THE flORSE *# 



parents ; but if small ram be put to larger ewes, the lambs will be of an improved 

 form. 



" The proper method of improving the form of animals consists in selecting a well 

 formed female, proportionably larger than the male. The improvement depends on 

 this principle ; that the power of the female to supply her offspring with nourishment 

 is in proportion to her size, and to the power of nourishing herself from the excellence 

 of her own constitution. 



" The size of the foetus is generally in proportion to that of the male parent, and 

 therefore when the female parent is disproportionately small, the quantity of nourish- 

 ment is deficient, and her offspring has all the disproportions of a starveling. But 

 when the female from her size and good constitution is more than adequate to the 

 nourishment of a foetus of a smaller male than herself, the growth must be propor- 

 tionably greater. The large female has also a greater quantity of milk, and hei 

 offspring is more than abundantly supplied with nourishment after birth. 



" To produce the most perfect formed animal, abundant nourishment is necessary 

 from the earliest period of its existence until its growth is complete. 



" The power to prepare the greatest quantity of nourishment from a given quantity 

 of food depends principally upon the magnitude of the lungs, to which the organs of 

 digestion are subservient. 



" To obtain animals with large lungs, crossing is the most expeditious method, 

 because well formed females may be selected from a variety of large size to be put to 

 u well-formed male of a variety that is rather smaller. 



" Examples of the good effects of crossing the breeds. The great improvement of the 

 breed of horses in England arose from crossing with those diminutive Stallions, Barbs, 

 and Arabians ; and the introduction of Flanders mares into this country was the 

 source of improvement in the breed of cart-horses. 



" Examples of the bad effects of crossing the breed.- When it became the fashion in 

 London to drive large bay horses, the farmers in Yorkshire put their mares to much 

 larger stallions than usual, and thus did infinite mischief to their breed, by producing 

 a race of small-chested, long-legged, large-boned, worthless animals." 



Such, we believe, was the ill effect of the cross by a large " Cleveland bay" stal- 

 lion, imported and sent to Carroll's Manor in Frederick County, Maryland, some 

 years since, by the late Robert Patterson. His younger brother, George, a gentleman 

 0f fortune by inheritance, but a farmer by choice, and of uncommon sagacity and 

 judgment, would have foreseen the result of such a cross. Nowhere so systematically 

 as on his estate, have we ever seen so fully carried out and completely illustrated, 

 this important principle in breeding as already quoted from Professor Cline, that " to 

 produce the most perfect formed animal, abundant nourishment is necessary from the 

 earliest period of its existence until its growth is complete." So thoroughly is Mr. 

 P. impressed too with the expediency of getting as much blood as you can into the 

 horse of all work, consistently with the weight which is indispensable for slow and 

 neavy draught, that he seeks to have as much of it as can be thrown into his plough 

 and wagon horses. Were the question doubtful, the argument must preponderate 

 which is supported by the practice of an agriculturist, rare in all countries, who is 

 ready with his reason for everything he does, and " no mistake at that." 



Enough, it is believed, has already been said to show how exactly opportune was 

 the cross of the Arabian and the Barb, on the English stock ; nor does it require any 

 further reasoning to sustain the position before laid down, that these males of exquisite 

 form, but proportionably smaller than the females of their day in England, having 

 accomplished their purposes by enlarging the lungs and improving the conformation 

 of their progeny, giving more muscle and less bone ; the same stallions, could they 

 rise, phoenix-like from their ashes, could probably not now be employed with the 

 wme beneficial effects. , 



A review of his most distinguished performance*, leads us to think that in culti- 

 vating the powers of the horse, the ne plus ultra of success was reached in the days 

 of Flying Chiliers, in the beginning of the last century, and was sustained wir> 

 tnfailing excellence to the time of Highflyer in 1774 (perhaps we might say to 

 the present dan '"I a period embracing, cons Bcuti rely, the wonderful performances 

 . 3* 



