76 PHILOSOPHY OF TROTTING. 



or decreasing tendencies are matters of interest and importance to 

 ■every one who would understand the science of breeding. So 

 universally do certain anatomical peculiarities follow certain lines of 

 blood, that the presence or absence of the same is often a valuable, 

 index in questions of pedigree or family lineage. The law of inherit- 

 ance, and a knowledge of inheritable traits, often afford more weight 

 of authority than breeders' certificates. I recently found a yearling son 

 ■of Swigert with a forearm 21 inches long, while the sire is not over 20^ 

 in the same limb. The explanation of the increase of length in the 

 yearling son is found in the dam being a daughter of Goldsmith's 

 Abdallah, a son of Volunteer, and the second dam being by a son of 

 Hungerford's Blucher. It will be remembered that the long arm of the 

 Volunteers came from Lady Patriot, a mare of Blucher descent. 

 Thus, after two crosses of this blood, the characteristic short forearm 

 of the horse European, sire of the Morse horse, disappears. The 

 illustration is an instructive one. 



