BREEDING. 445 



ently being to make his presence dreaded by the lives which long to 

 love and are anxious to serve him. 



It is usual to reintroduce the male a few days, generally three, subse 

 quent to delivery. But such a custom is far too saving to be profitable 

 How does man imagine that one poor body is, besides extracting sus- 

 tenance from grass, to yield milk to the living and to sustain the growth 

 of the future offspring at the same time ? It has been well declared that 

 no organ is equally fitted to perform two oflQces ; but surely either of 

 the functions alluded to is a sufficient drag. If the reader has any 

 interested motive for concluding otherwise, the countenances of most 

 women, during the latter stages of pregnancy, and the shout of the 

 pot-boy at the human mother's door, are evidences in favor of the 

 author's correctness. Moreover, to demonstrate how these functions 

 are opposed, a fact of common occurrence, among the lower order, may 

 be mentioned. When failing wages render an increase of famify un- 

 desirable, it is usual for the married women to suckle the last child even 

 for years, thereby delaying the advent of the next intruder. 



To afford the nutriment which shall maintain two growing lives and 

 to support itself, is obviously too great a tax to be readily sustained by 

 one body. The drain must be the greater, because each will demand 

 the more as time progresses ; thus the unborn has a portion of its sus- 

 tenance diverted, while the milk, on which the living foal should be 

 matured, is impoverished by the necessities of the maternal system. 



Therefore, when entering upon the speculation of breeding horses, it 

 should be remembered that though a foal is a foal, nevertheless a good 

 and a bad foal are very different beings, when tested by figures in an 

 account book. One good foal, every two years, will pay far better than 

 four bad foals every year ; as the eight indifferent creatures may be well 

 sold at £20, whereas a promising produce may be purchased at a very 

 reasonable price if it should be parted with for no more than £50. 



When depicting the habits of most breeders, however, it must be 

 recollected that the greater number of mares get no corn. A few receive 

 from their liberal owners a little of the damaged produce of last year's 

 crop; while thorough-breds generally obtain half the quantity allowed 

 to most working animals, and to each the grain is always presented dry. 

 The majority of mares are turned out to grass, with the foal running at 

 their sides, and the enlarged abdomens showing that "one off, another 

 will come on," which seems to be a ruling maxim with English breeders. 

 Green herbage has a tendency to induce ascites ; such an effect declares 

 the food to be deficient in nourishing properties. The mare, then, while • 

 suffering from a most exhausting malady, excited by unwholesome diet, 

 is expected to suckle and to breed ! The body thus engrossed is, more- 



