting them in 

 the prospective foal. When this has been done it is possible that 

 the foal may not be of much value, but the chances of success 

 are in exact proportion to the strength of all the lines of inherit- 

 ance that are united in the foal. Beyond the chance of failure 

 and beyond the average chance of an average production, there 

 is a chance for something better than any of the ancestors. This 

 latter hope always has been and always will be the inspiration of 

 the breeder. In his structure and form he may be an improve- 

 ment on his parents, but his value as a trotter can only be de- 

 termined by the development of his instincts and speed as a 

 trotter. Without such development he may transmit what he 

 inherits, but he adds nothing to his inheritance except by the de- 

 velopment of his own powers. These accretions, growing out of 

 the development of succeeding generations, are the material cause 

 that has placed the American Trotter at the very edge of two 

 minutes to the mile, and with wise management will eventually 

 carry him away beyond that rate of speed. This whole topic 

 may be summed up in a single sentence: every acquisition of 

 eminence and superiority adds something to the value of what 

 is transmitted. 



HEREDITY OF BAD QUALITIES, UNSOUNDNESS, ETC. Under the 

 laws of inheritance no distinction can be made between the de- 

 sirable and the undesirable, nor between the earlier or later 

 acquisitions, as they are all liable to be transmitted and to be- 

 come hereditary. The bitter must go with the sweet. Dropping 

 below is just as liable to occur as rising above what might be con- 

 sidered the average inheritance of the immediate parents. This 

 may result from following or throwing back to some undesirable 

 or unsound cross that may exist in some of the lines of inherit- 

 ance which possibly may be distant several generations. As a 



