102 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOK. 



stallion, as we have previously intimated, ought to be had, provided the 

 breeder has mares of such size as to render it judicious to put them to so 

 large a horse ; otherwise, the Norman Percheron mare may be most 

 advantageously bred to some nati^'e stallion, say a Morgan, a good 

 Canadian, or some other compactly built and quicV-paced horse. 



But it is unnecessary to extend these suggestions. If the breeder will 

 •onsider with care what he really wants, and observe the points upon 

 which wc have touched, he will be at no loss to judge intelligently what 

 course to pursue when cross-breeding is his only resource. He may 

 often, of course, find it difficult to obtain just the stallion which his 

 judgment tells him he should have for his class of mares ; but this is a 

 pointed argument in favor of that care which our farmers should long 

 ;ago have exercised in this matter. Intelligent attention to the improve- 

 ment of our stock throughout the Union vdW soon make it possible for 

 them to select their stallions^ rather than to be forced to take up ^ith 

 every hack that comes along with a flourish of red surcingles and a 

 wonderful pedigree, manufactured to order. 



As to in-and-in breeding, but little need be said. All the long-winded, 

 voluminous, and learned discussions of the subject have resulted iji 

 adding but little more to our stock of knowledge than this : that too 

 close in-and-in breeding is likely to bring about weakness, malformation, 

 and general deterioration ; but that to fix and preserve and intensify a 

 certain strain, the Jew, (to speak in a figure), must not intermarry with 

 the heathens round about him. In other words, to have true Morgans, 

 both sire and dam must be of that stock, though of different families : 

 to keep up the real Norman Percheron horse, we must have Norman 

 Percherons, both male and female, to breed from ; and so on. 



The objection to close in-and-in breeding seems to be here : that 

 nearness of kin is apt to be associated ^vith likeness of qualities, both 

 physical and mental, (if we may so speak of the horse) ; and thus the great 

 requirement that one parent must supplement the other is not complied 

 with. If there is a weak point in both, the weakness is perpetuated and 

 made worse, whereas a weak point in one should be counteracted b}' a 

 correspondingly strong point in the other. If it could be known with 

 absolute certainty that two animals, close of kin, had strongly marked 

 opposite traits of character, constitution and conformation, they might 

 be bred to each other, and with the best of results. Such is sometimeg 

 the case ; but it is not likely to be, and the rule should be as we hav« 

 gaid — let the strain be the same, but the kinship as far removed as 

 possible. This is believed by the most candid obsen^ers to be the secret of 

 Arab success. The individual breeder knows not alone his own animals, 

 but those of his tribe, and of other tribes as well Moreover, the Arab* 



