200 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



and wci;ili aUout ten Imiidred and fifty pounds. Such is the 

 description, mainly from Linslcy, of a horse which we should 

 expect to combine the qualities most to be desired in a horse 

 for "all work," and this is nearly the description of a good 

 Morgan. 



Though form and characteristics are of primary importance, 

 blood should never be neglected. The farther back the pedi- 

 gree of both parents can be traced through good specimens, the 

 greater the probability that the expectations of the breeder will 

 not be disappointed. It is now iu proof, says J. S. Skinner, 

 " that this Moigan breed is descended from a horse that was 

 stolen from Gen. De Lanccy, importer of Wildair, and there is 

 every jeason to believe that though he may not have been 

 Thoroughbred, he is Avell steeped in the best blood of the 

 Anglo-American turf horse." 



That " like will beget like" is commonly admitted to be true, 

 but if the male and female parents are very unlike each other, 

 the offspring would probably be unlike either. It is admitted 

 that the chances that the good, and the danger that the bad 

 qualities of an ancestor, will be inherited by any descendant, 

 will depend upon the number of degrees he is removed from 

 that ancestor, unless his ancestors of the opposite sex have 

 exhibited the same qualities. When the ancestors upon both 

 sides for several generations have been alike in all their 

 important features, then " like will beget like," though there 

 will still be a great variety in the degrees of excellence, even 

 then. Prof Cline, of London, as quoted by Skinner, says: 

 " When the male is much larger than the female parent, the 

 offspring is generally of an imperfect form. The proper method 

 of improving the form of animals consists in selecting a well- 

 formed female, proportionably larger than the male. The 

 improvement depends upon this principle ; that the power of the 

 female to suj)|)ly her offspring with nourishment, is in propor- 

 tion to her size, and to the power of nourishing herself from 

 the excellence of her own constitution. The size of the foetus 

 is generally in proportion to that of the male })arcnt, and there- 

 fore when the female j)arent is disproportionately small, the 

 quantity of nourisinnent is deficient, and her offspring has all 

 the disi)roj)ortions of a starveling. But when a female, from 

 her size and good constitution, is more than adequate to the 



