306 HORSE PUKTBAITUKE. 



first-class trotters of the Messenger blood than all others 

 put together. I could further exemplify it by numerous 

 examples, but will only cite one more instance, as tending 

 to show the good effects of this blood. 



Napoleon, the grandsire of Gen. Butler, descended by 

 both sire and dam from Messenger, and was a great-grand- 

 son on either side. You are given to theorizing, so you 

 can weave from this skein of facts a web that will prove 

 the breeding of trotters, as easily as you can demonstrate 

 that the hypothenuse of a right-angled triangle is equal ^o 

 the sum of the squares of the other two sides. 



PUPIL. I am very glad that breeding cannot be reduced 

 to a geometrical scale, as in that case the charm of uncer- 

 tainty would be broken. The most we can do is to gain 

 all the wisdom we can from the experiences of the past, 

 and by a course of experiments, add to that knowledge as 

 much as our limited capacity will permit. I am very glad 

 that you have forsaken the French admixture in your 

 composition of a trotter, and hope that the knee action of 

 the thoroughbred can be improved, by judicious crossing 

 of the different families found to have the requisite action, 

 till you will be satisfied that in this point, as in all others, 

 they cannot be excelled. I have been wonderfully pleased 

 with your remarks on the Messenger family, though I was 

 not prepared to learn that inbreeding had been so general. 

 The Falcon has three distinct crosses of the blood, through 

 his sire Camden, Shark, Eclipse, Miller's Damsel, Mes- 

 senger. His dam was by Postboy, whose dam was 

 Garland, Young Damsel, Miller's Damsel, Messenger. His 

 great-grandam was by Bay Bolton, by Ti]ypo Saib, Mes- 

 senger. Young Damsel was by Hambletonian, which one 

 I do not know. If the three-quarter bred Messenger of 

 that name, it would increase the proportion. 



These three crosses in the Falcon should assuredly be 

 as valuable, from the balance being of the kind that Fanny 



