CHOICE OF STALLION. 285 



large sums on tlie faith of private trials, which are lost from the 

 failure in public, owing to this defect of nervous system. 



CHOICE OF STALLIOX. 



Like the brood mare, the stallion requires several essentials — 

 commencing also like her, first, with his blood ; secondly, his in- 

 dividual shape ; thirdly, his health ; and, fourthly, his temper. 

 But there is this difficulty in selecting the stallion, that he must 

 not only be suitable^i?/' se, but he must also be adapted to the par- 

 ticular mare which he is to " serve." Thus, it will be manifest 

 that the task is more difficult than the fixing upon a brood mare, 

 because (leaving out of consideration all other points but blood) 

 in the' one case, a mare only has to be chosen which is of good 

 blood for racing purposes, while in the other there must be the 

 same attention paid to this particular, and also to the stallion's 

 suitability to the mare, or to " hit" with her blood. Hence, all 

 the various theories connected with generation must be investi- 

 gated, in order to do justice to the subject ; and the breeder 

 must make up his mind whether in-and-in-breeding, as a rule, is 

 desirable or otherwise; and if so, whether it is adapted to the 

 particular case he is considering. Most men make up their 

 minds one way or the other on this subject, and act accordingly, 

 in which decision much depends upon the prevailing fashion. 

 The rock upon which most men split is a bigoted favoritism 

 for some particular horse ; thus, one man puts all his mares to 

 Orlando ; another, to Surplice or the Flying Dutchman ; although 

 they may every one be different in blood and form to the others. 

 Xow, this cannot possibly be right if there is any principle what- 

 ever in breeding ; and however good a horse may be, he can- 

 not be suited to all mares. Som&, again, will say that any horse 

 will do, and that all is a lottery ; but I think I shall be able to 

 show that there is some science required to enable the breeder 

 to draw many prizes. That the system generally followed of 

 late is a bad one, I am satisfied, and with the usual and constant 

 crossing and re-crossing it is almost a lottery ; but upon proper 

 principles, and with careful management, I am tempted to be- 

 lieve that there would be fewer blanks than at present. I have 

 already given my own theoretical views ui^on the case, illustra- 

 ted by numerous examples on both sides of the question. It will 



