THE AGE. 439 



from the corner ones. By an examination of these, not only 

 the age may be determined, but the villainous fraud detected, 

 sometimes practiced by dealers, of selling an early two-year- 

 old for a three-year old. This is done in the following way: 

 Some colts come three or four months earlier than others, and, 

 consequently, their second teeth commence to grow sooner. 

 The rogue punches out the two front teeth, and thus removes 

 the pressure of the roots on the new ones, and, consequently, 

 they grow faster. After they appear, the jockey represents 

 the colt as being a late comer, one of the year previous to his 

 birth, and is thus enabled to sell him at an advanced, price; 

 but this fraud can easily be detected by attention to the de- 

 scription I have given of the mouth at this age. It must be 

 carefully remembered that the mark will be too visible in the 

 other teeth. Also the upper jaw should be examined, for the 

 rogue generally confines his operations to the lower one, seldom 

 interfering with the upper one. The two-year-old mouth will 

 generally be found here, though nine times out of ten the up- 

 per ones are first to change. Next year — that is, previous to 

 the colt becoming four years old — about the same time of the 

 year, the second pair of nippers will be shed. At this time 

 the mouth can not be mistaken. The central nippers will have 

 attained nearly their full growth, and a space will be left where 

 the second pair stood, and, perhaps, the new ones making their 

 appearance. The corner ones will be diminished in breadth 

 and worn down, the mark being worn nearly out. At this 

 period the second pair of grinders will be shed. Previous to 

 this, also, an attempt will be made to give the three-year- 

 old an appearance of a four, by a similar process to that before 

 described. 



Our cut represents the four-year-old mouth. The center nip- 

 pers are fully grown ; the front edges, which were sharp, are 

 somewhat blunted ; the mark in them is becoming short, wide, 

 and narrow. The next pair are now full grown, but smaller 

 than the middle or corner ones. The corner ones will be 



