BREEDING. 



447 



benefit result from these periods of exemption, whicli are, however, 

 usually granted as a kind of forlorn hope. There is another prevalent 

 custom, which is equally objectionable. All men, in this country, first 

 use the animal which is subsequently to propagate its race. The higher 

 breed is broken, trained, and run, before it is "thrown^'' into the stud. 

 In lower life, the farmer, after having hacked and hunted a creature till 

 existence is worthless and spirit gone, says, over his jug and his pipe, 

 " That ould mare has proved a downright good bit of stufi". I should 

 like to have a foal out of her before she is knocked on the head." So 

 he procures the service of some led horse, and turns the aged animal on 

 to the common, to endure the inclemency of our climate without protec- 

 tion, — "to rest herself," he asserts; but the author declares such food 

 and shelter, to be almost starvation. This conduct would seem to be 

 the climax of possible folly! Nevertheless, the farmer acknowledges 

 nothing wrong in his behavior; for he is as bold and as loud in his 

 lamentations as other people, when a weakly foal results from his want 

 of consideration — the blame always being cast upon the sire. 



v^'.-^ 



THE OCLD MARS. 



The foregoing chapter has not been so much an exposition of existing 

 customs, as a consideration how far the prevailing habits reasonably 

 admit of amendment. The views which have been announced may, to 

 many minds, appear as purely theoretical, and, as such, to be deserving 



