48 England's horses, 



breeders that, from the constantly recurring examples in 

 this species of breeding of offspring " throwing back " even 

 to remote ancestors, it is wise to go beyond the appearance 

 and qualities of the immediate stallion about to be selected, 

 and be satisfied as to the soundness and general merits of 

 his ancestors ; for, unfortunately, the good or bad points of 

 an ancestor, though not represented in, say a son or grand- 

 son, may flash forth in a further removed progeny. Hence, 

 in breeding, the rule supreme is, " like begets like or the 

 likeness of soone ancestor ; " and the purer the blood the 

 more forcibly will the characteristics of the individual 

 animal disseminating it be marked upon offspring, always, 

 nevertheless, allowing to the male the superior influence in 

 such particulars. 



Imperfect sires beget imperfect stock. Foreign compe- 

 tition and the requirements of breeders for turf purposes, 

 monopolize those sires that, properly placed through 

 England's great nursery, Ireland, would be of great service 

 in regenerating that class of horse, the very aspect, charac- 

 ter, and qualifications of which are largely departed within 

 recent years. There are a few honourable exceptions, but it 

 may be excepted as a suggestive and unpromising fact, that 

 the majority of stallions available to the great bulk of Irish 

 horse breeders are effete, unsound, and highly objectionable 

 outcasts of the racing stables, too defective to be used in 

 propagation of their own order, and inferior in those 

 material attributes of soundness, " quality," bone, and action 

 that would render them an object of notice to the clever 

 foreign buyers who always hang about the English horse 

 markets. It is notorious that for the last twenty-five years 

 or more, colonels of cavalry regiments, contractors for re- 

 mount supplies to our cavalry and artillery, veterinary 

 surgeons, and painstaking penmen have been publicly 

 registering experiences tending to exhibit, with a view to 



