BEST AGE IN THE SIRE AND DAM. 249 



have done. To those who are contented with two seasons, the 

 blood of those above mentioned is, I believe, the best now out, 

 and may be resorted to with the greatest confidence. 



BEST AGE IN THE SIEE AND DAM. 



The next point to consider is, the best age to breed from, both in 

 the sire and dam. This, like the last, is a much-vexed question, 

 and in order to settle it I constructed the following table ten 

 years ago, which gives the ages, as far as I could ascertain them, of 

 the sires and dams of the first and second dogs in the five principal 

 thirty-two dog stakes run in England in the ten previous, and also 

 the first dogs in the Waterloo purse and Altcar stakes. In this table, 

 therefore, you have the ages of the sires and dams of four of the 

 most successful dogs in each of the three chief coursing districts in 

 England during the ten years between 1843 and 1853. In the 

 earlier years there are some deficiencies, but still we have the age 

 of the sires of one hundred and thirteen dogs, and that of the dams 

 of ninety-eight, which numbers are quite sufficient for the purpose 

 in view. 



Nothing is so likely to lead to error as the attempt to generalise 

 from too small a number of facts, and there would also be a great 

 objection to any selection of examples of good dogs got by their 

 sires at particular ages, since we know how prone we all are to 

 form a theory upon insufficient data, and then to support it by 



